Quoted: I've had difficulty getting a stud finder to work properly on plaster/lathe walls, although they seem to work fine on sheetrock walls. As always, YMMV.
Maybe I've been using cheap stud finders?
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I hang cabinets to walls all the time, and here is what you want to do. Go to your local IFA and buy a cow magnet for maybe $3. It is a magnet that ranchers give to their cows to make the barbed wire that cows eat stick to the magnet or something like that. Tape your cow magnet to a string and move around on the wall. When it sticks to the wall, you have found a nail that is attaching the lathe to a stud. Viola, you know the stud location. Move across the wall 16", 32", 48" etc. and search for more nails until you have found the studs that you need.
You could also pony up $40 for a Zircon studfinder with a deepscanning feature, but I've found my rare earth magnet and cow magnet studfinders to be more reliable.
ETA: I would use at LEAST a 2" screw, 2 1/2" would be better. 1 1/4" is inadequate in my opinion.
ETA #2: Predrilling through the plaster with a 3/16" drill bit and predrilling into the wood with an 1/8" drill bit will make driving the screw easier and not crack your plaster.