# Router plane, to buy or not to buy?



## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

How many of you have a router plane and use it? I want to get one, but I don't want my desire to override my thoughts regarding it's usefulness. 

Who has them and are they used much? Are they worth it to buy? 

General questions I know. I'm saving up for a Veritas Router plane or the Veritas skewed rabbet. I already have a Stanley 78, and my plow will also cut a rabbet, so....I thought a router would be the next logical choice. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thank you.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

I have the Veritas Router plane.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=52609&cat=1,41182,48945

I really like this plane. I tend to use it to clean up dado's mostly from the table saw, but also after routing, if something does not fit, I will use this plane to fix any high spots.

The plane is very well built.

Since this is a hand plane, it means you have to pay attention to grain orientation - like any other hand plane. If you do not pay attention you can get tearout, then have to work from the other direction.

I like the looks of the skew rabbit plane, but this is intended for different use than the router plane, so you will have to decide which tasks you want to perform and then decide the plane.

I may not use my router plane often, but I really appreciate having it when I do have a dado or groove to clean-up. So for me, this is a valued member of my plane collection.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Adam, I have and use a Stanley 70 a whole lot!

For a hand tooler it's worth it's weight in gold! 

It has more uses than the typical cleaning dados too!

Fitting and squaring tenons. (bit of technique there)

Undercutting tenon shoulders.

Cutting sliding dovetails.

Cleaning large mortice bottoms.

Basically any time you need to cut one surface parallel to a second reference surface.

Veritas planes are nice but it's really a copy of the Stanley. Save a few bucks and buy a Stanley to restore... The Veritas irons DO fit in the Stanley if you are unable to find one complete with all three irons.

Just my 2 cents... Which I suppose is worth about 2 cents :smile:


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Thanks guys. I am mostly looking at the router to clean up tenon cheeks I think. Stopped dados too. I think I'll look into a router before I upgrade my rabbet. No use multiplying what I have I suppose. I know some people love them and use them a lot and other don't use them all that much. I am just trying to make sure I don't waste what little money I have on a tool I won't use. (Mostly I am just looking for affirmation to buy it, know what I mean?)


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

ACP said:


> Thanks guys. I am mostly looking at the router to clean up tenon cheeks I think. Stopped dados too. I think I'll look into a router before I upgrade my rabbet. No use multiplying what I have I suppose. I know some people love them and use them a lot and other don't use them all that much. I am just trying to make sure I don't waste what little money I have on a tool I won't use. (Mostly I am just looking for affirmation to buy it, know what I mean?)


Well if you want to clean up tenons, this is my favourite tool.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=48430&cat=1,41182,68490

Available in various widths.
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=68490&cat=1,41182

If my dado is wide enough for the medium shoulder plane, this is my first choice.


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## Bonka (Mar 24, 2011)

*Shoulder Plane*

I just got done fitting a tenon with my LV med shoulder plane. I was unable to use it for over a year. I ordered it, got it and hid it so it could be introduced to my wife "gradually." I went to get it one day and I couldn't find it. The months rolled by and one day I was looking for a book and it was lying atop some books.
It is a joy to use.


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## Billy De (Jul 19, 2009)

Adam if you have it you will find more and more ways to use it.


I have the Record 071 such a beautiful tool to use.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Bonka said:


> I just got done fitting a tenon with my LV med shoulder plane. I was unable to use it for over a year. I ordered it, got it and hid it so it could be introduced to my wife "gradually." I went to get it one day and I couldn't find it. The months rolled by and one day I was looking for a book and it was lying atop some books.
> It is a joy to use.


LOL, thanks for being honest. I cannot imagine the frustration for all those months, :laughing:


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Billy De said:


> Adam if you have it you will find more and more ways to use it.
> 
> I have the Record 071 such a beautiful tool to use.


I love my Veritas, but your picture of the Record may tempt me to be unfaithful..


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## Billy De (Jul 19, 2009)

Dave Paine said:


> I love my Veritas, but your picture of the Record may tempt me to be unfaithful..


Dave the 071 is a open mouthed router the bridge in the front allow you to see what is going on in front of the blade.

When used on face edge wood the fence is fitted to the body and the filler is fitted to the bottom of the pin and then it becomes a closed mouth router.

When working on face side wood the filler is removed and the pin set to the depth of cut and the filler fastened on the pin resting against the body of the plane,release the side screw on the pin and the whole thing becomes a depth gauge.

Its sort of a tell tale when the filler sits on the body of the router it tells me I`m at the right depth.

The Veritas doesn't have that or,and that isn't modern technology.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Thanks guys. I have the Stanley 92 and have been using that or paring with chisels which works good. But after watching the LN video on their large router plane where the tenon cheeks were trimmed accurately and flat with the router it looked so easy I said to myself, self, you need a router plane. I just wasn't sure what those that have had and use them think. The consensus seems to be pretty much a tool everyone loves, so that will be what my goal is. Thanks!


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Exactly Adam... Shoulder planes work well and work as intended on SHOULDERS, lol. A router plane does a much nicer job on cheeks. 

It has repeatable accuracy too. With a bit of tweaking you can set it and forget it and have all of you face side joints meet perfectly flush with out making multiple fine fitting per check with a shoulder plane.


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## Wrangler02 (Apr 15, 2011)

I got impatient in my search for an old Stanley, and did not want to spend the shop time building my own Router. I bought a Veritas with fence, and full set of blades. It works great for tenon cheeks, but I use it most often for morticing hinges, and other hardware. It is quite a time saver after years of morticing with a paring chisel.


