On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 20:16:36 -0500, Australopithecus scobis
wrote:

Greetings,
Just got Ian Kirby's "The Complete Dovetail" from interlibrary loan.
In the description of the double lap dovetail he says to cut the
rabbet with a rabbet plane. This provoked my question: Why plane out the
rabbet; why not cut it with a saw, and then trim with a plane? Seems that
planing the whole thing is a lot of work with ugly tear-out risks.

Just a guess, since I've not seen that type of dovetail, but couldn't
you do the rabbet first?

Bill.