A rabbet is a recess or groove cut into the edge of a piece of machineable material, usually wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

. When viewed in cross-section, a rabbet is two-sided and open to the edge or end of the surface into which it is cut.

The word rabbet is from Old French

Old French

Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...

 rabbat, "a recess into a wall."

An example of the use of a rabbet is in a glazing bar where it makes provision for the insertion of the pane of glass and putty. It may also accommodate the edge of the back panel of a cabinet. It is also used in door and casement window

Casement window

A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a...

 jambs, and for shiplap

Shiplap

Shiplap is a term used to describe a type of wooden board used commonly in the construction of barns, sheds, outbuildings and inexpensive or seasonal homes. It is either rough-sawn 1" or milled 3/4" pine or similarly inexpensive wood between 3" and 10" wide with a 3/8" - 1/2" rabbet on opposite...

 planking. A rabbet can be used to form a joint with another piece of wood (often containing a dado

Dado (joinery)

A dado , housing or trench is a slot or trench cut into the surface of a piece of machinable material, usually wood. When viewed in cross-section, a dado has three sides...

).

Methods

A rabbet router using a straight or rebate bit

• Rabbetting or Rebate plane
  Rebate plane
  The rebate plane is a hand plane designed for cutting rebates in wood. It's a simple tool, used in many Western countries, with hundreds of years of history...
  
   or a shoulder plane
  Shoulder plane
  The shoulder plane is a plane tool with a blade flush with the edges of the plane, allowing trimming right up to the edge of a workpiece. Like a rebate plane, the shoulder plane's blade extends, therefore cuts, to the full width of the tool. The shoulder plane is used to trim the shoulders and...
  
  
• Circular saw
  Circular saw
  The circular saw is a machine using a toothed metal cutting disc or blade. The term is also loosely used for the blade itself. The blade is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. It can also be used to make narrow slots...
  
   with multiple passes (depending on width and depth)
• Dado set
  Dado set
  A dado set or dado blade is a type of circular saw blade, usually used with a table saw or radial arm saw, which is used to cut dadoes or grooves in woodworking.There are two common kinds of dado sets....
  
   in a single pass
• Spindle moulder
• Hand saw
  Hand saw
  In woodworking and carpentry, hand saws, also known as "panel saws", "fish saws", are used to cut pieces of wood into different shapes. This is usually done in order to join the pieces together and create a wooden object. They usually operate by having a series of sharp points of some substance...
  
   and chisel
  Chisel
  A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.In use, the chisel is forced into the material...
  
  
• Bandsaw
• Jointer
  Jointer
  A jointer is a woodworking machine used to produce a flat surface along a board's length....
  
  equipped with a rabbet ledge