Dovetail tip

Re: Dovetail tip

Don Stephan

That is a great tip to pass along. A small square is extremely helpful to check both the bottom and back of the chopped area.

Re: Dovetail tip

Hank Knight

If I'm seeing the photo correctly, it looks like the second-from-closest socket is also burnished. I use a jig for half blind dovetails. Some call it a "crutch," but it works for me every time and I don't have these issues.

Woodworking crutches

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I am in favor of anything that enables someone to get the job done. However, crutches (or training wheels) eventually get in the way and they will be abandoned for the sake of convenience. I predict that by the time you work your way through a few drawers this jig that seemed so necessary and useful will be used no more. (then you can pass it on to the next woodworker climbing their way up the learning curve)

One thing the jig prevents is the beneficial first chisel chop that I use. For the first light tap of the chisel in the scribe line to establish a shoulder I angle the chisel away from the scribe line( about 5 degrees)This approach ensures the chisel does not nudge the shoulder past the scribe line. The next whack on the chisel can then be more robust.

I'm working on 8 drawers with 9 more scheduled. By the 8th I will be getting both quick and accurate. By the time I start the next 9, months will have passed and I'll have to regain the proficiency I had on the previous 8th drawer. I have made peace with the fact that only other woodworkers care if drawer dovetails are flauntable and don't bother striving for this level of perfection. The drawer will be judged by the user by how well it functions. Fit is where to spend the effort.

BTW, I like to undercut the end grain just a bit. There is no useful glue surface here so there is no reason to get it perfect. Undercutting not only ensures that the joint meets at the outside edge, but it provides a place for excess glue to go instead of squishing out into the expose corner.

Re: Woodworking crutches

Hank Knight

Hi, Bill

I've been using this jig for some time now (years). I don't bother with it when I'm doing "quick and dirty" joinery; but when I'm striving for really perfect dovetails, the jig comes out. I like it because it doesn't let the chisel creep past the scribe line. I do my heavy chopping first and sneak up on the line. The last cut is braced against the vertical stop. It places the chisel directly in the scribe line and guarantees a vertical cut. I find that there is less back-and-forth wiggle in the joint if the back of the socket is perfectly vertical and flush with the tail board. Similarly, the little spacer board I use between the bench top and the chisel for paring the ends of the sockets gives me a consistent, square socket end. All of this helps keep the joint square. I hear you about the glue squeeze-out. I use very little glue, just a dab on the sides of each pin socket is all it takes. I don't get much, if any, squeeze-out.

Re: Woodworking crutches

TM Stock

We might consider differentiating between technique and crutch.

Bill's tip is an exercise in developing good technique - his use of the small adjustable square develops awareness of the connection between accuracy with chisel and final fit of tail in tail socket. My guess is that once the eye is trained to recognize what the check helps detect (incorrect angle of final cut with chisel), the check is likely more a case of comfortable routine than true necessity.

I view a crutch as something used in lieu of further development of the skills or technique necessary to achieve the desired outcome. The setup pictured is perhaps more of an aid to development of a sense of square for chisel use than a crutch, although I suspect that prolonged use might not yield the same results as Bill's post-execution check of results.

data to support your statement

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I haven't done a drawer is several months. I am now on the 4th of this current set of 8 and this one required no adjustment after sawing and initial chiseling. As you suggest, the feedback for doing the first few leads to more reliability (and speed) for subsequent operations. Which....is why I do one at a time rather than gang operations- marking, sawing, chiseling. I am now holding the chisel to get it right the first time. The feedback for each drawer caries forward to improve the next, etc.

If past experience is a guide by the time I get to the 8th I will be working efficiently. Saw cuts relative to the scribe line will be spot on and the chisel angles similarly adequate to not require post chiseling adjustment.

That said, I don't strive to a higher standard for dovetailing a drawer than what I see in quality antiques. For me making a drawer is not some personal goal for achievement and perfection. The goal is to hold a drawer together and get on to the next one. If one is perfect it is an accident.

Re: data to support your statement

TM Stock

Nice to see the AI at Google has a sense of humor...

Re: It Could Have Been Worse

William Duffield

At least it didn't try to sell you one of these.

Re: It Could Have Been Worse

TM Stock

There is that...you've made my day a little better, Sir Will.

Re: Woodworking crutches

TomD

"We might consider differentiating between technique and crutch."

Another diff. is that there are materials or times when there is a lot at stake. The various side benders that people make for guitars are crutches, and worse still they make the process more difficult as it is difficult to know what pattern will yield what result in this case. But it is worth it because (they have been improved) and because sides can cost a grand or more, and are prone to break. Saving just one side is worth the trouble, due to the cost involved. Same thing if you were trying to chisel really highly figured wood, and it might break-out.

Another situation is something like sharpening where over time one may loose the bevel. But one can easily get things back to flat, or hollow ground, with a jig. So using hand skills is low risk, and you can build them, the jig is there when you need it.

It really isn't a mater of a crutch if one intends to, or has mastered "all" the alternatives.

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Another approach is Frid's undercutting the whole thing. He was fully confident that one could depend on the glue (ofcourse it depends on which glue). He was an advocate of efficiency since he got paid by the piece.