Using the Record 78

[Tiger]

I love all my hand tools but there is one I've hardly used and that's my rebate plane. Cuts fine most of the time along the grain but I've never quite got consistent results across the grain, sometimes a little out of square and sometimes uneven depth with more coming off the front rather than the back. I use the little nicker across the grain and the blade is sharp, any tips?

[IanW]

Tiger, it's been a while since I last cut rebates with a rebate plane, but I think I know what you are describing. It's probably a combination of effects, with the blade & nicker following softer spots, or being kicked off-line a bit by harder patches, plus a bit of wobble as you push the plane. I find the short, single-shaft fence on my 78 is not the greatest aid to accuracy. When cutting across the grain, I often get rough corners, despite the nicker, due to slight wobble of the plane. Deep knifing of the corner line helps, particularly if the wood is a bit soft & spongy, like Cedar. Some folks seem to be able to coax their 78s to do a pretty decent job, so all I can suggest is practise, concentrating on keeping the fence flush against the edge, and the plane body square. You can take quite heavy cuts across the grain on most woods, but each cut needs to be deliberate & controlled.

Confession time: I can't remember when I last used my 78 for planing a full rebate. About all I use it for these days is fine-fitting tenon cheeks (without fence), which it does well enough. I very occasionally use it for cutting rebates if I need an 'authentic' hand-tool look (i.e. a few imperfections ). Much as I like hand tools, planing down multiple deep rebates for door panels or similar has little appeal, so usually, I do the grunt work with the table saw, when rebating or fielding panels. They can be cleaned up with a few swipes from a (fence-less) rebate or a shoulder plane. The set-up for each cut takes a few seconds, so it's one situation where even a one-off is faster & gets a better result (for me) than doing it all with hand-tools....

Cheers,

[Tiger]

Tiger, it's been a while since I last cut rebates with a rebate plane, but I think I know what you are describing. It's probably a combination of effects, with the blade & nicker following softer spots, or being kicked off-line a bit by harder patches, plus a bit of wobble as you push the plane. I find the short, single-shaft fence on my 78 is not the greatest aid to accuracy. When cutting across the grain, I often get rough corners, despite the nicker, due to slight wobble of the plane. Deep knifing of the corner line helps, particularly if the wood is a bit soft & spongy, like Cedar. Some folks seem to be able to coax their 78s to do a pretty decent job, so all I can suggest is practise, concentrating on keeping the fence flush against the edge, and the plane body square. You can take quite heavy cuts across the grain on most woods, but each cut needs to be deliberate & controlled.

Confession time: I can't remember when I last used my 78 for planing a full rebate. About all I use it for these days is fine-fitting tenon cheeks (without fence), which it does well enough. I very occasionally use it for cutting rebates if I need an 'authentic' hand-tool look (i.e. a few imperfections ). Much as I like hand tools, planing down multiple deep rebates for door panels or similar has little appeal, so usually, I do the grunt work with the table saw, when rebating or fielding panels. They can be cleaned up with a few swipes from a (fence-less) rebate or a shoulder plane. The set-up for each cut takes a few seconds, so it's one situation where even a one-off is faster & gets a better result (for me) than doing it all with hand-tools....

Cheers,

Thanks Ian and your description above is pretty spot-on for what happens to me when I use the 78 across the grain. I too use a table saw because of speed. I don't mind using hand tools even though they take longer but if you get a ragged and out of square cut I'll resort to power tools. I bought a Stanley 45 around the same time as the Record 78, never used the 45 and used the 78 a couple of times, oh well you live and learn.

[code4pay]

Hmm I love using my 78, its one of the more fun planes and quite effective I reckon. Can't say that my rebates end up perfect though but they have been good enough for me so far. Only thing I do is pull back to start the nicker and remember that the only role of my left hand is to make sure the fence is always firmly against the face of the wood and the plane level.