The case of the miter gauge with the built in stop is *not* the same as using the fence with the miter gauge. With in the first case, the stop moves with the miter gauge, so the workpiece is not sliding against it. And that is the risk with the second case; namely, that the workpiece wil “catch” as it is sliding on the fence, get a little cock-eyed, and then contact the back of the blade. It is tricky to maintain the right amount and direction of pressure on both the miter gauge and the fence in order to avoid this.

If the piece is long enough front-to-back so that the fence would serve as a reference edge, just use the fence. No need for the miter gauge. If it isn’t, then use the miter gauge itself to guide the work. I’ve seen David Marks use both at the same time on his show, and I wince when he does it. Others have commented on it on Woodnet, also.

Another thing to consider. Most after-market miter gauges come with very handy built-in stops. How is making a cut using the built-in stop on the left of the blade any safer than the cut I did using the fence as a stop on the right?

As an experienced operator who generally does pay close attention to safety practices, I stand behind the fact that this is a perfectly legitimate and safe procedure. Well, let’s just say its no more dangerous than any other tool in our shops. A certain degree of risk is inevitable. But I think many folks have it burned into their consciousness that miter gauge + rip fence = DANGER. And you know what, in many cases that is true so its not a bad thing for that to be the case. But in reality, there are exceptions to that rule, and I honestly feel that dado cuts are one of them.

‘hate to do it, but I have to take issue with your use of the rip fence as an indexing surface when you were doing those dados. Using the miter gauge and the rip fence simultaneously is very risky, especially when using a dado head. An experienced operator with careful technique (e.g., you) can avoid a nasty kickback, but showing it in an instructional video, without a “kids, don’t try this at home”, is not the wisest thing to do, IMHO.

Neat Router plane procedure etc.

Good info, as always.
One thing, though : we use Soss hinges pretty frequently in our
cabinet shop and Soss ™ does make dedicated jigs for both
the mortise and relief. Might be worth looking into if you start using
these hinges with any regularity.
For occasional use, though, I like the jig you made. Thanks for showing the setup for it….it’ll certainly help the wallet.

The centering alignment pin looks like a cone shaped router bit without a blade. Instead of using the actual router bit to set up my router, I use the centering pin. That allows me to concentrate on the center of the cut by aligning the point right on layout line. This can be done extremely accurately. The edge of the cut will take care of itself since it is determined by the size of the router bit.

I don’t trust any of the gauges on the router. Instead, I use the brass set up blocks to set my routing depth. The blocks are machined to very precise tolerances and I can set my routing depth within a thousands of an inch.

Finally, I use the spiral bits. True, they tend to be a more expensive, but they leave a cleaner cut with less vibration, are better suited for plunge cuts, and are more efficient in clearing out waste material.

That’s a pretty cool plane! Never knew something like that was out there. I also never thought of that type of inconsistency in dados as you always here of a “true flat bottom cut.” Makes me think twice before I glue up now. But for $150 for that particular plane, what other type of alternatives would there be to achieving the same results??