One of the most versatile and powerful tools I have in my cabinet. Probably why I have 4 of them in different sizes. I don't trust fences and depth stops anyway so why bother with them in the first place.
Hi Rex - there is another technique for cutting rabbits. My granddad - an old cabinetmaker here in germany - showed me as a child. Make your 2 linea for the rabbet. First only make the rabbet half of the with you need down to your depth marking... After that turn the board OR the plane 90°... Then plane it to the other line down... It's very easy and fast and accurate to plane rabbets this way... 😉
@@brendanloconnell Da nicht für! Bitte schön! 😉 I learned a lot from Rex and other english and american woodworkers - so it's time to give some tricks back! 😉
As a machinist I was thinking you would want to at least do one pass like that. For accuracy and finish sake. Machining two faces to dimension at the same time usually increases errors.
I learned to use my rabbet plane like this, only rather than making the initial cut at half width as you state, I just would make it slightly less than full width leaving just a little amount to address when cutting the other way. Works well and is rather easy.
I really want to thank you for including all those shots of you tapping the iron into place. I have tried adjusting planes in the past, based on advice I may well have gotten from this very channel but I just couldn't get it right in the few expert taps I'd seen in the video. I feel a lot better now, having seen you tap it several times, backing it off only to push it forward again! Seeing things not work first time is so reassuring!
i learned pretty much the same procedure, but when rabbetting along the grain i was taught to have my skew set super light and my straight set heavier. establish the rabbit with the skew the same way you did in the video, then swap to the straight to hog it out, then back to the skew for the last couple passes to accurately come to depth. for across the grain i was taught to scribe the line fairly deeply then chip it out with a chisel, same as a regular knife wall with a saw. then use the skew at an angle slowing registering it straight. go back as needed with the knife to deal with the fibers in the corner of the rebate that are left due to the lack of a nicker. i don't think i ever changed those planes once they were set up, at least until i had to sharpen them, but they went right back to the same setting pretty much. if i were a handtool only guy still i'd probably just have a few sharpened and ready to go so i could batch my sharpening and setup. i hate having to stop and sharpen and resetup those planes in the middle of a project and those things are dirt cheap. we also made fences set for the two most common rabbets. we drilled two holes into our planes and fences and just slapped them on with bolts and wingnuts. when you are knocking out 20 odd rabbets, having the fence makes things very fast and less error prone. a box cutter blade screwed to the side of the plane with a washer makes for a servicable nicker in a pinch too if you're doing pretty shallow rabbets. just snap off the thick part at the top of the blade, then snap the blade in half. that gives a blade and a replacement for when it gets dull.
M.S. Bickford’s “Mouldings in Practice” has a lot of great information; glad to hear you mention it. I’ve been a traditional carpenter/joiner for 22 years now and use rabbet and shoulder planes quite frequently. Some hollows and rounds added in and a lot of general molding and joinery work is well within reach of most. I find most would suffer from not knowing how to tune their irons and bodies, how to sharpen, and how to control the edge with confidence and attention to what is happening at a minuscule scale at the cutting edge as well as attention to grain direction in both orientations regarding corner work. Thank you for putting out great, accessible and accurate information and putting up with uninformed nonsense from critics.
It is a superb book, I was also really pleased to hear it mentioned. I did hesitate over buying it because it's quite expensive, but it is so informative that it's actually superb value! You have listed very valid points, I have got progressively better results from rebate (us UK watchers just can't let that one go eh😉) and profile planes over the last few years, it's an iterative process of improving tuning, sharpening and user skills... I'm sure I still have far more to learn. Ah, the quest for hollows and rounds... once you read just how versatile these planes are, collecting them becomes an enjoyable obsession. I have slowly collected and restored a very incomplete set, the main challenge being to try to remember which sizes I already have when I find potential additions in flea markets or car boot sales... I very frequently discover I've bought yet another duplicate. I do eventually plan to make my own to fill out the gaps (see the Stavros Garos channel on hand plane making, even if only marvel at his artistry. In theory my Stanley 55 with complete set of irons already fills those gaps, but in practice it just proves Rex's point that learning good technique is more efficient than twiddling endless complex fences and guides, plus the weighty 55 just doesn't offer the same tactile feedback that a simple moulding plane does.
Hey, I like the addition of your second camera for explaining this. Also, I appreciate you debunking all the "experts." It's great to see the technique. Really good instruction.
Time for training makes all the difference. There was a time when you couldn’t just sell a tool and expect the customer to be happy and successful without training, and the training wasn’t sold with the product. Now we have people like Rex available at the click of a button to instruct people in the technique needed to be successful with simpler, more flexible, and adaptable tools! I suspect the desire for time savings (when making lots of something), repeatability, and success without explicit training and mentoring have a lot to do with the pressure to use fancier, single purpose tools.
The second tool I ever made was a Paul Sellers poor man's rabbet plane out of some 2x4 and a chisel, and it's still my favorite rabbet plane to use, even over my cast-iron Stanley knockoff.
Pine's fantastic for planemaking, I don't understand why it's not used more. It's trickier to cut the geometry, but it's material most of us already have lying around. @@steveherman6909
I recently repaired a 200 year old doorframe. Had no router fitting the old moulding. Found the perfect moulding plane in my collection. It was not super sharp though. A sharpening video for these specialty planes would be great ❤. Thanks and greetings from Switzerland
Hi, i really appreciate the mindset towards autonomy and trust in oneself and what hand can do; and also the "counterpart": you have to be aware of what you do and you deserve all the result. Great great great value. May i suggest another way for that joint: you can also use a saw, carcass saw or even panel saw depending what you're doing, so you end with a square long stick reusable piece of wood. And you finish and clean the cut with either rabbet plane or chisel (for small sized projects i prefer by far chisel). Regards from France (sorry for my approximative english).
