Great post and insightful comments. As someone new to woodworking, your book and blog posts help me better understand the best tools for each job without “selling” me as many reviews do. It’s nice to get honest advice. Thanks again.
Jason
]]>ok. Mark-
in my opinion it isn’t.
I never use my skew block for block plane tasks….what can I say??
- I have a lot of block planes!!!!!
how much better is a skew block at block plane tasks than a regular low angle block?
]]>good to hear from you and thanks for the question.
The skew block will certainly do some jobs that the skew rabbet isn’t suited to- why? because its a block plane. So things like trimming end grain and fine tuning tenons can be easily tackled by the skew block but I wouldn’t reach for the skew rabbet to do those type of jobs.
I think when we put ‘skew’ in front of the plane-word it throws some people off- the skew block plane is just that- a block plane with a fancy iron and fence. You can leave the fence off and use it as you would any other bock plane.
The skew rabbet is more of a one trick pony, its size and set up keep it from the versatility of the block. Its good at cutting rabbets, don’t get me wrong, but as mentioned I wouldn’t use it for small scale things better suited to a block plane.
cheers! ]]>
Here’s a follow up question: If a skew block can do raised panels, I assume the skew rabbet could also, so is there anything that a skew rabbet can’t do that a skew block can?
thanks
]]>I think some people think I work for one of these fancy wood working publications or that I get paid or make money writing these posts….truth is, I build furniture using hand tools and enjoy the process and when I recommend a tool its because I use it on a daily basis in my work shop and I certainly don’t have a problem with letting readers know what I think.
happy shavings! ]]>
Great post and insightful comments. As someone new to woodworking, your book and blog posts help me better understand the best tools for each job without “selling” me as many reviews do. It’s nice to get honest advice. Thanks again.
Jason
]]>thanks for the comments- and that’s a really good question. I suppose it depends on how much you do with a small shoulder plane…I use my Lie Nielsen small bronze, infill shoulder plane quite often for little trimming and tunings as well as fairing mouldings and other small jobs like that. I don’t think I’d grab the detail rabbet in the same way- why?
The sole in front of the mouth is quite short so some jobs would still be better suited to a small shoulder. These planes almost replace some chiseling jobs instead of some small shoulder plane jobs-does that make sense?
If you don’t already have a small shoulder plane and have been using say, a medium or large shoulder for the bulk of your work then maybe this would be a good choice. But as far as replacing a small shoulder plane- I don’t think so.
Different animal…
These would also be a good choice for cleaning out the bottom of grooves and dados and because of the different widths available, they tend to be quite versatile.
Hope that helps. ]]>
Thanks for your thoughts on the detail rabbet plane. How would you compare it to a small shoulder plane? Could it take the place of one?
thx!
Dave
two words to answer: depth stop.
the LV skew rabbet has one while the LN skew block doesn’t….I tend to use the skew rabbet for cutting rabbets- and the skew block for things like raised panels where depth accuracy isn’t absolutely vital.
Hope that helps.
]]>