Side Table, Part 2: Panel Glue-ups and Rabbeting

I like getting a shot of the boards that will be transformed into something useful and (hopefully) good looking.

1" poplar for the top, 3/4" poplar for carcase and drawer fronts, 1/2" soft maple for drawer sides and backs

Started by making the solid panels that would become the case sides and bottom.

Sides are 19" x 24", bottom 18" x 24"

The sheer size of these panels makes it challenging to do ordinary things like cutting to length and width and squaring up.

Using a 12" combo square along with a 24" straightedge to knife a line cross-grain

Note the clever use of waste basket and wood spacers to support the panel for planing the end grain

The first order of business with these three panels was to cut rabbets on the back edge of each piece.  I'm planning to use 3/4" material to create the frame-and-panel back, so I need 3/4" wide rabbets to fully recess the back into the carcase.  I'll sink the rabbets 3/8".

Rabbets laid out

Because I've not had great success at cutting rabbets that don't go past the layout line, I scored another line about 1/16" from the "real" line.  I'll use that new line to guide the rabbet plane that I recently built.  When the rabbet is sunk to 3/8", I'll turn the plane on its side and plane back to the original width line.

Pencil points to the second gauge line

I start the rabbet by placing the corner of the plane in the gauge line and taking a few shavings.

Angling the rabbet plane to take a tiny shaving at the second gauge line

Then I take another shaving and another, gradually lowering the plane's angle until it's perpendicular to the surface.  By this time, there is a small "wall" to keep me from going past the layout line.  I still don't get a perpendicular rabbet wall, so I have to fix that by removing waste in the corner of the rabbet using a chisel and/or the rabbet plane on its side.

Working the rabbet

By going carefully and checking with a square, I got nice square rabbets without going past the layout lines.  I used the rabbet plane I made and also a D. R. Barton skewed rabbet plane that I bought and rehabbed Sept., 2018.

A completed rabbet

Side view - nice and square

Next up: dovetails.