Thanks Rex! I bought mine from the wife of my old neighbor when he passed suddenly for five bucks (along with a bunch of other amazing things and specifically a Stanley Number 4 in great condition.) I never really knew what it was for or even how to use it. Now I have a good start to learn how to use it. Thanks for helping me honor my sister-in-law's dad's memory.
As a fan of the Woodright’s Shop and hand techniques without power, I greatly appreciate you keeping these skills alive and sharing what you learned while picking these skills up. The cost for entry as a hobbyist is way lower with hand tools. I also find that using hand tools makes the craft more meditative and connects me to projects more.
The nice thing about the old tools like a rabbit plane is if your in a pinch, you can always throw one together yourself if you really needed to. Some do, and end up not stopping until its a fully carved brass inlaid tool that makes the other tools look terrible. So then a rabbit hole starts where all tools need to match the same quality. ....
I clad my entire extension in 150mm thick planks, overlapped using rebates, cut using a rebate plane. You just have to follow the pencil line with the corner of the plane to create a shoulder. I used that technique on the long side of 57 planks. Never learnt it from anyone and I'd never used that plane before, it just made sense to me to do it that way.
I always loved watching the New Yankee Workshop and The Woodwright's Shop on PBS when I was a kid. It was magical watching furniture come together without power tools
I find it easier to start the rabbets using a deep marking marking gauge line, and then tilting the plane so that only the corner is riding in that line (cutting a triangular "dado"). Just a few passes, enough to seat the plane, then I gradually lower the angle until it's back to being a square rabbet shape and I can size it from there. If the dimension is super important I would use this technique with a smaller rabbet and then go back and increase the depth of it by flipping the plane around and going the other way against the vertical side.
I was getting tools in and out of the shed on the weekend and saw, on my unusably over cluttered bench, my wooden rebate plane I bought a year or so ago still with the little white price tag on string from the antique shop. Then you go and put this video up. Thenk you so much.
Hey Rex! How cool to see someone I know on RUclips! One point you may want to make is that these hand tools are way quieter than any power tool. Now I'll have to go through my stash of old planes. Thanks for the tips and keep 'em coming!
Hi Rex! I want to thank you for your videos about Planes and Low benches. Thanks to your educational videos I am currently building my own Lowbench, with mostly handtools and mediocre skill :D
I love Matthew book, it’s great read and very detailed explanations. He also sells planes, very beautiful and well made, almost you want to not use them but then when you do, you get delighted
You can also do the fence technique with a wheel marking gage. As long as the edges of the plane are crisp, it works perfectly. And I need to say: I would love to own one of those skewed planes, but I searched forever without finding one. Meanwhile I had three straight ones and what should I say - they work as well. So please don't feel stopped by finding the "wrong" tool. Just buy it, it's cheap, and start and if you find a better one some day you can update. By the way: nice to see you fuzzing around with the hammer 😂 Sometimes it's the same here, it takes a million hits to get it right. And sometimes it's straight on right away. Probably also a matter of practice.
Hey Rex, great video! I love rabbet planes. I have a whole drawer full of them in my garage, and have done joints exactly like this video 😁 I have one I got a number of years ago that's 14" long, 1 1/2" wide, with a full tote (handle) on the back. So it's a rabbet plane the size of a jack, AKA a jack rabbet 🤣 It's got one of those extra chunky laminated irons that cuts like a dream, and has forged knickers on both sides. It's my favorite wooden plane.
@TheMrchuck2000 I've never seen another quite like it. It's a really cool one, especially since I can call it a jack rabbet. A pun that's wasted on so many of my friends
There's always a tradeoff between using complex or power tools and having the skill to do the job without filling my basement with noise and sawdust. I can make much better cuts with my table saw than I can with a handsaw. I am impressed with your skill with a rabbet plane but I have a complete $10 Stanley fillister plane that I get great results with. Paul Sellers makes it all look so easy but he has developed skills over a lifetime. I did chemistry and computer programming. I enjoy woodworking and am improving my hand tool skills. As time goes on I use hand tools more and more. But sometimes it is important to build the project well and on time so I take advantage of the skills of those at Beaver who designed and made my table saw and those at Stanley who made my fillister plane..
You can technically make one too, all you need is the steel for the cutter and if you know a blacksmith, or have your own coffee can forge and a few appropriate tools, you can do that too. Then you can throw on any personal adjustments and do-dads you think would make it better for you.
I just acquired the parts to make a two-brick propane forge. I’m making a replacement tongueing iron for a wooden t&g plane I picked up. It’s a fun rabbit (rabbet? rebate?) hole to go down!
Im a semi-professional tailor of men's bespoke historical suits 1890 to 1940. You know what - people in 1980 - 1940 REALLY knew what they were doing. I am constantly amazed when I follow an old pattern or technique from an old book ant it turns out to be the BEST way to do a thing, even if at first it seems completely counter-intuitive, people in the past were if anything - more capable and intelligent than we are.
@@graydanerasmussen4071 "I'd argue its old knowledge vs. new ignorance. -A lost technique, if you will" the problem is most old books say things like "finish in the usual way", "cut the joint as normal" - they assume you know the basics and a lot of the time - we dont...
I want one! But thanks to James W I own a Stanley 45 and 55. So can't explain to my wife why I need another plane. LOLOLOL Love a Patron . Great value. Yeah, I always share that!
