Thread: Cleaning out small rebate

Leave it rounded, and then round the corners of the panel you're inserting. Much easier than trying to square it up, if you don't have the right tools.

cheers,

ajw

Not sure if I read your post correctly
Can you cut the rebate before assembly, you will need to stop short of the edge.

Thanks for your comments, there are some good suggestions there.

I am going to have a go at reducing the size of an old spare 6mm Stanley chisel to 4mm.

Any suggestions on how to best to do that without losing the temper of the steel?

I'd save yourself the time and buy a cheapy 3mm chisel if you can find one, I've only seen them online though...

The suggestion about rounding the corners of the bottom insert is straight from the Lee Valley site - I think they may have been the first to come out with that bit.

If you are going to grind down a 'spare' chisel, all I can say is 'carefully'. Big bucket of cold water and give the chisel a dunk & swirl regularly. Use a White alox wheel rather than the common grey ones, they cut quicker & cooler, but in any case, use a scrap of mild steel of roughly the same cross section, polish it a bit & grind it to see how long you have before the steel discolours, then do the dunk & swirl with the chisel well before that time, which will give you a small margin to spot where you put the bucket (DAMHIK).

The swirl is to stop air/steam bubbles insulating the blade which would stop the heat being transferred to the water in spots.

You may also want to make a single saw cut in the middle of the wood you are going to remove which should relieve any pressure that is going to make the thin side split out when you cut with the chisel (same a dovetailing)

Did it OK on a multi-tool linishing attachment attached to my son's bench grinder. It is basically a 60 grit linishing belt passing over a flat piece of steel, but it rotates towards you, so it is difficult to lay the chisel flat.

Followed the above advice, and kept it cool at all times, using my fingers to determine when it was hot.

Made the big mistake of trying to roughly flatten the back, as it was not perfect - that turned the tip blue on the very last pass. Dipped it water immediately, and swirled it too, and the next pass removed the blue OK. Hope I haven't damaged the temper.

Unfortunately , the back now has a bit of a curve on it

So back to the coarse diamond stone to properly flatten it, and after 15 minutes, not much success, especially after wearing off the skin on one finger, as the 4mm wide blade is too narrow

Originally Posted by Dengue

hi, I am about to try my first box with a gifkins jig using dovetail joints.

After the box is dry assembled, I intend using the Gifkins rebate cutter (see below) to cut a slot around the inside perimeter for the base and the lid.

The rebate is 4mm wide x 5mm deep. The problem is that the rebate will not go fully into the corners.

Even if I extend the edges of the rebate with a knife or chisel so that they fully penetrate, how would I clean this rebate out, if the smallest chisel I have is 1/4"?

I would welcome all suggestions and ideas to overcome this problem

If you have a spare plane iron/blade, then you can shave the side of your rebate by lining up the iron along the edge of the rebate and gently pushing down, to cut the bottom of the rebate, lay the iron flat into the rebate (bevel up) and push into the corner, gently, you can obtain clean corners like this

Make sure your blade is razor sharp.

To have a spare blade for this kind of job, getting into tight corners can be very handy, the blade can lay flat on your work and will then not dig in as a chisel might do, the iron can also be used to cut angles of fine work such as inlay and banding, line it up, make sure it is vertical, a gentle tap on top and hey presto.

Andy

Do you have a router table if so why not use that with a straight cutter of the size that you want the rebate. Using the table would mean lowering the work onto the bit and lifting it before the end.
Some one more able than I could possibly put it into words as I am not very good at describing how to

In the end I reduced an old cheap 6mm chisel to 4mm on a linishing belt and used that to extend the slot and clean out 4 ends, as shown below.

With a bit more experience ( this is my first box) I should have chosen the slot height to run into the centre of the dovetail

I like the idea of using a plane blade for extending the edges of a groove


slot_02.jpg slot_01.jpg

Either cut the groove (it is not a rebate) before you assemble - that is how it show be done ...

Or, round the corners of the lid - this does not need to be precise. No one will see what lies inside the groove. In fact, you could just nip off the corners, and not bother with rounding them.

Regards from Perth

Derek

cut the groove (it is not a rebate)

thanks Derek, I have been a bit loose in my wording.