Router Plane 101

Charles Mak covers the basics of the router plane, also nostalgically referred to as a Granny’s Tooth, a tool for precise joinery work

Table of Contents

A hand router or router plane belongs to the joinery plane family because it tackles work related to dadoes, rebates, tenons and more. It is not exactly an unplugged version of a power router, but neither does it produce the kind of noise and dust that a router does. In this article, I will explain its basic operation and cover some of its common applications.

Setting up the router plane

Unlike a bench plane which has two key adjustments to make (lateral adjustment and depth adjustment) before its use, setting up a router plane involves only adjusting the blade for the desired depth of cut. For a typical commercial router plane with a depth-stop collar, we can set the blade to depth in two different ways.

1.  The first way to set the blade’s depth is to adjust the blade freehand. For example, to set the blade to cut to the thickness of a hinge leaf, place the leaf flat on the plane bottom. Slide the blade up or down until its cutting edge is flush with the leaf, and then lock the knob
2. Another method is to use the depth-stop collar to limit the cutting depth to the thickness of the leaf
3. After tightening the collar, remove the leaf, lower the blade until the collar contacts the body, and lastly, lock the knob. Place the actual hinge on the plane’s bottom to double check the blade setting
4. For my shop-built router plane, to set its depth of cut, I place the plane on a flat surface, put cards or spacers that are equal to the desired cutting depth under the plane, drop the blade to touch the surface and tighten the knob

Controlling the router plane

5. In normal use, rest the plane on the work and hold the plane’s handles with both hands. Like a bench plane, the router plane can be used with push or pull strokes to make cuts
6. If only one side of the plane is supported by the work, focus the downward pressure on the side of the work to maintain level and registration
7. Router plane blades are offered in a variety of widths, and are available in two styles: straight for regular work, and spear-point for final smoothing. For control and quality, always set the plane for light cuts and make successive cuts to reach the final depth

Cutting dadoes, grooves or rebates

8. The steps to cutting dadoes, grooves and rebates by hand with a router plane are similar. After gauging the cutlines, remove the bulk of waste with a chisel or saw or both, and finish the joint to depth with the router plane. For example, to cut a stopped blind groove for a box I built earlier, after chiselling a channel close to its desired depth, I used the router plane to finish the job in multiple passes, re-setting the blade’s depth after each pass

Tuning tenons

9. Some find it a hit-or-miss process to fine-tune the cheek of a tenon to fit into a mortise with a shoulder plane. The router plane is a more efficient and foolproof tool, and the steps are straightforward. First determine or estimate how much material needs to be removed from the tenon. Set the blade to cut half of that amount because waste is removed on both sides of the cheek. W hen routing, follow the direction of the grain to avoid spelching

Cutting hinge mortises

10. In the last example, the router plane is used to mortise the recess for a hinge, in this case, a knife-hinge. Remove the bulk of waste with a chisel, and use the hinge to set the blade’s depth. To increase the registration surface for the plane, clamp a block or board to each side of the narrow work before cutting
11. The router plane cuts the recess to the precise depth as determined by the hinge leaf
12. The router plane is such a versatile tool that the above examples represent only some of its typical uses. With a bit of outside-the-box thinking, the plane can handle many other tasks such as making a short length of tongue-and-groove work, or, as woodworker and teacher Paul Sellers does, scribing lines like a marking gauge. That is why I bought a router plane as well as made my own hand routers – not just one but several of them!

Further reading

Types of Woodworking Planes

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