Bob, Finally pick up a grouping of 3 decent dado planes a 3/8, 5/8, and 7/8”. Kind of wish I had a 1/2 instead of a 5/8, but time will tell. The 3/8 obviously has the most mileage on it, but I’m excited to get these tuned a little. Thank you for for videos! I am very often looking up your videos that I’ve watched (and sometimes rewatched already multiple times), yours is content that seems to have some of the longest legs and is on balance some of the most useful I have access to. Thank you again and I hope this finds you and the family doing well.
Excellent video. Thank you... I need a dado plane, but in my country I am not able to find one, so I'll try to make myself a one, and your video will help a lot 👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏
I just picked up a box of old planes at a yard sale and i wanted to know how to use this and one of them is exactly similar. It is Ohio tool co # 48 DFN . I don't know what any of that means. Thanks for vid.
I picked up a wooden dado plane yesterday at an estate sale. It's missing both irons and the wedge for the cutting iron. It is well-made and square. The depth stop is also in great shape. Hoping to restore it, probably using a pair of inexpensive chisels for the irons and cutting a new wedge. Should this work? Any advice? Thanks!
It might work. But you might also consider some molding plane iron blanks. You can get them new from Lie-Nielsen www.lie-nielsen.com/nodes/4142/tapered-molding-plane-iron-blanks. You’d have to harden and temper them yourself after grinding the bevel, but that’s not difficult and they’re already shaped and tapered.
Excellent video. Thank you. Should we just think of the wooden body as being like the skate on a plow, so its width doesn't matter very much? It's the blade width that matters? We'd like it wide so that the mouth helps, but if we need to flatten the body with a plane to to straighten it, is it correct that it doesn't matter that the body is now narrower than the blade and we shouldn't change the blade width (like we might do with a rabbet plane)? In the demonstration, it looked like the side of the work, where the plane exits, blew out a bit. Does that mean more tuning was needed, or do you need to knife the exit?
ef2b ef2b Actually the sole and body width do matter, but there’s some wiggle room. Like a rabbet plane, the blade (both of them in this case) must project past the sides of the body a bit for the plane to function properly. If they don’t the plane body will bind because it is captured between the two walls of the dado. But if the body is too narrow (like a skated combination plane) the blade can torque. This can be a problem when trying to use wide blades in a combination plane and it’s one of the reasons that they just don’t work as well as a dedicated dado or rabbet plane. Traditional plow planes didn’t have blades wider than about ½”. There just wasn’t enough support for a blade that wide. As for the far side of the joint breaking out, that will happen if you don’t scribe the depth of the joint with a marking gauge. I don’t typically worry about it though. When I plane dados, I typically plane toward the back of the case where there will be a rabbet to house the case back. Planing the long grain rabbet usually planes away the spelching caused by the exiting dado plane.
@@BRFineWoodworking Thank you for the detailed reply- very helpful. It sounds like, if you need to true up the body of the plane so that the blades are just a little wider than the sole, maybe 1/16 to 3/32 (?), you'll be okay. Is that consistent with what you call wiggle room? I just cleaned up the depth stop mortise on mine, examined the flatness of the body, and it looks like the blades will be proud by about that much. I'd guess the wood has shrunk over the years. If you have a minute, please let me know how big you'd let "wiggle room" be before you'd worry. Your video really helped me a great deal. Before it, I thought of the blade as the main element of a dado plane. Now, I understand it is really the scoring blade that matters most and the skewed blade is just clearing waste. It's just like cutting by hand hand where you chop (or saw) the sides with a chisel and that's what defines the dado width. When you pare, it's just waste clean out. Of course, the main blade and depth stop define a nice bottom.
I think your 1/16" to 1/32" is fine. But if you have to remove more wood than that, you start to get into more trouble than it's worth as you'll likely start planing into the scoring iron mortise, which will ruin the plane. There's not much wood on the sides of that mortise.
Please may I ask what could be the most ignorant question you’ve ever been asked in regard to woodwork? What is the advantage of a dado plane, except for the scoring irons, over a router plane? A really interesting video, thank you.
No question is ignorant when the person asking is genuinely interested in learning the answer. As they say, the only dumb question is the one not asked. I prefer the dado plane because it is much faster than sawing the shoulders and then removing the waste with chisel and router plane. Also, when making a pair of case sides, I can put the two case sides with their front edges touching each other, nail on a batten, and plane across both case sides at the same time. This makes two joints at the same time, and ensures that they will line up on both case sides. The disadvantage of course is that the dado plane is designed for a single sized dado, though with a smaller one, like a 3/8", you can make just about any size from 3/8" and wider.
Hi bob Thank you for the video I have a 3/8 dodo wooden moulding plane , the scewing/nicking iron and wedge was missing. I was able to get it working again . Thanks again Best regards paul
I just restored an antique wooden dado plane and love how quickly you can cut dadoes! Thanks you for the detailed instructions, Bob!
