One of the most common joints in woodworking is a rabbet joint.
A rabbet, or, (for my friends across the pond), a rebate,
is a recess or groove cut into the edge of a plank.
When viewed in cross-section, a rabbet is two-sided and open to the edge or end of the surface into which it is cut.
The word rabbet comes from the French word rabbat, meaning ‘a recess into a wall.’
There are many ways to execute this joint and this example is just another.
Let’s take a closer look-
Skew Rabbet and Large Shoulder Plane
THE RABBET PLANE
In the last video posted, The Funeral Chair Part Six, the seat slats are rabbeted along their lengths.
If you notice, I use a two plane approach for executing this joint.
Why?
Simply put, more control.
Allow me to explain-
Once I determine the width and depth of the rabbet,
I transfer these measurements onto my rabbet plane fence and depth stop.
My Veritas Skew Rabbet Plane to be precise.
This plane is a wonderful tool, made to the same high standards you’d expect from any premium tool manufacturer.
Problem is, I’ve never had any luck when cutting full rabbets with it.
I always found the rabbet would finish out of square along the vertical, back portion and the sight lines,
( at least for me, while using this plane ) aren’t great.
I certainly don’t blame the tool- I blame the user (me) and that’s OK.
Some tools don’t sit well with every user- this one is mine.
That said, I still use it all the time to remove the bulk of the waste in my rabbet joints and this method works for me.
I tend to get better results by setting my fence a little narrower than the final, desired width of the rabbet.
This leaves a small amount of waste material on the ‘back’, or, ‘vertical’ area of the joint.
The second thing is, I set the depth stop to finish a little shy of my desired depth.
Again, there will be a bit of waste left over on the bottom of the joint.
This may seem like more work and an additional step in removing the waste and you’re right, it is.
But, I don’t mind taking an extra step if my results are better for it.
THE SHOULDER PLANE
With the bulk of the material removed from the rabbet, I set my large shoulder plane for a light cut.
Using the plane in a standard/upright position, I remove the bottom waste material until I’m at my scribe line.
Then, I place the side of the shoulder plane into the rabbet and remove the rest of the waste from the back of the joint.
Working back and forth, I’m able to creep up to my scribe lines for a perfectly square joint.
The sight lines are much better on the shoulder plane and there isn’t any danger of over shooting the scribe lines.
IN CLOSING
There are many ways to cut a rabbet joint.
The most straight forward being a chisel and a mallet.
Add a few saw cuts across the grain and speed up the process.
Maybe you only have a shoulder plane?
You could clamp a baton along your scribe line and execute this joint just fine with only the one plane.
I’m sure many of you reading this will only use the rabbet plane and be completely fine with it.
All of these methods are OK.
This is just another way to get there and is the method that works for me.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Besides loading a dado blade into a table saw, or jigging up a router bit,
what method do you use to cut rabbet joints?
Join the conversation ~
Cheers!
I use the veritas skew rabbet plane as well, and had trouble with “wobble” – it was me too. I overcame it by attaching an oversized fence to the plane, and setting the edge against the edge of my work bench to give me better registration. For me the trick is setting the inside edge of the blade in line with the nicker – I do alot of work against the grain :( in white oak, and any miss creates quite a mess, which has more of my peices using beveled edges at the joint :).
Thanks for the post, keep up the great work!
P.S., do you plan to release your new book in kindle format?
Funny, I read this post a bit after seeing your last video that included some footage of you using the rabbet plane. It struck me at the time that your use of the tool seemed unsteady – lots of motion off vertical, if you know what I mean. I wonder if you slowed down a bit and focused more on the ‘Zen’ of the action, you could achieve results better to your liking.
One of the beauty’s of video is being able to watch yourself work. It’s a great feedback mechanism for improving all aspects of living.
I enjoy your Blog and videos.
Marty,
Thanks for the comments and suggestions.
You’re right, slowing down and making each pass purposeful with intension would probably help the end result of the rabbet.
I strive for that ‘zen’ on a day to day basis.
It’s easy to say but sometimes forgotten in practice!
Thanks for the reminder-; )
Tom
Funny how in french we don’t call it a rabbat. I had always wondered where rebate or rabbet came from. In french we call it “feuillure”
Benjamin,
thanks for the translation- ‘feuillure’ sounds great.
; )
I just use wooden rebate planes, usually with a tempory pinned or clamped on fence to work to. Recently I successfuly started a rebate by very gently and carefully running the rebate plane directly into the scribed marking line, after 3 or 4 very gentle passes a nice fence was created, from which I completed the task in minutes by gradually tilting the plane body back up to vertical, then working “down the hill” to get to the other scribed line. (Someone later told me that a snipe bill plane is ideal for starting a rebate in this fashion). What I like about the wood rebate planes is they remove waste FAST, thick heavy curls. Plus they are light to use. My best one has a brass sole and skewed blade
Before I had my shoulder plane, I used a chisel and my router plane to make rabbets. One time I started the groove with a chisel, cut into the groove with my Veritas rip saw then finished up with my router plane. I just wanted to see if I could do it that way, and it worked out fine. Where there is a will, there is a way. :)
Thanks Graham-
I hear the old Record planes are becoming quite collectable these days.
cheers!
Tom, I often find a Wadkin spindle moulder very good for these kinds of tasks, tungsten carbide tooling and three phase power make light work of forming a rebate (I think I just exposed my geographical location with that).
All joking aside I have used my Record 405 Multi-Plane which seem to do them quite nicely. I do like the look of those Veritas skewed rebate planes, that and the plow are my Veritas faves.
Congrats on the book as well!