more dovetails labor savings
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
Drawers are all the same and it gets tedious making them. Waste removal is particularly tedious and it is one of the largest time consuming steps. In my quest to take labor out of the process I have found another tool that makes waste removal go faster.
Picture 1 shows the half blinds after routing out the waste as best I can(more on this step later).
Typically 4 thrusting cuts with a chisel, using the saw kerf as a guide, removes waste from the side of the socket, except for a pesky bit in the back corner as shown.
The next chisel cut is a vertical plunge indexed along the back base line to free this splinter from the back baseline, Picture 3.
Here is where the problems begin. If the wood fibers are brittle the pesky splinter in the back corner will break off and leave the socket free or waste. More likely it will not. Some times the fibers are especially though and this pesky splinter will not break away. It must be cut.
The chisel in the hand at this point is too big to get a corner in there to cut this splinter free. A long time ago I acquired a "skew chisel" for this task. I tried and abandoned it (ineffective) for a small straight chisel which was not ideal either. Rethinking the problem I realized the skew was what was needed, it just had to be ground for the task.
Narex chisels have excellent steel and they are cheap. They have crappy handles though. To the rescue is Taylor Toolworks, Columbia, MO. They sell unhandled Narex chisels. I bought a 1/4" ($15), mounted it in the LV sharpening jig at a 14 degree angle and ground the skew as shown in the picture. This chisel is the correct size, and angle , for the job.
A right and left skew are not necessary. By tilting the chisel I can do right or left with one. Yea!
