Search query: «"dovetail jig"»

What is happening to me

Hub in Ontario

>I recently attended the "Training the Hand" course taught by Rob Cosman. We used nothing but hand tools and for most of us, me included, I very seldom used hand planes and certainly not this sharp or true.

The problem is that I can't seem to bring myself to cut close to a line anymore. I seem to want to wander so I can "just clean it up" with my 4 1/2 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 60 1/2 or 140 or .....

I find myself purposely making projects with non-standard thicknesses. As a result I need to plane it down to the thickness "I want" by hand of course. What is that machine in the corner with rollers about twelve inches wide that used to spew so many chips and make so much noise?

Should you be using a block plane this much?

What is that design I see on the wood after planing I now see that I didn't see afetr sanding? I have heard of this thing called "grain" but... Speaking of sanding, I walk by my sanding equipment and I find myself looking at them with distain.

I have a Leigh dovetail jig, but I now find I want very thin pins and my jig won't do that. I am mesmerized by thin straight lines cut with a dovetail saw.

What is this? Where am I? I can't find the dog under all these shavings. Help!!! Is there anything that can be done about it?

Damn you Rob Cosman!!!

Hub

Remove 7 from address for e-mail

Handcut dovetails jig *LINK*

Derek Cohen

>Ken

In addition to the advice given, you may find this jig of mine useful once you have marked the lines of the tails with a dovetail marker.

The jig will enable you to chisel to the line accurately on one side, then flip the board to chisel from the other side.

See the Link for more detailed information.

Regards from Perth

Derek




Handcut Dovetail Jig Mk II

Re: Then the dump miester showed up

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Hey Kevin...What diameter are the threads on the screws? They might make a nice dovetail jig or even a twinscrew vise if big enough. You are lucky you got two of them:-)JR

Re: LN 112 sharpening jig

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi Todd,

As much as I'd like a Bridge City block plane, I lifted the idea from one of David Charlesworth's books on furniture making. Of course Charlesworth uses MDF and I use plywood, so I guess that's original ;). It would be kind of like that guy who made a homemade copy of LV's dovetail jig and won the prize in FWW's tips. Thought I'd put it up for those who don't have Charlesworth's books (excellent reading, BTW).

Thanks anyways though,

Frank

Re: Hope I can learn to use LN saw

Jack Guzman from Maine

>Yes, throw away the jigs. I kept hemmin and hawin about buying a dovetail jig. The Leigh was way too expensive for me to even consider it and I was disappointed in how limited the +/-$100 ones were.I decided to learn cutting my own and was very surprised at how easy it actually is.

Practice sawing to a straight line ,alot. That is the one skill you need the most for good dovetails. Tage Frid's and Frank Klausz's videos helped me alot.

Have fun and welcome to the quiet side.---Jack

Hope I can learn to use LN saw

Larry Clinton - Frankfort, Indiana

>Just blew my weeks tool budget (and a little more) ordered a LN Dovetail saw. I am a regular on the tailed side, been lurking here a lot. My son and I kinda share my new workshop, and we both decided to learn to hand cut dovetails. I have a cheap Craftsman dovetail jig I used a few times, and was either going to buy a good jig or a good saw. Frank Klause (sorry can't remember how to spell his name) sure made hand cutting dovetails look easy at the Woodworks show in Indy last year. Sooo we decided to try, hope I can learn before I'm too old to use the skill. I have a skid of air dried sycamore (4 X 4 X 4 foot) sawn about 3-4, so figure we can practice for the next year or so :~). Any great tips for a beginner used to working with mostly electron driven tools??? (although I do have a pretty good assortment of Stanley Baily planes I am tuning)

Hand Dovetail Jig *LINK*

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>Steve

Here is a jig I use to aid in paring dovetails. I find it particularly useful when paring softwood, such as pine.

Regards from Perth

Derek


Dovetail jig

Re: Eye problem solution needed

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>Jim

I can support Lyn's recommendation of a jig, particularly the Veritas dovetail jig. I have used one and it makes for accurate cutting. The point is that it will enable you to align two points (the line you cut and the edge of the jig) precisely because you can do it BY FEEL (in the same way that you mark a dimension with the point of a knife, then slide your rule up against it to mark the complete line).