Probably not in practice. The rebate/rabbit plane is generally used on rip cuts. It works on crosscuts, but if you consider that the majority of your saw cuts that you'll be doing that require a knife wall shoulder will be on the edge of a board. In other words, you'll only be severing the depth of the board. That would make it quite unstable for the plane to balance on. Furthermore, you're probably going to be using a chisel at some point in the joint process, so you'll have that out already. If it's a tenon you're cutting then you might have a shoulder plane to hand for fitting, so I guess you could try that. But chisel all the way for me!
Another very timely video from you Rex. I just found one for $10 and boy the price is just right. I didn't know about the setup. Now to cut my rebates. With my rebate plane.
Another great video Krueger. You convey a lot of info quickly and clearly. I love to see you promote use of hand tools. i learned a bit from John Gardner in the 1970's when he taught traditional boat building at Mystic Sea Port. With practice you can do a lot fairly quickly with hand tools. Thanks!
I wish I had the time to just do hand tool wood working. Unfortunately I have only three to four hours a week to lend myself to the craft so I am much more likely to use my router for stuff like this. But it's an invaluable asset to have videos like yours teaching us the original way to do things like this because eventually I'm going to have more time on my hands, and I will start to hate LOUD NOISES! I'm think that is when these videos will be the most helpful for me. 😂
I've maintained for a while that one of the primary uses of modern power tools is to supplant skill. There's nothing you can do with a table saw that you can't do just as well with a hand saw. But you need to put the time and effort into learning the skills.
Rex this video reminds me of the “Thor’s hammer” video so much, lots of passion for woodworking and not afraid to think outside the box. Thank you for what you do Rex!
Now you're just handing out the secrets. 😉 My theory is the medieval and prior craftsmen, (actually even Renaissance), used the simplest tools for a reason. Sure you had to master how to use them first, but when you did, you could just pick them up and not have to fiddle with settings and different part attachments, calculations, etc. For instance measuring and markings done with a compass (or pair of compasses, proper) and a straight edge instead of rulers, tape measures, custom made templates, etc. I can make a square, and a square line or even a perfect 45° with just a compass and straight edge, no square, ruler, or batteries needed. Sure it takes longer, but if I have these limited tools I can still get the job done. And even if I'm in the middle of the desert with only a crooked stick with a piece of yarn, I can make beautiful squares and geometric shapes all day long. This is just one example that doesn't seem practical, but the knowledge of knowing advanced techniques using the bare minimum basic tools leads to complex intricate work that I can do, and do them efficiently and proficiently. THEOREM I: It is by the straight line and circle that the first and most simple example and representation of all things may be demonstrated, whether such things be either non-existent or merely hidden under Nature's veils. -John Dee
Another excellent video! I love old tools. It might be a genetic thing as a few generations ago my family were cabinet makers. I watched my grandfather use these tools as a kid. Thank you.
I found the rebate to be a surprisingly tricky joint to get right. I have one of those European fillister planes (which I found for about 10.-, they're quite common in Switzerland), but I sharpened the blade incorrectly and it didn't stick out the side of the plane (so no square rabbits). I also had a few rabbit planes, but in Europe they almost never have a skewed blade. However, they sometimes have a cap iron. I also got a WS78 Stanley style plane from England, but it was a bit fiddly... In the end, my best plane for this joint is a Swiss Lachapelle fillister plane, similar to your ECE. With the nicker and skewed blade, as well as depth and width stops it is very precise and leaves a clean joint. The W78 lives in my tool box without the fences and stops and is my go-to plane changing an existing rabbit. The circular nicker is a bit useless though compared to the Swiss plane. A technique I've been experimenting with is using my Record 050 plough plane for starting a rebate: it usually has a small blade for grooves. I set it to cut along my gauge line for the rabbit to start my cut. With this done, I grab the W78 (without any stops or fences) and freehand the rest of the joint. The other tools to mention are my router plane that can perfect a rabbit's depth.
One thing that is very important, is that you can form hardwood to the perfect dimensions by sawing, cutting, planing and what not... but wood is a natural stuff. It "works" as we use to say in Germany, meaning you can never do something 100% in wood, you can only do 100% work in metals. Even 100 years ago, allot stuff was hand-made and not 100% perfect. It doesn't have to.
I made a great little built-in shelf in the bathroom under a weird countertop extension using rabbeted shelves. I cut them with my circular saw into plywood. As long as you're careful in your setup/layout, it works great!
Finally someone setting a wooden plane with a metal hammer... once you master how to properly strike with a hammer (hammer face landing flat on the wood) you find that you really need to be brutal to dent the wood
I always thought of a rebate plane as a high angle shoulder plane with a fence, like the no. 78. I learned joinery from my grandfather, who apprenticed in London in the early 20th century between the wars. He only used metal Stanley and Record tools (and a few less well made knock offs we never did get to work well.) I may well have it wrong though, that was a very long time ago. I did a course with The Schwarz when he visited the UK a decade ago now, he showed us how to use a shoulder plane, using your fingers as a fence. I still bought a Veritas rebate plane when I had the money, the one with the skewed iron and fence. I suppose it's just a preference thing.
Once I saw a carpenter using his wood planes on a German medival fair. He never used a hammer to adjust the iron just ticked the plane against the worktable in a fluid motion between shavings using inertia of mass. Since then I see no advantage on Stanley style adjustable planes anymore for a skilled carpenter. Skilled in using wood planes as they have less friction. To be honest this is not for beginners but gave me a complete different view on the very expensive playthings from Veritas and others. Your rabbet plane is about $ 50 new in Germany.
2:09 well, teach me, Obiwan! I am here? I have my rosewood soled skew rabbet plane (and I have left the wooden dado plane on the shelf for this exercise). I am excited to learn how to use this thing.
