A jig with wings

I was playing with my jig yesterday with fair results. Took a few tests to get the pins to fit tight.
You mentioned before that you had some tear out. How did you fix that?? I had tear out on some of the tails and can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Rennie Heuer said:

Hmmmmm. Looks a little Krenovian.

Click to expand...

Exact thing I was thinking

make sure the backer boards are flush and tight and even, and when you remove or push in the router, its got to be very flat with the surface.
you have to be careful not to tilt it even a tiny bit when pulling back.

there is only so much one can do to save dovetails once they are cut.
I overthought some of the repair work and basically ruined the look. I should have left them be and put a little oil on the wood to get a better looksie at what a finished product would look like.
I was about 50% happy with my product.IN my eyes, its a failure, but my wife warned me not to dare cut it up and toss it.
I oiled it lightly to see how it looks.
Im not ashamed to post my failed attempt at a tiny solid cabinet.
I have to rethink my jig and perhaps go for something with a bit more stability for my unsteady and weak grip.
Eh, I need alot of practice.

I did not copy any design nor was it my intention to make the piece look like anyone elses work. I was just trying to make something I thought I could handle and "broaden my horizons."
Theres just so much stuff to learn, and Im trying to get a jumpstart on my woodworking sometimes.

the last picture shows the drawer front I cut out of mahogany, (no that Im looking at it closely, it might be cherry?)I felt no reason to continue today since I wasnt happy with the product. The drawer front is actually in the back of the unit. Ill cut the dovetails tomorrow, my wife insists on keeping the unit.The 5th picture is the worst of all of it.
The more I tried to do, the worst it got.
Im going back to making shelves for the garage.

*one good thing happenned today. My wood guy, the guy who sold me almost all my hardwoods Ive used, is getting his hands on more mahogany and spanish cedar. Ill pass on the spanish cedar, but mahogany at a good price is always a go. Hes also getting teak. Im just not sure about teak.(his prices are always superb)

Look at it as a learning experience Allen. To repair something like that successfully you need to try and match the grain also. I should have said something about it but it just slipped my mind. Sorry. Just rub a little mineral spirits on a piece next time to see if it matches or not.

it wasnt so much the grain discrepencies, it was some of the gaps, not in the size, but the way they lay flat against each piece. didnt hold the router exactly straight, bit must have tipped ever so slightly and ruined the flush fit.
IM going to try again tomorrow with the drawer and see if I correct the problem.

allen for your first try at making dove tails i would agree with your wife its fine!! and considering the fixun yu done to it to make it better i would say you succeeded real well..next time they wont go so hard..

It wasnt till last night I had no clue how much she admired my woodworking.

She defended the piece as if she was buying it and I didnt want it.

Im going to finish it off for sure now, but not today as planned.

I decided to take today off.

Well I am just catching up to this thread and wondering ???????? whats all the fuss about. Those are way way better than the one i have made. I did not even bother to fill mine on the medal case i made.

edit-alot of mistakes, but I finally got a drawer I can live with.
This was ash and mahogany for the front.(that could be sapele, its a bit more reddish, sometimes hard for me to tell)
The rain came down so fierce it started to back up and flood the garage so I had to sweep out water and move machines around and called it a day.

Im not putting a front on this drawer. The through dovetails will be exposed. Its what I wanted. I could have easily covered it.One pin on the upper right chipped off a tiny bit, so Ill have to glue something back in there. One in the back also, but overall it came out acceptable.

The jig works, but I think Bob would agree with me(I know he just purchased one), that moving the jig everytime you have to cut another pin or tail makes too much room for errors. Things move slightly, it can throw it all off.

It took Mr. Brogger 6 hours to cut 52 drawers. It took me 52 hours to cut one drawer.

That came out real nice Allen

I got the dovetails cut on the chest finally. I'll take some pics and post them on my chest thread.
Taking your warning seriously I was real careful making sure everything was snug and aligned before I cut them. There was a total of 80 dovetails and 28 waste cuts. It took about 3-4 hours once I got everything set.
I have to say that they dovetails came out almost perfect....almost. I screwed up. I cut the tail board first as directed. 3 dovetails on the ends of the boards a 4 in the middle. I spaced the groups of 3 1" apart. Or so I thought. i forgot about the thickness of the ts blade so I was 1/4" closer causing the jig to cut the edge of some of the pins off. I'll have to fix that after I glue it up. But the joints match and fit like a glove.
All in all I am happy with the jig. Much more cost effective than spending $500 on a PC or Leigh.
It sure doesn't replace my 12" Rockler jig for narrower boards but it has it's place on wider ones.

I just believe the constant resetting of it for each cut leaves alot of room for error. And if youre cutting a 30 inch wide board like you, it would be a disaster to finish 40 cuts, and then have something misalign.
Im glad it worked out.
I guess Im going to have to splurge eventually for a jig to make drawer making easier.