Bob, Finally pick up a grouping of 3 decent dado planes a 3/8, 5/8, and 7/8”. Kind of wish I had a 1/2 instead of a 5/8, but time will tell. The 3/8 obviously has the most mileage on it, but I’m excited to get these tuned a little. Thank you for for videos! I am very often looking up your videos that I’ve watched (and sometimes rewatched already multiple times), yours is content that seems to have some of the longest legs and is on balance some of the most useful I have access to.
Thank you again and I hope this finds you and the family doing well.
I was just given a whole bunch of wooden planes and a dado plane was one of them. This will be great for bringing it back to life.
So jealous. I don't think there's a single wooden plane in my whole county.
Thanks for your expertise on such a specialist topic
Excellent tutorial! You cleared up several items where I was confused !
Excellent video. Thank you... I need a dado plane, but in my country I am not able to find one, so I'll try to make myself a one, and your video will help a lot 👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏
Very nice overview. I just picked up a few of these and need to try them out.
Nice to have you back Bob.
Bob.... Nice to see you back
I just picked up a box of old planes at a yard sale and i wanted to know how to use this and one of them is exactly similar. It is Ohio tool co # 48 DFN . I don't know what any of that means. Thanks for vid.
I picked up a wooden dado plane yesterday at an estate sale. It's missing both irons and the wedge for the cutting iron. It is well-made and square. The depth stop is also in great shape. Hoping to restore it, probably using a pair of inexpensive chisels for the irons and cutting a new wedge. Should this work? Any advice? Thanks!
It might work. But you might also consider some molding plane iron blanks. You can get them new from Lie-Nielsen www.lie-nielsen.com/nodes/4142/tapered-molding-plane-iron-blanks. You’d have to harden and temper them yourself after grinding the bevel, but that’s not difficult and they’re already shaped and tapered.
Excellent video. Thank you.
Should we just think of the wooden body as being like the skate on a plow, so its width doesn't matter very much? It's the blade width that matters? We'd like it wide so that the mouth helps, but if we need to flatten the body with a plane to to straighten it, is it correct that it doesn't matter that the body is now narrower than the blade and we shouldn't change the blade width (like we might do with a rabbet plane)?
In the demonstration, it looked like the side of the work, where the plane exits, blew out a bit. Does that mean more tuning was needed, or do you need to knife the exit?
ef2b ef2b Actually the sole and body width do matter, but there’s some wiggle room. Like a rabbet plane, the blade (both of them in this case) must project past the sides of the body a bit for the plane to function properly. If they don’t the plane body will bind because it is captured between the two walls of the dado. But if the body is too narrow (like a skated combination plane) the blade can torque. This can be a problem when trying to use wide blades in a combination plane and it’s one of the reasons that they just don’t work as well as a dedicated dado or rabbet plane. Traditional plow planes didn’t have blades wider than about ½”. There just wasn’t enough support for a blade that wide.
As for the far side of the joint breaking out, that will happen if you don’t scribe the depth of the joint with a marking gauge. I don’t typically worry about it though. When I plane dados, I typically plane toward the back of the case where there will be a rabbet to house the case back. Planing the long grain rabbet usually planes away the spelching caused by the exiting dado plane.
@@BRFineWoodworking Thank you for the detailed reply- very helpful. It sounds like, if you need to true up the body of the plane so that the blades are just a little wider than the sole, maybe 1/16 to 3/32 (?), you'll be okay. Is that consistent with what you call wiggle room? I just cleaned up the depth stop mortise on mine, examined the flatness of the body, and it looks like the blades will be proud by about that much. I'd guess the wood has shrunk over the years. If you have a minute, please let me know how big you'd let "wiggle room" be before you'd worry.
Your video really helped me a great deal. Before it, I thought of the blade as the main element of a dado plane. Now, I understand it is really the scoring blade that matters most and the skewed blade is just clearing waste. It's just like cutting by hand hand where you chop (or saw) the sides with a chisel and that's what defines the dado width. When you pare, it's just waste clean out. Of course, the main blade and depth stop define a nice bottom.
I think your 1/16" to 1/32" is fine. But if you have to remove more wood than that, you start to get into more trouble than it's worth as you'll likely start planing into the scoring iron mortise, which will ruin the plane. There's not much wood on the sides of that mortise.
this is helpful
Please may I ask what could be the most ignorant question you’ve ever been asked in regard to woodwork? What is the advantage of a dado plane, except for the scoring irons, over a router plane?
A really interesting video, thank you.
No question is ignorant when the person asking is genuinely interested in learning the answer. As they say, the only dumb question is the one not asked.
I prefer the dado plane because it is much faster than sawing the shoulders and then removing the waste with chisel and router plane. Also, when making a pair of case sides, I can put the two case sides with their front edges touching each other, nail on a batten, and plane across both case sides at the same time. This makes two joints at the same time, and ensures that they will line up on both case sides. The disadvantage of course is that the dado plane is designed for a single sized dado, though with a smaller one, like a 3/8", you can make just about any size from 3/8" and wider.
Bob Rozaieski Fine Woodworking Thank you very much for your answer, I appreciate the explanation.
Love it !!!
Hi bob
Thank you for the video I have a 3/8 dodo wooden moulding plane , the scewing/nicking iron and wedge was missing. I was able to get it working again . Thanks again
Best regards
paul