What you are calling a rabbet plane I was taught is a skewed shoulder plane. Regardless it's one of the most used in my arsenal. It has a heavy iron that was aggressively hollow ground at some point. At a little heavier than 3/16" I'm glad it is.
Rex, thanks for the great overview and demonstrations. Could you follow up on cross grain use of rabbit (molding) planes. The projects you illustrate at the end of the video have cross grain rabbit joints.
@ Yes. I literally use a piece of cereal box cardboard behind the iron of my Stanley #78. It makes it dig less, chatter less, and makes it easier to control.
2:25 in NJ, we often deal with high prices on antique tools, *because* they are being sold to somebody who just wants to hang them on a wall (instead of somebody who realizes that a rusty old drawknife shouldn’t be $60)
I think most people don't realize how much dexterity you need to use traditional hand tools properly. Makes people think you can't use the tools for what they were made for. It's just a skill issue.
I like to think, if a tool requires high skill, then either the process is complicated or a better tool can make it simpler. Sure having skill is useful but it's not what we want. We want the end product. This is coming from a mechanical engineering not a carpenter.
@@pianissimo7121well there's a reason we have ikea, and there's also a reason that we have people who use these old tools. Things are lost to progress. A worker not needing skills is a good thing and a bad thing, because you get today's manufacturing, both very cheap en masse, and of poor reputation
Depending on the size of the rebate and the value of the wood you are working, turning it to shavings may be less beneficial than sawing it out to get a little stick of said wood.
I enjoy your videos and like this one as well. I was waiting to see the cross-grain rabbet using the tool without a knicker. I guess just relieve the grain with a knife? Thanks again.
Picked up a very similar old rabbet plane from a thrift store the other day, and it didn't take much to restore it to good working order. It's a good tool, and in some cases I prefer it to setting up the router to achieve the same result. With far less risk of a mishap that'll ruin the work piece.
I made one from a trim plane that I got and it was in poor shape. Those things are like 10-15$ at a local antique store. And I've cut a lot of rabbets for dovetails with it. Great tool
Hey, Rex. You mentioned about the skewed iron being good for cross grain work. Since you went with the grain for the purpose of the video, I was wondering if the technique (particularly the freehand method) is slightly different when going cross grain.
Almost all my rebating is done with my Stanley 90 bull nosed plane. This is because I am left handed so choices are limited. I would give my right arm to be ambidextrous!
Thanks Rex. Never knew there was a purpose-made planing stop. Now i know what it is and what it looks like. It looks kinda lie one of my old oscillator blades might work.
Cool. Now show us how to cut a rabbet across the grain with only that plane. You know, like you would have to do for all of the projects and examples you showed. I'll wait.
One of the most versatile and powerful tools I have in my cabinet. Probably why I have 4 of them in different sizes. I don't trust fences and depth stops anyway so why bother with them in the first place.
If it's good enough for Shannon, we should ALL take notice.
Shannon, I’ve learned SO MUCH from your teaching videos. Just wanted to say thanks. Love both you and Rex❤
Hi Rex - there is another technique for cutting rabbits. My granddad - an old cabinetmaker here in germany - showed me as a child. Make your 2 linea for the rabbet. First only make the rabbet half of the with you need down to your depth marking... After that turn the board OR the plane 90°... Then plane it to the other line down... It's very easy and fast and accurate to plane rabbets this way... 😉
This is great advice! Danke schon!
@@brendanloconnell Da nicht für! Bitte schön! 😉 I learned a lot from Rex and other english and american woodworkers - so it's time to give some tricks back! 😉
As a machinist I was thinking you would want to at least do one pass like that.
For accuracy and finish sake.
Machining two faces to dimension at the same time usually increases errors.
I learned to use my rabbet plane like this, only rather than making the initial cut at half width as you state, I just would make it slightly less than full width leaving just a little amount to address when cutting the other way. Works well and is rather easy.
I really want to thank you for including all those shots of you tapping the iron into place. I have tried adjusting planes in the past, based on advice I may well have gotten from this very channel but I just couldn't get it right in the few expert taps I'd seen in the video. I feel a lot better now, having seen you tap it several times, backing it off only to push it forward again! Seeing things not work first time is so reassuring!
Hilariously, we cut out about half the footage of me adjusting the iron! Trust me, there's PLENTY of screwing around to get it right.
Rex I just want to appreciate how you include mistakes, things not going right, as well as the thinking & process behind correcting course.
i learned pretty much the same procedure, but when rabbetting along the grain i was taught to have my skew set super light and my straight set heavier. establish the rabbit with the skew the same way you did in the video, then swap to the straight to hog it out, then back to the skew for the last couple passes to accurately come to depth. for across the grain i was taught to scribe the line fairly deeply then chip it out with a chisel, same as a regular knife wall with a saw. then use the skew at an angle slowing registering it straight. go back as needed with the knife to deal with the fibers in the corner of the rebate that are left due to the lack of a nicker. i don't think i ever changed those planes once they were set up, at least until i had to sharpen them, but they went right back to the same setting pretty much. if i were a handtool only guy still i'd probably just have a few sharpened and ready to go so i could batch my sharpening and setup. i hate having to stop and sharpen and resetup those planes in the middle of a project and those things are dirt cheap.
we also made fences set for the two most common rabbets. we drilled two holes into our planes and fences and just slapped them on with bolts and wingnuts. when you are knocking out 20 odd rabbets, having the fence makes things very fast and less error prone. a box cutter blade screwed to the side of the plane with a washer makes for a servicable nicker in a pinch too if you're doing pretty shallow rabbets. just snap off the thick part at the top of the blade, then snap the blade in half. that gives a blade and a replacement for when it gets dull.
