I am a published woodworking author

[Dodgy Loner]

Well not really :.

I opened my latest issue of Popular Woodworking and found that a question I wrote to Chris Schwarz, the senior editor of Popular Woodworking, was the featured letter in the "Letters from Our Readers" section.  Since the publishers did not ask before publishing my letter, I suppose it will be okay if I don't ask before reproducing it here ;).

My question:

I'm a newcomer to the craft of woodworking, and due to my limited budget, my accumulation of tools has been slow and methodical.  My next major purchase is a rabbeting plane to be used primarily for planing tenons to proper thickness after sawing or splitting them out.  I know you usually give a roundabout answer when asked to recommend specific brands, but I am more interested in what style of plane I should go for.  A shoulder plane seems handy, but would the blade be too narrow?  Would I be better off with a rabbeting block plane?  Or maybe an old wooden rabbet plane of some sort?  I'm primarily looking at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks and Lee Valley tools, but I do love rehabbing old tools if there are vintage Stanleys or woodies that would serve my purpose.

And the response:

I would actually recommend a router plane, such as a Stanley No. 71, or a new router plane from Lie-Nielsen or Lee Valley.  A router plane is a fantastic tool for sizing tenons to thickness - far more accurate than a rabbet plane (or even a shoulder plane, which is great for shoulders).  A router plane can get a set of tenons all to the same thickness - and centered on your stock.  You can read about the took and the technique here.

I see it as a short hop from my first published query in a woodworking magazine to fame and fortune and a Maloof-like following in the days to come ;D.

[Tom]

Congratulations, Dodgey

A humorous post, but more real than you might imagine. Any kind of public publication is a feather in your hat. It not only gives you the incentive to write, but wears down the intimidation that we all have when it comes to confronting the public.  Writing publicly is likened to public speaking but it stays around a lot longer and the fears are that your punctuation and choice of words actually describe what you meant to say.  Yours do.

Public speaking is scary, but the verbal presentation is interpreted by most in their own words and a little fumbling is overlooked.  I still find it almost an impossible task.

I'll be looking forward to your Maloof-like efforts so that I can say, "I knew him when he was just a young fellow".  :D :D

[Dave Shepard]

Congrats on being published!

How do they want you to cleanup the tenons, by hanging the router (routah, as Patrick Leach would say) off the edge? Sounds tricky. I just happened to have my 71 1/2 on the computer desk, don't know how much different it is from a 71:




Dave

[pigman]

Thanks Dave for the picture, I didn't know what a router plane looked like.

I met that Dodgy Loner feller before he was famous and was published. ;) I was published once, if you count my name in the local paper for a traffic violation.

[Dave Shepard]

There are a few different styles of routers. Some have many different inserts for different profiles. I think the Stanley no. 45 is of this type. Google Patricks Blood and Gore for a very complete Stanley plane listing.


Dave

[WDH]

I have never routed with a plane before.  Dodgy, keep us posted if you acquire and use one.

[logwalker]

Congrats to you Dodgy, how about a few more pics and a brief (or not) explanation of router planes and how they are used. This has certainly piqued my interest. Joe

[Dodgy Loner]

How do they want you to cleanup the tenons, by hanging the router (routah, as Patrick Leach would say) off the edge? Sounds tricky.
Dave

Congrats to you Dodgy, how about a few more pics and a brief (or not) explanation of router planes and how they are used. This has certainly piqued my interest. Joe

Click on the word link in my first post for a tutorial on the method that Schwarz recommended.  I'm not sure how useful the router plane would be (for that purpose, anyway), since my hand-chiseled mortises are usually a bit inconsistent.  I need a method of tweaking individual tenons to fit their mortises, so I don't have a need to make every tenon a consistent size.  I may still get one for flattening and adjusting the bottoms of grooves and dados.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Thanks Dave for the picture, I didn't know what a router plane looked like.

I met that Dodgy Loner feller before he was famous and was published. ;) I was published once, if you count my name in the local paper for a traffic violation.

I was published in the school annual several times, and usually they even had my picture if I showed up on the day the school was taking class photos... :D

[thedeeredude]

So Dodgy, ya gonna make your own old woman's tooth?  Congrats on getting published!  :D

[Dodgy Loner]

I've decided to hold off on any further tool acquisitions until I finish renovating the place in which tools shall be put to work :-[

[WDH]

Since you are a hand-tool guy, have you used one of the microplanes?  http://us.microplane.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=29

That is trimming to size the old fashioned way .

[Dodgy Loner]

Yep, I've got the whole set!