Tongue & Groove - Moulding or Multi?

[Denim]

Hi guys,

I have a little work to do that requires some tongue and grooving and I am lacking in the tools for this job. From what I gather there are a few options such as a moulding plane set, tongue and groove plane from Lie-Nielsen, or a Stanley combination plane #55.

In your vast experience what would you suggest purchasing?




Regards,

Denim.

[elanjacobs]

I would suggest getting an electric router

[orraloon]

Can be done on a table saw also!

[Denim]

Unfortunatley I don't have either. What I do have is a large quantity of 3/4" tongue and grooved maple with a chamfer. I'd like to remove the chamfer and suspect easiest way to do so would be to hit each length with a t&g plane.

Thanks for your suggestions though.

Regards,

Denim.

[Vann]

In my vast experience - I've never made T&G (although I may have fed some rough sawn timber into a four-sider during my apprenticeship - I don't recall), although it's on my 'to try one day' list.

I would think a #55 would be a bit over-the-top (and hard to use, I've read). But a #50 comes with a T&G cutter, and the Record 044 instructions show tongue and groove cutting. Both are simpler planes, and therefore probably easier to use.

I keep looking at the Lie-Nielsen #48 & #49, but haven't taken the plunge yet.

Good luck.

Cheers, Vann.

[Fuzzie]

My 2c's worth of rank amateur advice following my recent attempts at a little tongue and groove work is that a matched moulding plane tongue and groove set would be the easiest to use.

I have a Stanley #50 that I find difficult to keep registered and my first attempts using the standard tongue and groove blades on that were pretty ragged. I think the added mass of a #55 would make things even harder to control.

I also have a couple of old tongue cutting woodies which were much nicer to use and I ended up doing the tongues with these although I didn't have a matching groove cutter. In the end I did most of the grooves using a Record #043 which was much easier to control than the #50.

I briefly considered setting up my electric router to do the job, but when I looked at what sort of jig I'd need to make up to work the long edge I decided it was too much trouble for the small lengths I was interested in.

For a truly large quantity, I think it might be worth locating somebody who recycles timber and will run the lot through a shaper for you.

[Denim]

Thanks for the advice guys, it's very much appreciated. I thought moulding would be the way to go but considering we're at parity with the U.S. dollar I decided to shout myself a Lie-Neilsen #48. I'll let you know how it goes when I get it.

Regards,

Denim.