M.S. Bickford’s “Mouldings in Practice” has a lot of great information; glad to hear you mention it. I’ve been a traditional carpenter/joiner for 22 years now and use rabbet and shoulder planes quite frequently. Some hollows and rounds added in and a lot of general molding and joinery work is well within reach of most.
I find most would suffer from not knowing how to tune their irons and bodies, how to sharpen, and how to control the edge with confidence and attention to what is happening at a minuscule scale at the cutting edge as well as attention to grain direction in both orientations regarding corner work.
Thank you for putting out great, accessible and accurate information and putting up with uninformed nonsense from critics.
My friend lent me his copy - great read. Beautifully explains what initially seems pretty complicated
It is a superb book, I was also really pleased to hear it mentioned. I did hesitate over buying it because it's quite expensive, but it is so informative that it's actually superb value!
You have listed very valid points, I have got progressively better results from rebate (us UK watchers just can't let that one go eh😉) and profile planes over the last few years, it's an iterative process of improving tuning, sharpening and user skills... I'm sure I still have far more to learn.
Ah, the quest for hollows and rounds... once you read just how versatile these planes are, collecting them becomes an enjoyable obsession. I have slowly collected and restored a very incomplete set, the main challenge being to try to remember which sizes I already have when I find potential additions in flea markets or car boot sales... I very frequently discover I've bought yet another duplicate. I do eventually plan to make my own to fill out the gaps (see the Stavros Garos channel on hand plane making, even if only marvel at his artistry.
In theory my Stanley 55 with complete set of irons already fills those gaps, but in practice it just proves Rex's point that learning good technique is more efficient than twiddling endless complex fences and guides, plus the weighty 55 just doesn't offer the same tactile feedback that a simple moulding plane does.
Hey, I like the addition of your second camera for explaining this. Also, I appreciate you debunking all the "experts." It's great to see the technique. Really good instruction.
Time for training makes all the difference. There was a time when you couldn’t just sell a tool and expect the customer to be happy and successful without training, and the training wasn’t sold with the product. Now we have people like Rex available at the click of a button to instruct people in the technique needed to be successful with simpler, more flexible, and adaptable tools!
I suspect the desire for time savings (when making lots of something), repeatability, and success without explicit training and mentoring have a lot to do with the pressure to use fancier, single purpose tools.
The second tool I ever made was a Paul Sellers poor man's rabbet plane out of some 2x4 and a chisel, and it's still my favorite rabbet plane to use, even over my cast-iron Stanley knockoff.
I just recently rewatched that. If I am recalling correctly, he even used pine stock.
Pine's fantastic for planemaking, I don't understand why it's not used more. It's trickier to cut the geometry, but it's material most of us already have lying around. @@steveherman6909
It's a rebate plane when Mr Sellers teaches you how to make it ;)
I recently repaired a 200 year old doorframe. Had no router fitting the old moulding. Found the perfect moulding plane in my collection. It was not super sharp though. A sharpening video for these specialty planes would be great ❤. Thanks and greetings from Switzerland
Hi, i really appreciate the mindset towards autonomy and trust in oneself and what hand can do; and also the "counterpart": you have to be aware of what you do and you deserve all the result. Great great great value. May i suggest another way for that joint: you can also use a saw, carcass saw or even panel saw depending what you're doing, so you end with a square long stick reusable piece of wood. And you finish and clean the cut with either rabbet plane or chisel (for small sized projects i prefer by far chisel). Regards from France (sorry for my approximative english).
Thanks Rex! I bought mine from the wife of my old neighbor when he passed suddenly for five bucks (along with a bunch of other amazing things and specifically a Stanley Number 4 in great condition.) I never really knew what it was for or even how to use it. Now I have a good start to learn how to use it. Thanks for helping me honor my sister-in-law's dad's memory.
This is the most underrated woodworking channel on RUclips, great vid!
As a fan of the Woodright’s Shop and hand techniques without power, I greatly appreciate you keeping these skills alive and sharing what you learned while picking these skills up.
The cost for entry as a hobbyist is way lower with hand tools. I also find that using hand tools makes the craft more meditative and connects me to projects more.
The nice thing about the old tools like a rabbit plane is if your in a pinch, you can always throw one together yourself if you really needed to. Some do, and end up not stopping until its a fully carved brass inlaid tool that makes the other tools look terrible. So then a rabbit hole starts where all tools need to match the same quality. ....
I usualy tip the plane one the first cut, just using the edge for the groove. It makes the second cut follow better
I clad my entire extension in 150mm thick planks, overlapped using rebates, cut using a rebate plane. You just have to follow the pencil line with the corner of the plane to create a shoulder. I used that technique on the long side of 57 planks. Never learnt it from anyone and I'd never used that plane before, it just made sense to me to do it that way.
Now, THAT is stamina! Good job!
What a classic Rex Krueger video, clear, approachable and most importantly a useful skill. I'm gonna keep my eye out for a rebate plane now
I just got one from Amish country in Ohio. Can't wait to make a box for my Sharpening plates and supplies using rabbit joints.
Me too!
I always loved watching the New Yankee Workshop and The Woodwright's Shop on PBS when I was a kid. It was magical watching furniture come together without power tools
I find it easier to start the rabbets using a deep marking marking gauge line, and then tilting the plane so that only the corner is riding in that line (cutting a triangular "dado"). Just a few passes, enough to seat the plane, then I gradually lower the angle until it's back to being a square rabbet shape and I can size it from there. If the dimension is super important I would use this technique with a smaller rabbet and then go back and increase the depth of it by flipping the plane around and going the other way against the vertical side.
