rabbeting block plane or shoulder plane.

[Tpt life]

I think there is a disconnect here. Router plane on a cheek, maybe. It depends on how much footprint is available. Care has to be taken to not tip or gouge as the smaller cutter will push more easily. In woods that splinter, the lack of support ahead of the blade can lead to tearout sloppiness. Not a death knell, just stuff to beware of.

Router plane on a shoulder, never. There is rarely enough tenon to truly stabilize the router plane base. Extending the iron that deep worsens the effect of instability. That said, I have never used a through tenon that was only one inch in length. Did you perhaps confuse cheek and shoulder?

[CessnaPilotBarry]

 There is rarely enough tenon to truly stabilize the router plane base. Extending the iron that deep worsens the effect of instability. That said, I have never used a through tenon that was only one inch in length. Did you perhaps confuse cheek and shoulder?

 

 

Me?   No...  The sole of the plane rides on the face of the part, and the iron shaves the cheek face.

 

The other side of the plane gets supported by a second copy of the part, or an offcut from the original part.   There is no tipping.

[Scott Bailey]

just so's u know I do understand that the router plane would ONLY be useful on the cheek.  and watching a few vids on its use, it seems you can control the 'tipping' by holding down one side (sitting on the face of the piece) and move the plane in a semi-circular motion across the cheek to remove the waste.  at least, that's how I've seen vids of it done and it looks like a fairly clean way to even out the cheeks.

but ofc I know that this won't help with your shoulders. I guess I made that suggestion on the understanding that the OP was able to cut fairly clean shoulders on the table saw, and was really only asking about use of a rabbet plane on the cheek.... but i confess noobosity so I could be off base here

[Eric.]

Since I do my tenons on the TS, I just get my test tenon a wee bit too tight for the mortise...which means very little hand work to do afterward to get the perfect fit.  Usually a swipe or two with the rabbet block will be enough...just need to knock down those high ridges.  More often than not, I'll just take a few swipes with a rasp instead.  I'd say better than half the time they require no tweaking at all.

 

If you're cutting tenons by hand, I can see more of a need for the planes, but there really shouldn't be much work to do right off the TS.

[Llama]

I can't agree with that at all.. I have two router planes, and the larger will go a little more than an inch deep. I don't see many tenons with shoulders deeper than an inch.

When using a router to adjust a long tenon, where the tool might tip, you support the other side of the tool with either a second copy of the part, an offcut from the same stock, or attach an offset base to the bottom of the plane.

Is that the way you clean your shoulders?

I didn't mean to imply it isn't possible with a router plane. There are far better ways to do it than setting up something to stabilize the plane, while controlling the depth of cut. Not to mention I wouldn't use a plane with an open mouth to cut shoulders.

[Scott Bailey]

i interpreted that to mean that the depth along the shoulder between the piece and the tenon is rarely more than an inch, meaning that the router plane will reach the tenon cheek if you rest it on the edge of the workpiece. 

 

i could be reading that wrong though.

[Tpt life]

Barry, you are still talking cheeks while seeming to reply to a post on shoulders. What did I miss? Also note, I said beware, no death knell to cheeks.

[CessnaPilotBarry]

Is that the way you clean your shoulders?

I didn't mean to imply it isn't possible with a router plane. There are far better ways to do it than setting up something to stabilize the plane, while controlling the depth of cut. Not to mention I wouldn't use a plane with an open mouth to cut shoulders.

 

 

No, the cheeks, as I said in #21...  If I misunderstood you, sorry about that, we've now thoroughly illustrated how to use a shoulder plane on tenon cheeks.       Shoulders never crossed my mind at all, as that's completely ridiculous.

 

I originally learned to do hand cut half-laps with a router, tenons are just an extension of the same idea.  Some other tool is creating the shoulder edge.   I didn't bring it routers up earlier, as the OP didn't ask how any of us most liked to fit tenons, only preferences between shoulder and rabbet block planes. 

[Llama]

I was losing my mid over here trying to figure out why/how someone would use a router plane to clean shoulders