How To Rebate Wood With a Router – Cut Perfect Rabbets

Every professional person in this field knows about the rebate and its meaning. But what happens if a newbie searches this on google and the results come “rabbet”. This will be confusing for him/her.

So if you are a Professional and reading this then I will guide you about how to rebate wood with a router and if you are a newbie then I will remove the confusion of the words first and then you will see how you can do it?

A rabbet is from the Old French rabbat “a recess into a wall”. Before the 17th-century rabbet word was use and till it is in use which has meaning: A groove cut into the piece of wood.

This type of cut is used for joints like the arms of the chair, photo frame, cabinet, etc. After the 17^th century, the Oxford dictionary gives it to the name of a rebate. You can say that rebate is the alteration of the rabbet.

Tools require for rebating

Here, I will tell you about the required things and how to rebate wood? Before starting, first, make sure that you have all of the mentioned things in your shop which is required for this.

These are the basic tools that are used by any woodworker. Additional tools will be discussed in the method.

How to cut a rabbet with a router?

There are different techniques for this cutting. Here, I will tell you a very simple and easy technique for understanding what is rabbet and what it will look like? If it’s your first time then you will learn many things from this.

I hope, this will be very entertaining for you. Are you ready? If yes, then I will be glad to tell you and if no then I will be very glad to tell you…. Just kidding.

So let’s start this stepwise:

Step 1:

Firstly, take a piece of wood you are wanted to rebate and put it on the table and mark with a pencil where you want the cut.

Step 2:

Put your safety goggles and put the router on the mark and start pushing the router over the wood. The router bit makes groove cut on the wood by the rotation of the bits.

Step 3:

If you see that the width of the first cut is deep and you want little depth then change the router bit according to the depth you want and make a second cut. You will see the difference.

You can see that it is a very basic and easy technique. Hope you easily understand this. Make sure that first try this on a rough piece of wood and then do this on your project.

How to cut a rebate with Stanley No.45?

Another method for cutting a rebate. If you have combination plane then good otherwise Stanley No.45 is available on amazonavailable on amazon. You can check the price and specification.

Let’s come do it step by step.

Step 1:

Put a piece of wood and mark with carpenter pencil on the desired wood.

Step 2:

Now take a Stanley No.45 plane and adjust it. Normally, it consists of a half-inch cutter, a sliding section, and a fence. Sliding section used to set the blade according to your desired depth and a fence is used to cover wood from any other cut.

Step 3:

Put your plane onto the piece of wood and make sure that your fence will not touch the surface of the table.

Step 4:

In this step, hold the plane handler in one hand and plane on the other hand and move it back multiple times for cut.

Step 5:

Now, move the plane forward a couple of times for cut.

Step 6:

You will see a cut on wood. Now, gradually advance the cutter by sliding section to speed up the process of cutting. Keep in mind, do it gradually. You can see the cut. The thickness of the cut will depend on the width of the rabbit.

Step 7:

In the last step, sharp your cutter for a deep cut. After this, for clear rebate take a few final passes at a reduced depth of cut. Clear the wood piece you will see a fine cut.

Above methods, I only told you how you can make a simple rebate but Here, I will give you the example of making a drawer.

How can you make a rabbeted drawer?

Making a rabbeted drawer is very simple and interesting.

Step 1:

Take a large piece of wood and cut 2 pieces of 5½ inches for making four sides of the drawer and cut them into further into 4 pieces equally with the help of a simple blade.

Step 2:

Now change the simple blade with the dado stack. Set the ¼ inch wide dado stack at a ¼ inch high and ¼ inch away from the fence. Now cut all the pieces with the miter gauge. Make the same cut on the front and backside of all the wood pieces.

Step 3:

Make the other cut with the end of piece pressed tight against the fence, which will create the full ½ inch width of rabbet. Now, repeat this cut on the front and backside of all the wood pieces.

Step 4:

Now, we have the exact measurement of all the pieces and going to assemble them. Join all the four sides of drawer and screw them. A simple and fast rabbeted drawer is ready.

Tips for router rabbets

I did a lot of research on this and find these important tips and wanted to share with you to make your rebate perfect and clear.

• For rabbeting, a first important tip is to use dedicated router bits because it gives fine and exact width you desire. You can easily cut rabbet of standard widths. It doesn’t mean that you need a different type of bit but you should choose the nearest size bit which matches with your rabbet.
• Selecting a fine bit is very important. I am using this one which is available on Amazonavailable on Amazon, you can easily buy them.
• Starting the cut would be tricky. Make sure that your starting and ending corner have a fine cut.
• Sometimes, your wood piece will be torn out. Make your rabbet slowly and clearly. Also look at your working piece is in good condition.

Conclusion