Your initial strategy should be to mark accurately, and it will best be done left handed. You can still work right handed, I believe, but as long as you learn to align your cuts. The emphasis here is getting as close up to the mark as possible, since errors of parallax will be less. This means that guide lines on a wall will not help (probably make life more difficult).

The acts of planing and chiselling are also less likely to be the issue, since you can do these double handed. It is the accuracy of paring to a line that is your challenge. As I menttioned before, I think you need to scribe your lines as deeply as possible. Also use jigs like a mitre jack when paring angles.

I hope some of this is of help.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Two under workbench cabinets with drawers

Roger, thanks for the nice words. I do feel more confident; I learned a great deal. And yes, I'm inclined, if I make another one (not too soon though), I think I'll use pocket holes for the case and my-home made half blind dovetail jig for the drawers. Once I had that jig tuned up, there was a  kind of shop production thing going, and the drawers went much faster.

I believe I first saw Frank Klausz in a video use a card scraper for extending those kerfs. I just use a thin one and tap it in with a brass hammer. I believe Derek made one with a handle; and, of course Cosman sells something like that. What do you use, assuming that you do also? I know you like to make tools.

I'm actually tempted to try removing most of the pin waste with a small trim router, if I find more energy and cut them by hand again. I saw Klausz do that too, believe it or not. Would you do it that way?

Two under workbench cabinets with drawers

Progress report: More or less finished. Here are some PICs.

The first cabinet has three drawers with hand-made half blind dovetails. The other drawer has through  doveails made with a Keller jig. I'll probably add a veneer so the look is consistent with half blinds throughout.

The drawers in the other cabinet were made with a half blind dovetail jig. So you could say that I chickened out. But But ... I made the jig! Ha,ha!

I still have to take off the temporary drawer pulls and figure out something permanent.

Also I think some kind of finish would be nice. What do you suggest for that?

Re: Could use some advice, use quarter saw solid wood bottoms

Those are cut using a Keller Dovetail jig set for tight fit and assembled with hide glue.� I typically set the jig up to make tails and pins slightly proud and trim flush.� The ash was too hard to trim with chisel so used hand plane with CPM M4 tool steel blade.� A blade you've seen before. If you index the Keller Jig all of the draw parts are interchangeable.�

Drawers will be installed into vanity with full extension Accuride slides with soft close feature.�

Shipping

Tom Henderson, Gulf Breeze Fl

i am preparing to list several tools and jigs in the classified section. I don't know the best way to ship these things, which can be heavy and/or bulky. For example a dovetail jig, a miter gauge or a hand held oscillating sander. For those with experience, what is the best and most economical way to ship this kind of stuff?

half blind dovetail

eliot

I thought I understood dovetails perfectly, but I am having a hard time seeing how any of the router-based dovetail jigs can turn out a half-blind dovetail without there being a round edge somewhere.

Re: 24" Jig

Pat Evans

The first project for which I needed a dovetail jig required a 24" jig. I got the PC Omnijig. It works fine for all pieces up to 24". On smaller pieces the top clamp pressure tends to be uneven due to the length of the bar, but there are workarounds for that.

Re: 24" Jig

Brad Chenoweth

I've never used one, only seen them demonstrated at shows, but I seem to recall that the Keller through-dovetail jig can be used for any length of dovetailed panel, just by moving the jig. Again, no personal experience.

24" Jig

Yonak

It would be rare to need to do a drawer that's more than 12" deep. I would think a 24" dovetail jig would not get used much, unless one is looking for creative applications.

Finger joints are useful for long interlocking joints.

Re: Too old...

Dave Bair

Not if you're doing a kitchen with 24 drawers! A cheapo, generic dovetail jig was a life saver.

Porter Cable 24: Omni Jig 77240

Michael van pelt

Anyone own or familiar with this dovetail jig? Asking about router bits needed?

Re: Help me out

Buck Nall

Well besides, drill press, ban saw & dovetail jig with 'bits' for it, 1/2'' router

and a bucket of 'bits' for it!

What other little jims do/should we/U have to make your

shop projects worry/wearisome, oh let me guess, ?Forstener? bits, large & teeny!

Not to mention brushes for applying trim & BS when ya got visitors.

Aint gonna git into Dust & chips, aint nuff room/time.

C ya.

WHO yelled saw hoss'es??????

