On 12 Jul 2004 20:55:09 -0700, (Scott Kuhn)
wrote:

Charles, Thanks for the info.

I may not have explained what I'm trying to do clearly enough.

there's that.

if you are trying to do what I think you are trying to do, it's pretty
different from what I'd call a finger joint. here's what I'd call a
finger joint:
http://www.azwoodman.com/joints/finger-joint2.jpg

is that what you are after? if it is, there are a number of ways to go
about it:
http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/works...ngerjoint.html
http://www.growinglifestyle.com/article/s0/a166236.html
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/fe...ea.asp?id=1109
http://www.woodrat.com/
http://www.incra.biz/index.html
http://www.leestyron.com/lynnjig.php















In my
case, I want to remove the rectangle all the way thru the whole
thickness of the board. Is it still a rabbet in this case?

no








When I'm done, the whole piece will still be 1/2" thick but shaped
like shown in the diagram below (looking at the board from the front)


ascii art rarely communicates well. if you have a scanner or a digital
camera or a drawing program on your computer either capture the images
from the book or draw us a diagram and scan it or whatever and post it
to alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking.







Befo
------------------
- -
- -
- -
- -
------------------

After:
------------
- -
- -
- -------
- -
------------------

(In this diagram, the rectangle that I've cut away is the upper right
corner.)

I wish it were that easy to get nice square angles with wood.

In case you wonder what I'm doing, I'm trying to build a box. It is
the first project in a book by Aime Ontairo Fraser called "Getting
Started in Woodworking". The joints for the box are finger joints, as
she calls them, which are then strengthened by inserting a dowel pin
later in the process. The adjacent board would have the rectangle
removed on the bottom half of the board so they will fit together.

that sounds more like a half lap joint. it hardly seems like it would
add much to the strength of the box. I suspect that I'm still not
understanding what it is that you are trying to do.