joint making 101: tapered sliding dovetail

Re: joint making 101: tapered sliding dovetail

ThomD

>I wrote about this a while back, giving the geometry for developing a dovetail plane/blade. If you have cad, or are making a pencil drawing, for 45 degrees, just boost the diagonal height by 1.4. In can you can do this easily by stretching an X/Y aixs depending on your orientation in the drawing.

Of course, unless you are matching a router bit, you can just gage the whole joint off the plane's geometry. ECE makes a special saw to complement the plane, though I haven't used it.

I just use the plane on the tenon part since that is an easy cut. I do have a Japanese plane of weird construction that makes both cuts, Hiraide sell them, but like a lot of Japanese planes, you almost need to be good enough to make them, to use them. The blade orientation is sorta like a nicker in a rebate plane.

Re: joint making 101: tapered sliding dovetail

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>thom, i'm a SCRUB! i can't make tools at this point in my amateur woodworking career - but i will take another look at your previous message!

Re: joint making 101: tapered sliding dovetail

Marc in Luxembourg

>Franc,

Steve made me a dovetail plane (outta cocobolo). It works great for both, male and female parts. To cut the dovetail dado you fix a fence, angled batten, 10� to square, if I remember well, on the board.

I made myself a depth stop fence using the existing screws. Fixing the batten the other side, take care to not leave a too small strip for the plane to run on. Otherwise the plane will not run well.

Overall it's a beautiful plane, that performs very well. I had an ECE before, but wasn't convinced by it. On the picture you see how I fixed three boards in a U-profile together with a sliding dovetail construction. The batten is in the tool tray.

Regards, Marc

Where the plane

Jim in Burlington On

>I was looking in the pic for the plane:)

so what you're saying is...

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>it was worth the 185 greenbacks? marc, that's a great picture that you provided. what are you building, BTW? i like your plane cabinet with the through dovetails as well!

Re: Here the plane!

Marc in Luxembourg

>So here the plane!

BTW the U-Profile houses spotlights over Dad's kitchen counter. It's kind of a limitation between two rooms.

Regards, Marc

Re: so what I'm saying is...

Marc in Luxembourg

>yes, it is its 185 worth. I don't know how many sliding dovetails you're making, but the plane's so good you have nothing to tune just a little honing and a little practice.

Marc

Re: joint making 101: tapered sliding dovetail

Dave Thompson - Champaign IL

>Making tenons with the a bowsaw?? you must be bored ;-)

Glad to hear it though. I still have a few belated christmas presents to finish up before I'll have time to play again.

Dave

i woudn't saw i was BORED...

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>dave, any time that i can hang out in the garage and butcher some wood is a GOOD DAY! i thought you might benefit from the encouragement. despite all the advice that everyone gave, i wound up cutting tenons the frank klausz method which entails: clamping the tenon piece VERTICALLY not diagonally, sawing the furthest corner first then down onto the flat portion and finally connecting the nearest corner, proceeding downwards while checking in between every 3 cuts to make sure that i'm still tracking straight.

have fun!

Re: joint making 101: tapered sliding dovetail *LINK*

George Huron

>Here is a link to the procedure that I use. Use the dovetail plane itself to make your sawing guide block so that the angles will match. Another helpful hint is to set up the fence for the dovetail plane first so that it is half the thickness of the uprights, then make a cut into a scrap piece of wood, then set up your marking gage based on this cut. The depth of the socket will then match the dovetail perfectly. This is much easier than matching the fence to the marking gauge.


http://www.springharvestfww.com/shakershelveswebpage.htm

Re: joint making 101: tapered sliding dovetail

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>george, thought you'd never show up! thanks! i've been clicking on your website all day long trying to get the pics to load. great website!

Molding planes!

Wiley Horne--Glendora, CA

>Marc,

I'm enjoying looking at your molding planes. The second one from the left--what profile does it cut? Or does it cut two different profiles?

Thanks, Wiley

Re: joint making 101: tapered sliding dovetail

George Huron

>Thanks. Are you having trouble viewing my website?

Re: joint making 101: tapered sliding dovetail

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>george, i'm still having trouble viewing it directly from your site. i click on the news and promotion and then click on the sliding dovetail link and then i get a bunch of broken picture links. is it just me? BTW do you enjoy using the ece dovetail plane?

Re: so what I'm saying is...

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>for $20 more and the ability to cut the female part of the sliding dovetail joint, i'm almost SOLD...

cutting diagonal.. . hmm.

Dave Thompson - Champaign IL

>despite all the advice that everyone gave, i wound up cutting tenons the frank klausz method which entails: clamping the tenon piece VERTICALLY not diagonally, sawing the furthest corner first then down onto the flat portion and finally connecting the nearest corner, proceeding downwards while checking in between every 3 cuts to make sure that i'm still tracking straight.

Thanks Frank.

I'm actually curious to hear about another method, because the method you described is the way I always do when I use a back saw. I don't think I've ever tried going at it on the diagonal. I'd be curious to know why one would suggest clamping the tennon in that orientation for the cut.

enjoy,

Dave

Re: Molding planes!

Marc in Luxembourg

>It's matched, tongue and groove, with two irons moving in opposite directions.

Marc

Re: joint making 101: tapered sliding dovetail

George Huron

>I'll check into the trouble with the website. I really like the ECE dovetail plane although it is expensive. I understand the Knight Toolworks makes a very good one. I cut the socket with a backsaw, chisels and I clean it up with a router plane. This is actually a very fast process. If a student has difficulty with it, it is usually because they don't saw well. In this case the cure is not to get a plane that cuts the socket but instead to practice your sawing (because I think it is essential that woodworkers be able to use a handsaw well).

Re: cutting diagonal.. . hmm.

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>dave, for some people it's easier to cut down TWO lines instead of engaging all THREE simultaneously. classic masters like tage frid and ian kirby all advocate this method and you'll see it recommended in many woodworking texts. i tried it the other day but gave it up pretty quickly because the cuts don't always line up perfect and the tenon winds up having this funny two cut cheek appearance and it takes time to reposition the piece of wood in the vice. furthermore, since i've only got a tail vise installed, my bow saw won't clear the adjacent wall!

well said, teacher!

frank shic (walnut ck, ca)

>george, i love that kind of HARDCORE advice! i'll agree that it wasn't terribly difficult sawing and chiselling out the socket, but somewhere in the process i started fantasizing about a MAGICAL cordless router like tool that would do the entire job in just a few strokes. i imagine our ancestors probably did the entire cut with ONLY a backsaw and chisel.

Re: No Problem With Your Site......

Frank Mutchler in Colorado Springs

>George, I viewed your site including the tenon cutting video with no problem. I'm using FireFox 1.0.7.

Great Video, by the way. I really enjoyed seeing your creative use of the #71 router plane to finish the cheeks of the tenon.

Re: so what I'm saying is...

ThomD

>I thought I paid 75 for the Japanesetools.com one, though it's tricky to use, I can't really recomend it unless you want to try it.

I can send you a plane blade if you want to make one. I'd need to know your angles.

Re: Here the plane!

ThomD

>Do you have a better picture of the double decker tool cabinet? Shop tour?

Re: Here the cabinet

Marc in Luxembourg

>Here the lower left corner with some old tongue and groove as well as some molding planes. Above some block planes and above ... see next pic