The Half blind leading the half blind - Chop chop

[Prashun Patel]

I've started several dovetail threads here. I apologize for yet another...

On the last few drawers I've made, I've had a lot of trouble chopping out the waste from the sockets/pins of half blind dovetails.

It takes so long and doesn't feel very efficient.

My method has been to mark all the lines, then pare all the shoulders, then to chop into the end grain of the socket with a mortise chisel, then place the piece flat and pare from the face. It just takes so darn long. I took about 45 minutes today to do about 2 sockets (2/3 of 1 drawer side). I'm doing it wrongly.

So, how do you guys do it?

[Brian Holcombe]

Prashun, chop down from the inside face, and split from the end grain. If it helps, make a guide to help with paring.

I would use a bench chisel for this, make your chops about 1/8" away from the line until you've got all the waste out, then knock out the last 1/8" and bring it tight to the line.

[Sean Hughto]

Mark all lines with a knife.
Saw as much as possible - some don't mind saw kerfs going into the drawer, but I personally avoid it, so sawing only gets me about half way, but is still useful.
Keep working the chisel across the end line and then chopping out layers from the base end.
Pare what's left to get square sides that meet your knife lines.
It's not super quick, but shouldn't take that long. With softer woods it obviously goes quicker and vice versa.
An in progress shot (left mostly done and right waiting to be pared to final):

[john zulu]

check how Derek does it:
http://www.inthewoodshop.com/index.html

paring is one of the slow down. Drill as much waste as possible. Did you cut the sides of the pins with a saw?

[Zach Dillinger]

Follow the early masters and overcut the pins. This will make waste removal much easier and you'll never notice the saw cuts in the final work. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this technique.

[george wilson]

I could make a dovetail joint on the corner of a drawer in 10 minutes flat,and I always just chop the waste out.

[Sean Hughto]

George, that's impressive (depending upon the wood you were using and the number of sockets and so forth), but the fella wants specific tips on HOW! ;-)

[Prashun Patel]

George-
I aspire to that level of efficiency; I'll be happy with 20 minutes per corner! I prescribe to your usual advice to stick with it, keep practicing, and don't expect any short cuts to learning how to play the instrument. However, my heart says I'm just not chiseling properly and I could use a little coaching on technique.

I'm inclined to think I'm not chopping hard enough. Do any of you use a mortise chisel for the bulk of the waste?

[Derek Cohen]

I used a really fast method for chopping out the waste from sockets when I was building the 12 drawers of the two campaign chests a few years ago. When I started the drawers the first one took 4 1/2 hours from start to finish. When I ended, they were taking 2 1/2 hours in all (that is complete - sawing, dovetailing, and assembly).

The aim was to be able to remove the waste in a few chops, like this ...



To do this, one needed to make two strategic "insertions". The first was to deepen the kerf to release the corners using a kerf chisel ..



The second was to mortice the baseline so as to release the waste when chopping into the end grain. In this example I used a router and 1/8" up spiral bit. It is not necessary to do so - I have also used a eggbeater drill, a battery drill, and a brace.



It goes very quickly ...




The full article is here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnitu...tDovetail.html


Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

Hey Judson, it's vintage, so some respect, please ..

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Daniel Rode]

I don't know much but I recently did many practice half blinds to learn how.

I never got anywhere near 10 minutes but I did get much faster as time went on. I wasn't timing myself, but I think the first one took me 2 hours to layout, cut the tails and chop the pin sockets. Toward the end, that dropped to maybe 30-45 minutes. That was cutting 1 joint a night for 2 weeks. I wasn't trying to get faster, that's just how it turned out. These were 3" drawer fronts with 3 sockets each, so similar to what you are doing.

Some of the speed was due confidence from becoming familiar with the process. More was from being efficient in how I chopped. I started getting a feel for how much I could chop. The pin boards were oak, cherry might have gone faster yet.

Additionally, I bought a pair of cheap Irwin 1/4" chisels to make left and right skews. This helped get into the corners but I found my self switching chisels so often that I think I'll make or buy a fishtail instead.

I really don't know how long they should take. Maybe an hour per corner is not unreasonable?

[Judson Green]

I was just funing with ya. I use plenty of power tools. In fact just bought a lathe and a bench grinder.


Regarding dovetails; I really like Derek's technique but haven't tried it out yet, the kerfing chisel looks like a slick invention. I have done this way (at about 7 minutes in) and for me its still slow going but I'm kinda still learning what feels right.

[Shawn Pixley]

The full article is here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnitu...tDovetail.html


Regards from Perth

Derek

I keep prominsing myself to make that kerf chisel. It seems like such a logical approach that would save a bit of heartache / headache. I seem to find the very last pin or chop is the one I screw up. Similarly, I invariably drop a component to the floor denting a corner. I don't think the kerf chisel will solve those problems for me, but still a very inventive idea.

[Brian Holcombe]

I use a mortise chisel on bridle joints, but not dovetails. I use a jointers mallet for dovetails though, rather than a dovetail mallet.

[Daniel Rode]

What a great tool, Derek!

I also tried Tage Fride's scraper technique after watching Rob Cosman try it. The scraper is a pain to work with but the kerf chisel fixes that. I can't make one but I'd like to maybe buy one.

Why is no one making one of these for sale?

The first was to deepen the kerf to release the corners using a kerf chisel ..