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Dovetailling


Bill Hudson

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I'm having one heck of a time getting dovetailing down correctly. Some how I'm missing something. I'm not getting the compound angles needed.  Back to the drawing board. But the little vise is working well.

 

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Well after some research I found I did OK only I cut the pins in the wrong board. Back to the work bench maybe Friday and cut a little finer fit.

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Well, they look okay to me, I also once cut the pins in the wrong board, but once when I researched a lot of chests I noticed that many of them had the pins on the front board and many on the sides...so I guess there were no hard and fast rules about it or either they couldn't waste so big a piece of wood and just continued to finish it.

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Thank you Elga and Bill, for the encouragement. Yes I just have my tails on the wrong board.  Will correct that. Obviously I also have to tighten up the dove tails too.  This is for my new project which I'm not sure where to post progress in woodworking or metal working as it involves both.

 

 

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I think they are looking good.  I'm looking forward to seeing your progress posts!  You always do such a great job. Thanks for all you do

 

making this forum so interesting.

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I have that same trouble when I put brass fittings on furniture, maybe best to put it in the furniture woodworking category?

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Looking good! I think it should be posted in wood. Or maybe just put it in metal as you get further along. So both :)

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  • 1 year later...

I love the pattern for scribing those dovetails! Dovetail drawers is definitely on my list of things to do in 2017!

 

 

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I've been thinking about this since I saw this post again... Did you cut your dovetail pattern out with a jewelers saw, then cleaned it up with files?  Did you use steel, tin, aluminum or brass? 

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Tamra,  the pattern is made from .010 thin steel. I Coated it with layout die then scribed the pattern and 

 sawed it out with a jewelers saw.  Go to tools and supplies to see another dovetail tool I use under

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I been buying a stash of tin, but I really want to try to make dovetailed drawers... so I'm checking the stash this afternoon, and I'll be chasing steel this week if I don't have any.

Thanks for the help.

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Metal Supermarkets did not have any cold or hot rolled steel in .010 thickness, the smallest steel bar they had in stock was 1/8th... I can get tin coated steel and brass in .010 dimension. The shop manager was attentive... but slightly amusing ...when i told him my most recent metal project was a plane, he thought a flying machine...not woodworking plane.  Any issues if I use brass or tin coated steel for the dovetail pattern?

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Tamra, I think you are trying to be too precise, any metal will work.  I used what is in my scrap bin and the steel was just the right size.

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I have discovered one of my largest challenges is that I am not getting a good line, and then next,  I am not getting good results because I didn't draw a good line.  If I am not accurate with my pattern, the dove tails won't fit together.  It is fun to cut dovetails by hand. 

Thanks Bill for the reply... and sorry about my inexperience. 

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I did not mean to precise in measurements.  I meant the type of metal is not important. I am the last one to tell any one how to do dovetails because I also lack the real experience. However what I have found out is not to use pencil for marking the layouts rather use a knife to mark the lines.  The knife marks help guide the saw blade in the cuts and keep down the fuzz from the saw on the reverse side.

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February's tool acquisition of the month was a life size dovetail saw.  I am hoping that practicing in life size will help me to better understand this joint.  I am thinking that at least with life size, I can hand it to the cabinetmaker husband and ask him what I'm doing wrong, and in life size, at least we can both see what we are doing, then I can practice in 1/12th scale.

Thanks!

 

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