Bill, I'm working (occasionally) on an 18th century shaving box with exactly the
same challenge.

My thought at this point is to make a deep knife line at the center point of the
V, then use a shoulder or rabbet plane tipped on its edge at 45 degrees to take
a couple of passes with the edge of the plane riding in the knife line, flip the
work around and take a couple (or however many are needed) of passes to make the
other side of the V.

This idea came to me when watching Don McConnel's excellent DVD on making
moulding. It looks like it would not be too difficult to control the angle and
the depth of the V in this manner. I'd thought about the chisel route as well
but using a plane seems like there would be more control.

Cheers
John

"P.S. If you do not receive this, of course it must have been miscarried;
therefore I beg you to write and let me know." - Sir Boyle Roche, M.P.

William Ghio wrote:
Making a jewelry tray - 3/16th material. For the cross pieces I am planning to
have them die into V-notches in the long pieces as I have seen in period
furniture. Question is, what is the best way to make the incised V? I am
thinking I will just mark and carve w/ a chisel, but if anyone has experience,
knows a trick or knows what tool was used historically, I would love the input.