Sliding dove tail

Re: Sliding dove tail

Richard Gillespie

>I'm no expert at this but I think there are a least a couple of variables at work here. The first two that come to mind are what species of wood and whether it is basically flat sawn or quarter sawn in it's grain orientation.

IMHO, if soft wood and or plain sawn the weaker it is and therefore the more space you have to allow.

Re: Sliding dove tail *LINK*

Paul M. in San Diego

>I just took a swag at it and made the base of the dovetails the same width as the gap between the dovetails (makes a 5/4 sided hexagon). Time will tell if that is adequate or not. If you are making a large table that will see sizable weight loads, then beef it up more. My table is small and light, and I don't have kids to jump up and down on it so I suspect mine will hold up. If not, you can always add a brass spider later on to repair any damage.


Last weeks dovetail picture

Re: Sliding dove tail

Ernie Miller Topeka

>how big is your spindle?

Re: Sliding dove tail

Paul M. in San Diego

>It was laminated from three pieces of 5/4 cherry, turned to maximum diameter. It wound up just a tad over 3.5 inches.

Re: Sliding dove tail

Mike L. in SoCal

>Hi Paul,

I didn't see that pic the first time you posted it. That's some really nice work. On a bit of a tangent, are you a member of SDFWA (I just joined) and do you have any favorite source for wood in the San Diego area?

Cheers,

Mike (Carlsbad)

SDFWA

Paul M. in San Diego

>Hi Mike,

I've been a member of SDFWA for about 5 years. I go to only about 25% of the meetings, but I do enjoy working at the chair making booth at the San Diego Fair (and of course the lumber discounts).

I frequent The Hardwood and Hardware (TH&H) in Mira Mesa and Cut&Dried in Solana Beach. I go to other yards like Frost when I can't find what I'm looking for in the first two places.

Maybe we'll bump into each other at the next meeting? It's on the Berkeley (an old renovated ferryboat), so this should be a fun meeting.

-- Paul M.

Re: SDFWA

Mike L. in SoCal

>Thanks for the info Paul. I hadn't heard of TH&H so I'll check them out. As a newbie I've yet to actually buy any hardwood but I have a project in mind and hope to get the wood for it soon. As far as the SDFWA meetings, they always seem to fall on the same evenings as the meetings of my professional association and, at this stage of my career, I need to make up for lost time networking (groan). I will probably make it to the old tool swap meet on April 4 though. :-)

Cheers,

Mike