I'm going to tha shop this KEYBOARD is bothersome.

Re: Struggling with Leigh Dovetail Jig...Questions

Barry Irby

Thanks Tom,

You are correct on what you say. Part of my problem was that I already had the jig and a dedicated router set up to do HB dovetails. I had just done the cabinet with four corners 18" long and figured I could use the same set up. The plywood for the drawers was thinner and the drawers would turn out to be through DT's but the font gets an overlay front and the rear seldom if ever shows, so I was OK with that. This was a poor assumption. I would have been better to go to the method for Through DT's and use two routers.

As it was, I had just put some wear on the DT bit with the trial and error of getting the depth just right for the cabinet. White Oak is tough. I was hoping I could just use the existing setting and move on. Nope. Took a lot of fiddling to get the fit right.

Apparently the plywood just cuts differently than the oak. The trial and error dulled the bit further. An even slightly dull bit is a bad thing in plywood.

And there are a LOT of adjustments on the Leigh Jig. The rack of finger guides moved on me one time. For some reason the right knurled knob on my jig will lock up really tight if you just snug it, requiring pliers to loosen it. So I try to tighten it "just right". Apparently I failed to snug up the left one, which normally works just fine. Threw that drawer part away and made another.

My jig has the older style fingers that are in two pieces. Pictures of the newer ones seem to indicate Leigh has combined them in to single pieces that aw wider and have two screws. On the 18" ones on the cabinet I spread them apart. Somewhere along the way one of them moved about a 1/32", making one DT loose. (I shimmed it, don't tell my son.) I was ritualistic about checking those screws in the fingers when I got tot he drawers and I put the fingers back to back to have the effect of two screws together. Triple check the screws for tightness. In cutting the sockets (four drawers, 16 sets of sockets) they gradually separated by maybe a hundredth. Just enough to see, but only after it's over. This loosened the fit, but that is what epoxy is for.

Of course my stubbornness did not help. Or maybe it did.

Re: Struggling with Leigh Dovetail Jig...Questions

TomD

Brand of bit is irrelevant, you adjust the fit on half blinds by raising the dovetail bit for tighter, or lowering for looser.

On through dovetails, you adjust fit by moving the pattern in and out. And it is the act of cutting the pins with the straight bit that does the fitting.

The biggest difference is if you follow the settings for the through DTs, and you hedge to a fatter fit (further to the back with the guide), you can move the guide forward and make the result looser until it is perfect. Then you can run the rest without further adjustment. But with the HBs, you have to run test cuts. if you have to raise or lower the bits, you don't get a second chance, if I remember correctly. It has been probably 25 years.

With the HBs, I once did a very delicate project where I had cut the drawer fronts very carefully out of a larger piece so that they had only a very tight crack all the way around them. This way I got great grain continuity. But the problem with that was I had to get the first shot perfect. I forget how I did it, but I do remember the adjustment is in the vertical exposure of the dovetail bit. These days I would cut the HBs by hand. I still like the leigh for production through dovetails.

Re: Struggling with Leigh Dovetail Jig...Questions

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

Barry, I have an older Leigh jig, purchased in the box unused at a estate sale some years ago. I have a full set of Whiteside bits I use with the jig. The only issue I have had with the jig is that some boards "slipped" during machining. I applied a strip of fine adhesive backed sandpaper to the clamping bar and it solved the issue.

Re: Struggling with Leigh Dovetail Jig...Questions

KenK

I've made quite a few drawer boxes using 1/2" Baltic Birch on a Leigh jig. I do it infrequently so I have to re-learn the process every time. I've found it imperative to use a sharp or new bit and to make a climb cut on the drawer surface face. Also use a backer board to prevent tear out when cutting the tails.

Re: Struggling with Leigh Dovetail Jig...Questions

Jerry Gibbs

Is ply suitable for dovetails?

Re: Struggling with Leigh Dovetail Jig...Questions

John McGaw

Yep. Brand doesn't matter -- the size and angle are the key. And the sharp of course. I've never had any of the Leigh bits, using a set sold way back when by Jesada (anybody remember them?), and they've worked great. I'll have to say that test cuts have always seemed a necessity for me even though I keep samples on hand to use as jigs in the initial setup process. I've never done a DT in plywood so I don't know if that would be different in some subtle way I don't understand.