Extra Than One Option to Minimize a Dovetail

Flexibility in furniture-making strategies shouldn’t be a standard trait amongst most woodworkers. We are inclined to discover a method that works and keep it up. That is sensible; habits are snug and the extra you repeat one thing the more adept you develop into. Nevertheless, one of the best woodworkers are snug with a number of strategies for every process as a result of they settle for that conditions fluctuate. Recognizing that, listed here are the the explanation why I’d select one approach over one other for a given dovetail scenario.

Tails first or pins first?

It actually relies upon. The deciding issue for me comes right down to which can make for a better switch of the primary half of the joint to the second half.

Tails first—One benefit to chopping tails first is the power to gang tail boards collectively and minimize two or 4 units of tails without delay.

Pins first—On a normal-size venture the place the switch is easy, the query of pins first vs. tails first is private choice. In a big case venture, nevertheless, scribing tails to pins with the tail board held horizontally atop a protracted pin board may be very awkward and unwieldy. As an alternative, minimize the pins first after which maintain the pin board vertically on prime of the horizontal tail board.

Whereas I work with hand instruments on a regular basis, I’m additionally an amazing believer in machine-assisted strategies when it’s to my benefit. If I’m chopping the tails first, I normally use the desk noticed as a result of it excels at chopping straight and sq., the fundamental requirement for profitable tails.

As soon as you’re arrange with the right blade and sled, it takes lower than 5 minutes to arrange the minimize. You should buy blades pre-ground to an angle, however it’s less expensive to ship an additional sawblade out to be floor to the angle you need. I exploit 10°.

Bandsaw

Pencil or knife

Whether or not you chop pins or tails first, precision is crucial when transferring the primary half of the joint to the second half. Many individuals use a knife to scribe, however simply as many use a pointy pencil. The knife line is crisp, however reveals within the completed floor. For those who pare all the way in which as much as the knife line to take away it, the joint can find yourself free; conversely, in the event you go away the knife line, the bevel of the knife may have created a small hole. A pencil line—even from a pointy, laborious lead—is probably not as crisp however it’s simply eliminated when cleansing up the joint.

A rabbet could make scribing simpler

I normally minimize a shallow rabbet on the within face of the tails earlier than the switch. I minimize this rabbet precisely on the gauge line, a method I discovered from Steve Latta. The small shoulder this creates makes it simple to place the tails and maintain them securely in opposition to the pin board through the switch.

Alternatively, a bit of 1⁄4-in. MDF may be clamped precisely on the tail board baseline to function a brief rabbet.

Some ways to take away the waste

After the joint has been minimize, the waste should be eliminated proper as much as the baseline. You possibly can chop it out with a chisel and mallet, noticed it out with a coping noticed, or use a scrollsaw or trim router.

The standard methodology is to cut out the waste with chisel and mallet. Performed effectively, no additional paring needs to be required. Coping saws or scrollsaws are additionally good strategies of eradicating the waste, however the little little bit of wooden left behind nonetheless must be pared as much as the baseline.

Relating to the waste between pins, a trim router removes it shortly and precisely. Roughly noticed away the waste with a coping noticed, scrollsaw, or bandsaw, taking care to not minimize into the pins. Don’t trouble chopping all the way in which to the baseline; the trim router will try this. Maintain the workpiece vertically in a easy jig that enables the trim router to reference off the tip of the workpiece. Set the depth to chop proper as much as the baseline. Holding the router on the jig, minimize away the waste between pins. A bearing-guided sample bit is finest as a result of the bearing registers off the highest face of the pins and prevents you from chopping into them. The identical methodology can be utilized for half-blind pins however these require a straight bit, enormously rising the danger of chopping right into a pin and ruining it, so watch out.

Set up the baseline

There are decisions to be made about how you can set the chopping gauge for the baseline. Probably the most ­widespread follow is to set the gauge to only a hair greater than the thickness of the inventory. This can lead to barely protruding pins and tails that may be planed flush. Setting it lower than the thickness will imply the ends received’t fairly attain by way of the inventory, a standard approach in drawer making.

Sawing pins for half-blind dovetails

Most modern woodworkers discover sawing half-blind pins slightly irritating as a result of the noticed should cease between the baseline and the lap line, leaving a big triangle of wooden to be pared away. Nevertheless, nearly all drawers in interval furnishings have overcuts. 18th-century cabinetmakers, recognizing that stopping the noticed on the baseline induced additional paring, sometimes prolonged the sawcut a full 1 in. to 2 in. previous the baseline, thus leaving a really small triangle of wooden within the pin socket to be eliminated with the chisel. As a result of the overcuts are on the within face of the drawer entrance, nobody ever sees them.

Holding the work horizontally

The same old follow amongst modern cabinetmakers is to carry the pin board vertically in a vise with the tip of the board excessive sufficient that the vise doesn’t get in the way in which of the sawcut. That is an uncomfortable peak at which to noticed. And when chopping a protracted pin board—say for the aspect of a tall chest of drawers—the floor to be minimize is now considerably larger than the vise and isn’t supported solidly. I firmly imagine that almost all interval cupboard makers minimize the pins with the pin board clamped horizontally on the bench. Not solely is the size of the pin board not a consideration, however the minimize can be supported proper as much as the sting of the bench. It felt odd after I first tried it, however now I all the time minimize half-blind dovetails on this method. ☐

A Fast Option to Clear Up Half-Blind Dovetails

Routing away half-blind dovetail waste is usually a dangerous proposition. Mike Pekovich’s trick is so as to add a fence to his router base to stop routing previous the lap line.

Dovetailing on the Desk Noticed

Mike Pekovich demonstrates how you can minimize tails shortly and effectively on the tablesaw utilizing a sled and a custom-ground blade.

Tremendous Woodworking, the Dovetail and Me

Twenty-five years of pins and “tales”

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