Cutting a sliding dovetail for end cap on a bench?

[Rick Cicciarelli]

I will show just how "green" I am. I am looking at different ways that end caps are attached to bench tops. There is that concern of screwing into end grain. I see a lot of folks countersink bolts into the face of the end cap and drill into the end grain of the bench, cut out a hole in the bottom of the top and add a washer and nut etc. I am also looking at the design of the joint between the laminated tops and the end caps. I love the look of that sliding dovetail but it is not something I've ever cut out before. How does one go about doing that? Anyone have a link showing how this can be done?

[Matthew Hills]

Take a look at Randy Bonella's bench-building thread for one way to attach an end:
Mostly Neander Work Bench Build (Pic Heavy)

The knockdown bolt design is the other approach. You can make these yourself with the washer and nut as you say, or you can look for the bolts used with a lot of futons. Lee Valley also sells Veritas Special Bench Bolts

Matt

[John Toigo]

You're going to need one of these.....

P1010158.jpg

P1010157.jpg

[Jim Matthews]

If you're uncomfortable cutting dovetails, a similar result could be accomplished with a floating tenon.

If the floating tenon goes all the way through, you could use split wedges to make a tight fit.

[Jim Koepke]

I have also seen some that only have the dovetails on the very end.

The middle is more like a tenon and the ends have half blind dovetails.

jtk

[Ruhi Arslan]

I plan to attach the end boards with through double dovetail (kind of butterfly shaped). The other option I am thinking about is vertical dowels with offset and elongated holes in the tenon. I don't think there is anything wrong with the bolts through the face of the board but where is the fun with no challenge...

[Gary Curtis]

I used big, big dovetails to join 4x4 legs to 2x6 stretchers for wall mounted work benches. I don't know why you couldn't do the same. First you'll need a big dovetail bit for a router. The biggest is available from these guys : www.chipsfly.com. I bought a 28mm DT bit. That's about 1 1/8".

You can cut the trench (known as a mortise) and the Tail using the same bit. The trench is the easy part because the ends are relatively short. The bench top is probably too long to stand on end, so you'll have the hold the router on its side to fashion the tails. I'm not real strong on router skills. I couldn't explain it to you. So consult a good router book that discusses cutting dovetails with that kind of equipment.

If the benchtop wasn't already glued up, you might fashion the tails by hand with a saw on each board before assembly. Somebody, help with this idea if you have the know-how.