dovetail dado's

Peter Lyon

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330
Location
Puyallup, WA
Hopefully someone will be willing to share their experience with me on this one.

I'm in the process of building my interpretation of the rolling rod holder seen below. As you can see, I will need to attach four horizontal (is there any other kind? :huh:) shelves to the sides of the unit and I'd like to use a sliding dovetail joint. The obvious method is to chuck a dovetail bit in a router and plow out the dado using a straight edge. However, I'm concerned that I'll have trouble trying to remove so much wood at one time. Is my concern warranted? Is it necessary to use a straight bit first to remove a majority of the material first?

Also, does anyone have a recommendation on which degree dovetail bit works best for this type of thing?
 

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I usually use a 14° dovetail bit. For the joint in the case sides, I generally use two routers - both with the exact same diameter base (two PC 690s in my case) - although, with great care, it could be done with one.

I make the first cut with a 1/4 or 5/16 straight bit, and a straitedge guide. Then, without moving the guide, I switch to the router with the dovetail bit and make the final pass.

Use the same router bit in the router table to make the shelf ends.

I've use an 8° bit, too, and it works well. I just prefer the look of the 14° joint.
 
Thanks Jim, I followed your advice and it worked perfectly. :thumb: When you cut the tails, how tight do you shoot for? Do you want to have to tap it in or should simple hand pressure be enough?
 
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