Hand cut dovetails tutorial - full and half-blind

Very well documented and easy to follow Mike. I think you might have made it easy enough to follow that I might even be able to do it! :thumb:

Printing out both of those and putting them in my dovetail tool box!
 
Thanks for the comments.

Wait a few days to print them out until I get all the suggestions and pointers for improvement. I'm still finding things to change on my own.

Mike
 
Well done Mike:thumb:
The only thing that I see is "Drawers in furniture, such as a bureau, are often all different heights. If a dovetail jig is used, the jig must be set up for each drawer, and setup is a time consuming process. It's often easier and faster to do the dovetails by hand."
I have not had to reset up my PC dove tail jig for different height drawers. Different thickness yes but never height.:dunno:
 
Excellent tutorials Mike. Very nicely done. I have one comment. When I am marking my pin board from the tail board, I have the end of the pin board sticking out above the vise such that the end is even with the side of a plane [which is laying on its side.] When I place the tail board on top to mark the pins, the plane is moved back such that the tail board bridges between the plane and the pin board. This allows me to apply much firmer pressure on the tail board, so that it stays in place more easily. Just a small suggestion that I've found improves my accuracy. Judging from your results, you accuracy is just fine.
 
All i can say Mike is where were you when i got taught those at school. Your tutorial would have been much easier than the guy who taught me.:D Thanks for sharing it with us.

BTW i ended up taking a tour of all your work. I really like your idea of a tool chest. Did you get round to making those trays actually go into draws?


Excellent tutorials Mike. Very nicely done. I have one comment. When I am marking my pin board from the tail board, I have the end of the pin board sticking out above the vise such that the end is even with the side of a plane [which is laying on its side.] When I place the tail board on top to mark the pins, the plane is moved back such that the tail board bridges between the plane and the pin board. This allows me to apply much firmer pressure on the tail board, so that it stays in place more easily. Just a small suggestion that I've found improves my accuracy. Judging from your results, you accuracy is just fine.

Real good idea Ken but i would ask why would you not have the board flat on the workbench and achieve the same result with the pin board flush to the surface of the workbench. That is if i am understanding your plane idea.
 
Well done Mike:thumb:
The only thing that I see is "Drawers in furniture, such as a bureau, are often all different heights. If a dovetail jig is used, the jig must be set up for each drawer, and setup is a time consuming process. It's often easier and faster to do the dovetails by hand."
I have not had to reset up my PC dove tail jig for different height drawers. Different thickness yes but never height.:dunno:
The problem I've had with different height drawers is getting the dovetails spaced properly. For best looking dovetails, the top should be a half pin and the bottom should also be a half pin. The tails are then spaced across the height of the drawer, with some number that "fits" the space well.

To do this, I've always had to re-adjust the jig to get the proper placement of the pins and tails when the height changed, and that meant setting up the jig again.

I would think that without changing the jig, you wouldn't get the right layout of the pins and tails for each drawer as the width changed.

But maybe I'm missing something so please point it out if I am.

Mike
 
Excellent tutorials Mike. Very nicely done. I have one comment. When I am marking my pin board from the tail board, I have the end of the pin board sticking out above the vise such that the end is even with the side of a plane [which is laying on its side.] When I place the tail board on top to mark the pins, the plane is moved back such that the tail board bridges between the plane and the pin board. This allows me to apply much firmer pressure on the tail board, so that it stays in place more easily. Just a small suggestion that I've found improves my accuracy. Judging from your results, you accuracy is just fine.
Although not shown in the picture, I (usually) have a clamp on the tail board holding it in place. I'll usually leave the pin board just a bit proud of the vise top so that the tail board presses into it firmly.

I know the technique you describe and it works well, also.

Mike
 
The problem I've had with different height drawers is getting the dovetails spaced properly. For best looking dovetails, the top should be a half pin and the bottom should also be a half pin. The tails are then spaced across the height of the drawer, with some number that "fits" the space well.

To do this, I've always had to re-adjust the jig to get the proper placement of the pins and tails when the height changed, and that meant setting up the jig again.

I would think that without changing the jig, you wouldn't get the right layout of the pins and tails for each drawer as the width changed.

But maybe I'm missing something so please point it out if I am.

Mike

I would say that about sums it up. I find that with the small tails that are set up in my jig that I always leave it set to make the top tail the same size as the middle and let the bottom one fall as it may. It is only cutting a 3/8" tail so moving up or down to get the top tail and the bottom tail the same size would mean like adjusting it 3/16" or so. This to me makes the top one look to small and most of the time on what I build the bottom one gets covered by a slide.:thumb:
 
Nice write-up. Between this and the technique I saw (see what I did there?) on Rough Cut, I'm very anxious to try my hand at these.
 
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