Thread: HNT Rebate Dovetail plane set

OK, I'll concede to superior knowledge - it does seem intuitive that the ends would want to pull away from the housing if there is any deflection in the shelf, even though the top of the 'girder' is in compression . I was unsure of my initial reasoning, which is why I begged for help..

I still think that this may be one of those situations where the best structural solution is not necessarily the best practical solution. Having the top of the housing straight & putting the bevel on the underside clearly works, attested by numerous old pieces I've seen that are still sound. It's much easier to make the joint with a square edge on the top of the housing, imo. There is no necessity to remove any material from that side of the shelf, and as long as you've made a straight trench, the top of the shelf is automatically level & square. If you make your shelf solid enough for the expected loads, there should be very little deflection, so you are unlikely to get significant movement at the ends of the shelf. In any case, I'm only expecting stuff I make to last 100 years if it's lucky, so I think I'll stick with tradition on this one.....

Cheers,

Edit: I had another think about it after I hit 'send' & I think I'm still talking rubbish. If you make the bottom of the trench square, and your shelf material is of even thickness throughout, the same applies, the shelf should end up straight & level if you take the material off the top to form the sliding tail. I guess that is so easy to do in this age of 'lectric thicknessers, so it is just as easy to do it the structurally superior way. In days of old when shelves were hand-thicknessed (& often not very carefully, even on high-end stuff I've seen shelves left pretty rough on the bottom - out of sight out of mind!), it would have been easier to do it with the tail on the bottom...