Do you clamp your dovetails?

[Erik Christensen]

I have made a couple dozen of half-blind dovetail drawers and have tried a number of ways to clamp them during glue-up. I have tried clamping just the sides (tails) right at the joint thinking it would tend to seat the tails in the pins and not get the glue squeeze out under the clamps. I have tried clamping at the joint so I contact both tails & pins. Finally I have tight fitting joints that I have just tapped together with glue and after checking for square I leave alone.

It seems that clamping just the tails leaves glue squeeze out easier to clean but over clamping can distort the side so it is not straight and with a glued bottom it can remain distorted. Clamping both pins & tails means glue squeeze out is under the clamp and a mess to clean up, plus I am not sure if I get the tails fully seated in the pin sockets but at least I don’t have to worry about distorting the sides. Not clamping at all does not seem to result in any problems with the finished drawer box but I am paranoid that I have not got a good glue bond though some joints it does not seem to even need glue at all.

I am about to glue up ~ 20 solid hard maple drawers and do NOT want to mess up all the time & $$ I have invested so far.

What do you guys & gals do for dovetail assembly?

[johnny means]

I bang them together with a rubber mallet. I always make sure the side beieing assembled is down on the surface of the table to avoid splitting. In other words I'm hammering the pin board into the tail board not hammering the tail board onto the pin board. No need for clamps if you dovetails are tight. I will clamp a board that may have bow a little. Don't sweat the glue bond, a good dovetail doesn't depend on glue for much of it's strength.

[Van Huskey]

I bang them together with a rubber mallet. I always make sure the side beieing assembled is down on the surface of the table to avoid splitting. In other words I'm hammering the pin board into the tail board not hammering the tail board onto the pin board. No need for clamps if you dovetails are tight. I will clamp a board that may have bow a little. Don't sweat the glue bond, a good dovetail doesn't depend on glue for much of it's strength.

I agree, +1.

[Ted Wong]

I always glue my dovetails. I make clamp blocks that either fit over the protruding pins or tails at the corners. That way the forces are directly over the joint and I don't worry about distorting the box when clamping. I also prefinish the interior surfaces before glue up to aid in cleaning up squeeze out after it dries.

[Mac Houtz]

I rarely use much glue unless the joint is going to get banged around a lot
I have several pieces that are 10 plus years old with NO glue and the joints are fine. Tight dovetails are not dependent on glue for strength

[Karl Brogger]

I bang them together with a rubber mallet. I always make sure the side beieing assembled is down on the surface of the table to avoid splitting. In other words I'm hammering the pin board into the tail board not hammering the tail board onto the pin board. No need for clamps if you dovetails are tight. I will clamp a board that may have bow a little. Don't sweat the glue bond, a good dovetail doesn't depend on glue for much of it's strength.

What he said, but I bang mine together with the face I'm banging together up. So I'm hitting the face I want together with the hammer. I use a stick of scrap to spread out the load from the hammer as well.

If I've got one that is really bad I'll throw a clamp on it.

Also found recently that if you put the drawer on end and tap them that way it'll help suck up the joints a bit. Its not a miracle fix by any means.




Ted Wong- You're using too much glue if it is squeezing out on a regular basis.

[Ken Masco]

I do what Ted does, works great

[frank shic]

i just reinforce the joint with about a dozen brad nails...




just kidding i glue them and let them dry without further clamping.

[Karl Brogger]

I don't know why I forgot to mention this before, but I belt sand all of the joints. I rub a bit of glue into any of the hairline gaps then belt it out before the glue dries. A belt sander seems to make a really good putty/filler. I think it creates bigger strands of sawdust, vs the flour you get from using an orbital.

Its hard on belt sander belts, especially if you use too much glue, but they come out pretty flawless that way. Just as a reference I belted 52 drawers a week or two ago and went through about a belt and a half. (Started with a not new belt, changed it part way through, and it was toast when I was done.)

You still have to hit em' with an orbital, but just to clean it up.