Hand Production Techniques - Lesson Nine

Today was a lesson about how to create a rebate in a piece of wood. This will be used in future modules and pieces of work for things such as a cupboard back, drawer bottom or even shelf's and dividers to sit within the carcass.

There are a variety of different ways such as a Plough Plane, Rebate Plane or Combination plane. To create the groove I used the latter.

Above: Combination Plane

It is made up of a guard which runs along the edge of the piece of wood, a depth stop which you set to the required depth, and finally the actual blade, which can be removed and changed depending on the size or style of groove that you require.

Along the edge of the guard you normally attach a piece of hardwood with rounded ends, as this allows stops the metal rubbing against the wood and creating marks.

To create a rebate, the first thing you have to do is to start it on the furthest edge, and work backwards to to other side, as shown below.

Above: Groove at one end, and planing away to other edge.

Once you have created this, it will look something like this:

Above: Groove created by Combination Plane

Creating the groove was simple and easy to do, I had no problems, however I learnt from some that they hadn't done the guard up tight enough, and ended up with the groove running out of a true straight line from the edge of the piece of wood.

Finally I also learnt about a machine called a 'Wood Welder'. This cures glued pieces of wood in seconds, as is done using microwave energy.

Above: Wood Welder