On 12 Jul 2004 12:40:41 -0700, Scott Kuhn wrote:
I have almost no experience with woodworking and am wondering which
tool would be best to make the following cut. (I can make it fairly
well w/ hand tools, but curious what the best approach would be with
power tool).

I have a piece of poplar 1/2" thick, 9" long, 4.5" wide. I want to cut
a rectangle out of the corner of the board to make a finger. I'd like
to remove 1/2" along the 9" edge and 2.25" along the 4.5" edge. I need
to be able to make it close to perfectly square, and to do this
repeatably on multiple boards.

Visually, here is what I want to do (not to scale):

Befo
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After:
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I'm guessing I could do this on a table saw, for this case, since I
can raise the blade 1/2" above the table and use a dado head blade.
However, what about the more general case, if the smaller dimension of
the rectangle that I want to remove was larger than the max height of
a tablesaw blade?


That's called a rabbet. Same root as "rebate" . . NOT the animal (which
isn't a rodent, despite having similar teeth, but that's another
discussion). Some older "Rabbet planes" are labeled "Rebate planes"

If your rabbet is deeper than 3/4", you should think about WHY you need
to rabbet that deep. There's probably a better way to accomplish what
you want in those cases.

Tools? Almost anything. Mark the width and depth with your marking
guage. Cut with the bow saw, fitted with the appropriate blade for the
task at hand. I use a mirror so I can stand in a comforatable position
and still see what I'm doing.

My first attempt at tenons (imagine four rabbets) used exactly that
technique, and it was plenty "square". Practice on scrap. Poplar is
just about the easiest hardwood to practice on.

I practiced on red oak before I did my actual pieces. Took about three
practice runs before I "got it."

Good luck


Charles