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## railaw (Nov 15, 2011)

firemedic said:


> Exactly Adam... Shoulder planes work well and work as intended on SHOULDERS, lol. A router plane does a much nicer job on cheeks.
> 
> It has repeatable accuracy too. With a bit of tweaking you can set it and forget it and have all of you face side joints meet perfectly flush with out making multiple fine fitting per check with a shoulder plane.


Basic question.... Can you explain the difference between a shoulder and a cheek? Thx.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

railaw said:


> Basic question.... Can you explain the difference between a shoulder and a cheek? Thx.


In a tenon, the shoulder is the portion at right angle to the face of the board, typically end grain which mates with the wood with the mortise.

The cheek is the surface of the tenon, the portion which goes into the mortise.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

What he said.

If you stuck your head into a small well your cheeks would rub the sides of the hole and your shoulders would keep you from falling in :smile:


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

firemedic said:


> What he said.
> 
> If you stuck your head into a small well your cheeks would rub the sides of the hole and your shoulders would keep you from falling in :smile:


:laughing::laughing:

I'm real inexperienced with M&T joints and I always find myself having to stop for a second and think when I'm reading through some posts and the terminology. With your analogy, I'll never have to do that again. That visual will stick with me forever. Thanks!:thumbsup:


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## Globba (Mar 27, 2012)

firemedic said:


> What he said.
> 
> If you stuck your head into a small well your cheeks would rub the sides of the hole and your shoulders would keep you from falling in :smile:



That's great. What have you got for tails and pins?


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## kjhart0133 (Feb 4, 2009)

For Mortise and Tenon joints I always cut the mortise first with a PowerMatic mortising machine. I then I cut the tenon on my table saw just a skosh bigger than the mortise and trim it up with a shoulder plane. This way I can get an EXACT friction fit, tenon to mortise. I can't count how many tenons I've trimmed up with my Veritas medium shoulder plane. And its blade stays sharp forever.

I'm not sure how you'd use a router plane to trim up a tenon. Can anybody describe that? Seems like any tenon bigger than an inch and a half and you wouldn't be able to support the router plane.

Hmmm...
Kevin H.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Globba said:


> That's great. What have you got for tails and pins?


Not with children present :laughing: just kidding, I got nothing along the lines of above. But I'll think about it :yes:




kjhart0133 said:


> Hmmm...
> Kevin H.


As for technique, it requires a piece of cut-off from the stock being tenoned to support the opposite wing of the plane.

Power tools will give good results, but there are those who prefer to go from felled to furniture without em. That's where specialized tools such as the router plane fit in.


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## HandToolGuy (Dec 10, 2011)

Just going to add my two cents. I bought a Stanley 71 last year with no clear idea of how I would use it or when. After all, I have two electrical routers and have used them to cut grooves and dadoes in the past. When I started using the Stanley 71, I realized just how much I HATE modern routers which are noisy, dangerous and almost impossible to control. Stanley's hand version is quiet, easy to control and safe to use. Firemedic is right (well, Duh, how often is he wrong?) you will be amazed at how often you will look at a problem and reach for your router plane. I would just add that Stanley made two sizes and you need them both.


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## Jackfre (Dec 23, 2009)

*LN you tube*



kjhart0133 said:


> For Mortise and Tenon joints I always cut the mortise first with a PowerMatic mortising machine. I then I cut the tenon on my table saw just a skosh bigger than the mortise and trim it up with a shoulder plane. This way I can get an EXACT friction fit, tenon to mortise. I can't count how many tenons I've trimmed up with my Veritas medium shoulder plane. And its blade stays sharp forever.
> 
> I'm not sure how you'd use a router plane to trim up a tenon. Can anybody describe that? Seems like any tenon bigger than an inch and a half and you wouldn't be able to support the router plane.
> 
> ...


check out the LN web site and there is a link to the you tube video of using the router plane to trim precise tenon cheeks. I have both the large and small LN router planes and after I stuck my finger into a spinning router bit a few years ago am very pleased to forgo the use of the electric in favor of the LN. Great tool and I'm still finding uses for it.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Ok, update, I just ordered an old 71 from ebay to restore. They just posted it a bit ago as buy it now for $26.00 shipped so I think I'll give it a shot. I will get some Veritas blades for it around anniversary time hopefully. It comes with one blade, the depth stop, and looks complete. nickeling is a little rough an a light evaporust bath will be in order, but for 26, if it works for me, even after the veritas replacement blades I'll save 100. I wanted to get the veritas, I absolutely love their tools, but for this one I couldn't pull the trigger for the $$. I'll post some pics of it when it arrives and some after I fix her up. I had to order new square too as my $7 Empire decided to quit working smoothly for no apparent reason other than its a 7 dollar square. I ordered a PEC 6" double square. I'll post some pics and let you know what I think of that too. Made in the USA, so I hope it's good quality. Stay tuned.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Cool beans, Adam. Enjoy it!


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## texasfl0od (Nov 28, 2012)

i have a stanley #71 and a record #71 router plane as well as a less expensive copy of the #271, i was drawn to the router planes because of the appearance and of course because i seem to be addicted to collecting hand planes, but i do find that i use them every time i cut a dado or rabbet - also mortising hinges . i bought the standard set of cutters from lee valley and they fit the stanley / record planes ! i think you will find that it is a luxury tool that you will be glad you have once you get it !


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

That's a sharp looking plane for sure!


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## Joeb41 (Jun 23, 2012)

The millwork co. I worked for made and Installed 36 radiator covers in a pharmecutical lab. The aluminum inserts sat in a rabbet that was slightly undersize and the architect would not accept it so they had to be cut deeper. The only problem was being a medical lab no power tools or dust allowed. My employer gave me the problem so my Stanley #71 which I bought in 1962 came out of retirement and with a helper with a small shop vac and the #71 we completed the task in 5 hours. Since that job It stays in my shop and gets used often.


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