Cradle with "Lovetails"

[Roy Shaw]

When my step-daughter announced her pregnancy last year, I
remembered an article in FWW in which the author had made an
interesting cradle for his grandchild. I recalled a keyword from
the article, but didn't have the issue anymore. I Googled
"lovetail" and found the 1989 reference. Knowing the issue, I got
on Ebay and found someone selling the issue. Here is my
rendition of that cradle. Note that the pins cut out of the side
panels extend through heart-shaped holes in the end pieces.

[John Keeton]

Now that is special! There is a lot of work in doing those "lovetails." Seems that there was a similar article in FWW on doing different types of visible pins - don't recall when. Right now, I am just concentrating on getting the hang of regular old dovetails!

Great job!

[GERALD HARGROVE]

Great work. Nothing like a gift with lots of love involved.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Wow, I'm sure that was a real labor of love. A lot of work must have gone into those. That's quite something! I'm sure it will be especially cherished.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice work Roy! I am sure it is a gift that will be treasured!

[Mark Lambert]

Really nice work...

Tell us more about cutting the tails.


Mark

[John Thompson]

Very nice, Roy. I'm glad you started your own thread as I saw the cradle in the other one.

Sarge..

[Jim Becker]

EXCELLENT execution of that project, Roy!!!!

[Roy Shaw]

Really nice work...

Tell us more about cutting the tails.


Mark

Mark,

The heart-shaped holes were easy, just drill two 7/16 holes close to
each other, and then saw the straight sides out. Then, I stood the
side pieces on end and held the ends (with the hearts) in the correct
orientation over the ends, and traced the heart on to the ends of the
sides. I then clamped the ends into my dovetail jig and routed out the
area between where the heart-shaped pins would be. Then, the work
began. Sawing, chiseling, Dremel tooling, sanding, rasping, all the
while checking (100s of times) the fit into the end panels. It took
me about 10 hrs per set, so 40 hrs to get them all carved out.

Thanks to all for the nice comments.

[Dustin Thompson]

What patience you have, Roy, that is awesome! You have created a beautiful family heirloom.

Dustin

[Mark Valsi]

Patience is not the word !! It's amazing the work you did on that. Congrats.

doesn't the Leigh jig have something like that ??? I thought I saw some kind of a "dovetail" joint that wasn't straight ???