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Poor man's rabbet/rebate plane

2003 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Cherryville Chuck
I came across this video of Paul Sellers making a home made rabbet/rebate plane from a chisel and a piece of 2 by 4. It's almost an hour long but there are spots where you can skip ahead a few minutes at a time. It's worth watching just to see how handy Paul is with his chisel at paring away the unwanted parts. This is a great idea for woodworkers on a budget (or not) because you could make one for every size chisel you have that would match the width or any rabbet/rebate you are likely to make without costing you a single cent. Just make the body and wedge and when you need it stick the appropriate chisel in it and set the depth and tighten the wedge and away you go either making the rabbet/rebate or fine tuning one you made on the TS or router table.

Paul shows how to do it using no power tools except for a cordless drill but I would do it differently by laminating pieces together. That would allow using a table and or chop saw to make the angled cuts which would be faster, easier, and more accurate than trying it by hand. Paul makes the pocket for the blade and wedge with a backsaw and then pares out the waste with a chisel and router plane. You could just as easily cut separate front and rear pieces at the right angles and laminate them onto a main body. You would just need to match the thickness of your laminations to the width of the chisel you are putting in it. Also, where Paul adds a fence onto the bottom of the plane you could just laminate the pieces on 1/2" to an 1" above the bottom edge of the main body and the main body would then be the fence.

Here is the video. Enjoy.
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thanks....
Good video...thanks...it's one of my bookmarked videos...enjoy it every time...
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Charles, I watched this video about a year back, while looking for something else - glad I found the Sellers series.
But I like your idea better. What daunted me a bit about his method, was the fettling require - I would have had to start with making the router plane.
You have re-inspired me.
But I must also say that I bought an inexpensive Japanese rebate plane, that does an admirable job - better than my skill level. All it needs is a fence, for which I must re-visit Sellers' design.
Thanks.
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I have been following Paul for a number of years. He used to live in Texas for a while and I saw him at a wood working show in Fort Worth just before he moved back to England. He is one of the few hand tool masters left out there and is an excellent instructor. If you are interested in learning hand tools I would advise you to follow him on Youtube and/or his web site.
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Paul Sellers is certainly worth the watch on everything he does. If you're not interested in the project you still pick up very useful methods of procedures that are good to see and do. He's more of a hand tool fella but that's good as well. I try to be somewhere in the middle, hybrid I think they call it. He has a very good series on refurbishing hand planes and a sharpening series as well. I subscribe to his free site and find it wildly informing. He has a build series for a plywood work bench which is very informative.
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I'm finding that more and more I'm tending to sneak up on perfection after getting close with machining by using a hand tool. I'm way less likely to overshoot my mark that way. I watched another of his videos last night about making a through mortise and tenon joint, with only hand tools of course, and it was exceptionally clever. He really is handy doing it by hand.
But I must also say that I bought an inexpensive Japanese rebate plane, that does an admirable job - better than my skill level. All it needs is a fence, for which I must re-visit Sellers' design.
Thanks.
Is that a pull plane?
HErb
Paul has a lot of great ideas that help add details to a project and they cost next to nothing. Here is a video he did on variations on a shop-made scribe he showed in another video. I have one in the shop somewhere that I made using this idea for creating beads on the edge of a board. I also made it for double use by using a large screw and a small screw so I could make two different size beads.

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Is that a pull plane?
HErb

@Herb Stoops
Herb, sorry for late reply - wanted to include photos.
Yes, is is a pull plane. There should be a model for the opposite side (handedness), but have not been to the store for a while (in a city 1400 km away), and probably out of stock with Covid.
Produces the expected wafer-thin shavings, but can also be set for quite an aggressive cut. Needs to be started against a guide - ideal for cleaning up rebates produced by other means. But I think it could take a fence like Sellers' model, on the sole. Like my metal side rabbet plane. Must say I find the pull plane easier to use than the latter.

They also make dado planes, with a shoulder on either side of the blade, but only in limited dado widths.

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Paul has a lot of great ideas that help add details to a project and they cost next to nothing. Here is a video he did on variations on a shop-made scribe he showed in another video. I have one in the shop somewhere that I made using this idea for creating beads on the edge of a board. I also made it for double use by using a large screw and a small screw so I could make two different size beads.
Mike a copy of that belongs in Paduke's Shop Hack's thread so I put a copy of it there.
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