... almost like watching the entire video first?
@@mandowarrior123 I did! Didn't see anything about staring the rabbet at an angle, but it's not impossible I missed it.
Ive been watching you for years, and just wanted to say how much I appreciate you. And how much you inspire me in my woodworking journey!
I don't even work with wood and I think I could realistically learn this in like a few hours. cool video :D
I was getting tools in and out of the shed on the weekend and saw, on my unusably over cluttered bench, my wooden rebate plane I bought a year or so ago still with the little white price tag on string from the antique shop.
Then you go and put this video up.
Thenk you so much.
Hey Rex! How cool to see someone I know on RUclips! One point you may want to make is that these hand tools are way quieter than any power tool. Now I'll have to go through my stash of old planes. Thanks for the tips and keep 'em coming!
Here is the next challenge for you; Create a video to show how we can make a rabbet plane ourselves, including sourcing and prepping the iron.😀
Hi Rex! I want to thank you for your videos about Planes and Low benches.
Thanks to your educational videos I am currently building my own Lowbench, with mostly handtools and mediocre skill :D
I love Matthew book, it’s great read and very detailed explanations. He also sells planes, very beautiful and well made, almost you want to not use them but then when you do, you get delighted
You can also do the fence technique with a wheel marking gage. As long as the edges of the plane are crisp, it works perfectly.
And I need to say: I would love to own one of those skewed planes, but I searched forever without finding one. Meanwhile I had three straight ones and what should I say - they work as well. So please don't feel stopped by finding the "wrong" tool. Just buy it, it's cheap, and start and if you find a better one some day you can update.
By the way: nice to see you fuzzing around with the hammer 😂 Sometimes it's the same here, it takes a million hits to get it right. And sometimes it's straight on right away. Probably also a matter of practice.
Hey Rex, great video! I love rabbet planes. I have a whole drawer full of them in my garage, and have done joints exactly like this video 😁 I have one I got a number of years ago that's 14" long, 1 1/2" wide, with a full tote (handle) on the back. So it's a rabbet plane the size of a jack, AKA a jack rabbet 🤣 It's got one of those extra chunky laminated irons that cuts like a dream, and has forged knickers on both sides. It's my favorite wooden plane.
I’m slightly jealous!
@TheMrchuck2000 I've never seen another quite like it. It's a really cool one, especially since I can call it a jack rabbet. A pun that's wasted on so many of my friends
There's always a tradeoff between using complex or power tools and having the skill to do the job without filling my basement with noise and sawdust. I can make much better cuts with my table saw than I can with a handsaw. I am impressed with your skill with a rabbet plane but I have a complete $10 Stanley fillister plane that I get great results with. Paul Sellers makes it all look so easy but he has developed skills over a lifetime. I did chemistry and computer programming.
I enjoy woodworking and am improving my hand tool skills. As time goes on I use hand tools more and more. But sometimes it is important to build the project well and on time so I take advantage of the skills of those at Beaver who designed and made my table saw and those at Stanley who made my fillister plane..
You can technically make one too, all you need is the steel for the cutter and if you know a blacksmith, or have your own coffee can forge and a few appropriate tools, you can do that too. Then you can throw on any personal adjustments and do-dads you think would make it better for you.
I just acquired the parts to make a two-brick propane forge. I’m making a replacement tongueing iron for a wooden t&g plane I picked up. It’s a fun rabbit (rabbet? rebate?) hole to go down!
It almost seems like those old people knew what they were doing... -again! :) Thanks for the lesson :)
To be fair, the argument wasnt modern technique vs old technique. It was what was the old technique
Who doesnt love a bit of experimental archeology
@@daniwalmsley611 I'd argue its old knowledge vs. new ignorance. -A lost technique, if you will. :)
Im a semi-professional tailor of men's bespoke historical suits 1890 to 1940. You know what - people in 1980 - 1940 REALLY knew what they were doing.
I am constantly amazed when I follow an old pattern or technique from an old book ant it turns out to be the BEST way to do a thing, even if at first it seems completely counter-intuitive, people in the past were if anything - more capable and intelligent than we are.
@@graydanerasmussen4071 "I'd argue its old knowledge vs. new ignorance. -A lost technique, if you will" the problem is most old books say things like "finish in the usual way", "cut the joint as normal" - they assume you know the basics and a lot of the time - we dont...
@@piccalillipit9211 Precisely. :)
I want one! But thanks to James W I own a Stanley 45 and 55. So can't explain to my wife why I need another plane. LOLOLOL Love a Patron . Great value. Yeah, I always share that!
I know right? I've been practicing with my own #45 to build a storage box for said #45. Hand tools are great fun.
I feel like the tilt start on the rabbit plane would be a great way to make a knife wall for critical saw cuts
Probably not in practice. The rebate/rabbit plane is generally used on rip cuts. It works on crosscuts, but if you consider that the majority of your saw cuts that you'll be doing that require a knife wall shoulder will be on the edge of a board. In other words, you'll only be severing the depth of the board. That would make it quite unstable for the plane to balance on. Furthermore, you're probably going to be using a chisel at some point in the joint process, so you'll have that out already. If it's a tenon you're cutting then you might have a shoulder plane to hand for fitting, so I guess you could try that. But chisel all the way for me!
Another very timely video from you Rex. I just found one for $10 and boy the price is just right. I didn't know about the setup. Now to cut my rebates. With my rebate plane.
