Dovetail Joinery In Flutemaking ?

Mike Turner

Member
Messages
361
Location
Laurinburg NC
I am a flutemaker..I start with blanks 1 1/2" square by 36 or so inches long.Anyhow I want to attach an endcap of a contrasting wood to the ends.I have end the past just squared the ends and gluted the endcap to the flute blank or body.(The blank is a length of 1 1/2" wood 26" or so long...the endcap could be 2" long...one for each end.) I had thought about using a dovetail joint to attach the endcap and have the tools to do it on the router table and a good dovetail saw but havent taken the time to practice to do it...Any help or tips are appreciated.
 
Well it would look pretty cool I think... However my limited experience in working on round things says this would be hard. Probably the easiest way would be to join the pieces while they're square and then make round, although that will still be challenging to keep the dovetail aligned and you'd have to have a perfect fit the whole way which is challenging. The other possible problem is making sure you don't end up with really thin pieces where the pieces meet because of the curve, do a smaller pin is probably better (but would have to sketch the geometry several times).

A more common method would be to turn a small stub tennon on one piece and a corresponding mortise in the other. Stronger than a butt joint and not a lot harder to make.

Having said that a double puzzle dovetail here would look pretty neat of you managed to keep it centered: http://m.wikihow.com/Make-a-Double-Dovetail-Puzzle

edit: the power tool people will say skip the dovetail saw except maybe for roughing and make a jig on the router table to hold it accurately.. they're almost certainly correct in this case.
 
Last edited:
Top