Router to router plane

I was rebuilding a window yesterday and was able to experiment with my dado cutting techniques.

While working the sides of the window frame, I needed to cut some dados to join the top and the sill. It took me a few minutes to set up the plunge router and a jig in order to cut the dadoes for the top of the frame.




The dadoes for the sill were a little wider but the technique was the same. Due to slight irregularities in the work surface, I wasn't completely pleased with the bottom surface of any of dados, so I turned to my hand tools.

Using an old wooden skewed rabbit plane, I cut thin shavings out taking it to an approximate depth. After that I worked it to the final depth using the router plane.

It's one thing to know theory as to how a plane works, but it takes experience and time behind a tool to really understand how it works. With short, light, angled strokes, I quickly got all the dados to the same depth. I love using the hand tools when I can.