Another great video Krueger. You convey a lot of info quickly and clearly. I love to see you promote use of hand tools. i learned a bit from John Gardner in the 1970's when he taught traditional boat building at Mystic Sea Port. With practice you can do a lot fairly quickly with hand tools. Thanks!
I wish I had the time to just do hand tool wood working. Unfortunately I have only three to four hours a week to lend myself to the craft so I am much more likely to use my router for stuff like this. But it's an invaluable asset to have videos like yours teaching us the original way to do things like this because eventually I'm going to have more time on my hands, and I will start to hate LOUD NOISES! I'm think that is when these videos will be the most helpful for me. 😂
MS Bickford shows how to set this plane with the bench instead of a hammer. He is the master of a these planes. Thanks for the video!
I've maintained for a while that one of the primary uses of modern power tools is to supplant skill.
There's nothing you can do with a table saw that you can't do just as well with a hand saw. But you need to put the time and effort into learning the skills.
Great work! You can also use a router plane to sharpen up the edges.
Fun fact: you can still buy brand new Stanley #78s. That’s how I got mine, and it came with all the parts!
Rex, another great video. I love your, no nonsense delivery style, fun and informative. Thank you
Always get more inspiration from watching you, thanks Rex
Thanks Rex. Take care & stay safe.
This video left me convinced ... that one does indeed need a fence and a depth stop
I just picked up a rabbet plane at a yard sale so very timely and great advice!
Just spend the last hour and a bit getting one I had on a shelf cleaned and working. Thanks for the inspiration!
Rex this video reminds me of the
“Thor’s hammer” video so much, lots of passion for woodworking and not afraid to think outside the box.
Thank you for what you do Rex!
Now you're just handing out the secrets. 😉
My theory is the medieval and prior craftsmen, (actually even Renaissance), used the simplest tools for a reason. Sure you had to master how to use them first, but when you did, you could just pick them up and not have to fiddle with settings and different part attachments, calculations, etc.
For instance measuring and markings done with a compass (or pair of compasses, proper) and a straight edge instead of rulers, tape measures, custom made templates, etc.
I can make a square, and a square line or even a perfect 45° with just a compass and straight edge, no square, ruler, or batteries needed. Sure it takes longer, but if I have these limited tools I can still get the job done. And even if I'm in the middle of the desert with only a crooked stick with a piece of yarn, I can make beautiful squares and geometric shapes all day long.
This is just one example that doesn't seem practical, but the knowledge of knowing advanced techniques using the bare minimum basic tools leads to complex intricate work that I can do, and do them efficiently and proficiently.
THEOREM I:
It is by the straight line and circle that the first and most simple example and representation of all things may be demonstrated, whether such things be either non-existent or merely hidden under Nature's veils.
-John Dee
I only doo very basic woodworking and only when I need something but I love this channel. Keep up the good work Rex.
Another excellent video! I love old tools. It might be a genetic thing as a few generations ago my family were cabinet makers. I watched my grandfather use these tools as a kid. Thank you.
Rex! Thanks for showing the finicky setup of the rabbet plane! There are days where i wonder how people set those things up
I found the rebate to be a surprisingly tricky joint to get right.
I have one of those European fillister planes (which I found for about 10.-, they're quite common in Switzerland), but I sharpened the blade incorrectly and it didn't stick out the side of the plane (so no square rabbits).
I also had a few rabbit planes, but in Europe they almost never have a skewed blade. However, they sometimes have a cap iron.
I also got a WS78 Stanley style plane from England, but it was a bit fiddly...
In the end, my best plane for this joint is a Swiss Lachapelle fillister plane, similar to your ECE. With the nicker and skewed blade, as well as depth and width stops it is very precise and leaves a clean joint.
The W78 lives in my tool box without the fences and stops and is my go-to plane changing an existing rabbit. The circular nicker is a bit useless though compared to the Swiss plane.
A technique I've been experimenting with is using my Record 050 plough plane for starting a rebate: it usually has a small blade for grooves. I set it to cut along my gauge line for the rabbit to start my cut. With this done, I grab the W78 (without any stops or fences) and freehand the rest of the joint.
The other tools to mention are my router plane that can perfect a rabbit's depth.
One thing that is very important, is that you can form hardwood to the perfect dimensions by sawing, cutting, planing and what not... but wood is a natural stuff. It "works" as we use to say in Germany, meaning you can never do something 100% in wood, you can only do 100% work in metals. Even 100 years ago, allot stuff was hand-made and not 100% perfect. It doesn't have to.
I made a great little built-in shelf in the bathroom under a weird countertop extension using rabbeted shelves.
I cut them with my circular saw into plywood. As long as you're careful in your setup/layout, it works great!
perfect pedagogical performance. bravo!
Now I can’t wait to get home and start working!!!! Thanks for the information. Sure looks like more fun than using my jointer and quieter.
Fantastic! Thanks a bunch for the lesson, Rex! 😃
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Works like magic.
Priceless advice! Thank you.
Finally someone setting a wooden plane with a metal hammer... once you master how to properly strike with a hammer (hammer face landing flat on the wood) you find that you really need to be brutal to dent the wood
Thanks for saying that out loud.
"they say never cut a rabbit with a rabbit plane."
*uses fingertips as fence gets huge splinter*
"ah, now the old saying makes sense."
I always thought of a rebate plane as a high angle shoulder plane with a fence, like the no. 78. I learned joinery from my grandfather, who apprenticed in London in the early 20th century between the wars. He only used metal Stanley and Record tools (and a few less well made knock offs we never did get to work well.) I may well have it wrong though, that was a very long time ago.
I did a course with The Schwarz when he visited the UK a decade ago now, he showed us how to use a shoulder plane, using your fingers as a fence.
