rabbet plane blade width

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hermv2000

Well-known member
I picked up an Anant rabbet plane recently, knowing I'd have to do a bit of fettling to get the thing to work.

The blade on the plane is actually wider than the plane body.  If my thinking is correct, the blade should be the same width as the plane body.

Am I right?
 
As far as I know the iron on a rabbet plane is wider than the body, on a dado plane it would be the same width or slightly narrower then the nickers.
Mike
 
In order for a rabbet plane to work properly, the blade has to cut a swath that will clear the way for the body of the plane. If it doesn't do this you'll get a stepped cut that keeps getting farther away from the intended width of the rabbet-Al
 
Wider, but I've always thought planes came out of the box with a blade that was a bit too wide. I like to have a plane to with the blade just protruding from one side while it is just flush with the other. If the protruding edge isn't honed to provide something close to a cutting edge (as opposed to an edge that has a rounded edge) then the cut will be as Mr. Breed describes. I like the one sided arrangement in order that I may flip the plane around and be sure that the one side will not be cutting. That's my final swipe just to make sure the original side cut is in good shape.
Fran
 

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