I still bought a Veritas rebate plane when I had the money, the one with the skewed iron and fence. I suppose it's just a preference thing.
Once I saw a carpenter using his wood planes on a German medival fair. He never used a hammer to adjust the iron just ticked the plane against the worktable in a fluid motion between shavings using inertia of mass. Since then I see no advantage on Stanley style adjustable planes anymore for a skilled carpenter. Skilled in using wood planes as they have less friction. To be honest this is not for beginners but gave me a complete different view on the very expensive playthings from Veritas and others. Your rabbet plane is about $ 50 new in Germany.
I was 100% certain that the tapping montage that started at 6:00 was going to last the entire remaining ten minutes of the video.
have you ever done a tour of your toolbox, the one in the background full of chisels? thank for all the content, rex
2:09 well, teach me, Obiwan! I am here? I have my rosewood soled skew rabbet plane (and I have left the wooden dado plane on the shelf for this exercise). I am excited to learn how to use this thing.
Love your down to earth approach.
Thank you!
What you are calling a rabbet plane I was taught is a skewed shoulder plane. Regardless it's one of the most used in my arsenal. It has a heavy iron that was aggressively hollow ground at some point. At a little heavier than 3/16" I'm glad it is.
This was really wonderful! Thanks, Rex! 🙂
Beautiful video. Very relaxing 😴
Rex, thanks for the great overview and demonstrations. Could you follow up on cross grain use of rabbit (molding) planes. The projects you illustrate at the end of the video have cross grain rabbit joints.
Planing the sole will typically open the throat slightly, but the throat can be tightened with cardboard
As a shim behind the iron, I’m assuming? Good tip.
@ Yes. I literally use a piece of cereal box cardboard behind the iron of my Stanley #78. It makes it dig less, chatter less, and makes it easier to control.
2:25 in NJ, we often deal with high prices on antique tools, *because* they are being sold to somebody who just wants to hang them on a wall
(instead of somebody who realizes that a rusty old drawknife shouldn’t be $60)
I think most people don't realize how much dexterity you need to use traditional hand tools properly. Makes people think you can't use the tools for what they were made for. It's just a skill issue.
I like to think, if a tool requires high skill, then either the process is complicated or a better tool can make it simpler.
Sure having skill is useful but it's not what we want. We want the end product.
This is coming from a mechanical engineering not a carpenter.
@@pianissimo7121well there's a reason we have ikea, and there's also a reason that we have people who use these old tools.
Things are lost to progress. A worker not needing skills is a good thing and a bad thing, because you get today's manufacturing, both very cheap en masse, and of poor reputation
@@gabrielsturdevant9700 ya fair enough.
Excellent advice, as ever. Thanks, Rex.
I envy your sharpening skills. That plane iron was taking off whisper thin shavings.
Thanks Rex.
Thank you, Rex!
Thanks, Rex. I have even cut rabbets with my shoulder plane.
You make it look so easy. It probably is, after a significant amount of practice. But my table saw and router get in the way of me practicing.🙂🙂
I feel like Roy Underhill must have demonstrated these techniques on his show at some point. The tilt technique looks familiar.
Depending on the size of the rebate and the value of the wood you are working, turning it to shavings may be less beneficial than sawing it out to get a little stick of said wood.
Great video, great book.
I enjoy your videos and like this one as well. I was waiting to see the cross-grain rabbet using the tool without a knicker. I guess just relieve the grain with a knife? Thanks again.
Yes, I would say. Or cut with a fine saw.
Picked up a very similar old rabbet plane from a thrift store the other day, and it didn't take much to restore it to good working order. It's a good tool, and in some cases I prefer it to setting up the router to achieve the same result. With far less risk of a mishap that'll ruin the work piece.
Elmer Fud ,,, is probably gonna be knocking on your shop door....
Looking for that Silly Wabbit
I made one from a trim plane that I got and it was in poor shape. Those things are like 10-15$ at a local antique store. And I've cut a lot of rabbets for dovetails with it. Great tool
Hey, Rex. You mentioned about the skewed iron being good for cross grain work. Since you went with the grain for the purpose of the video, I was wondering if the technique (particularly the freehand method) is slightly different when going cross grain.
Also a big benefit of these planes it that once you held one in your hands you know how to make one.
Almost all my rebating is done with my Stanley 90 bull nosed plane.
This is because I am left handed so choices are limited.
I would give my right arm to be ambidextrous!
But wouldn't that be kinda pointless, when you have to give your right arm to get ambidextrous 🤔
The 90 is my favorite Stanley! So much so, that I own 5 of them. Extremely under-appreciated tool, IMO.
Thanks for a realy informativ video.
Now i know how to use a rabbitplane. Cant wate to try one out. Need a projekt😀
Missing a part of the Stanley 78, I wrote the company and the part came in the mail. Btw, no charge.
Great lesson, thanks!
I love anything i can do with a good sharp hand plane.
I have a wooden plane like that by JBPO, the iron is extremely hard Sandvik steel!
Thanks Rex. Never knew there was a purpose-made planing stop. Now i know what it is and what it looks like. It looks kinda lie one of my old oscillator blades might work.
Might be a bit thin (the metal), but definitely try it! I think Rex has a video of making one, from part of a hinge, if I remember right.
@TheMrchuck2000 thanks. I'll look for that video. Or, perhaps, Mr Krueger might pin a link hereabouts.
I like using rabbit joints !
Another great video, Rex. Don't let this scare you, but you're on the path to become the next Roy Underhill. Lol.
Cool. Now show us how to cut a rabbet across the grain with only that plane. You know, like you would have to do for all of the projects and examples you showed. I'll wait.