A dovetail a day (sorta) ... long winded

[Augusto Orosco]

After the last dovetail for practice, here's my first ever dovetailed box, and a big one it is. It's for my tool chest, 24"x36"x21". Not bad for the first attempt. Some gaps here and there, but it will be painted anyway. And it glued up square which is quite a relief.

Things that really helped me get this done more neatly was using Derek's blue tape trick for the pins and clamping a quick fence on the base line to make sure my chisel paring was true vertical. Using the fence ended up speeding up my chopping job a lot because I wasn't worried about vertical. I consider the fence 'training wills', though; I will keep practicing without it to get used to feeling true vertical with the chisel.

chest1.jpg

[Kees Heiden]

Great work! I don't really see any gaps from here.

[Jim Koepke]

Most times the gaps can only be seen by the maker.

Nice tool chest Augusto.

jtk

[Pat Barry]

Nice work on this cabinet!

[Augusto Orosco]

Thanks, gentlemen!

Fll disclosure: That's the glamour shot, showing the best side. There are some small gaps on the other side. Enough to notice from a short distance, but not too big. The pain will definitely cover them up

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks, gentlemen!

Fll disclosure: That's the glamour shot, showing the best side. There are some small gaps on the other side. Enough to notice from a short distance, but not too big. The pain will definitely cover them up

If they bother you at all, thick shavings or shims can be glued into the gaps and then trimmed to hide them from all but a well trained eye.

jtk

[Augusto Orosco]

Forgive my snail pace... this is my second set of dovetails; this time for the tills of the tool chest. Blue tape still invaluable for this (particularly with the walnut fronts), but I don't need a fence anymore to pare waste vertically!

This is the best side, but the other side are not horrible. Still a lot of room for improvement, but am pretty happy with where I am right now.

[David Eisenhauer]

Looks very good from here. What angle are you using for the tails/pins? You are right about blue tape and walnut. I can't see anything on dark wood without the tape and it is easier to cut to the tape than a line anyway.

[Augusto Orosco]

Looks very good from here. What angle are you using for the tails/pins? You are right about blue tape and walnut. I can't see anything on dark wood without the tape and it is easier to cut to the tape than a line anyway.

Thanks, David! The tails are a 6:1 ratio. I do tails first.

[Jerry Olexa]

Those DTs look GREAT!!! esp if training and intro....Thanks

[Mike Henderson]

Your dovetails look great!

One thing I found that helped my students (in my hand cut dovetails class) is a device like the one sold by LV. It allows you to check whether your tails are square on the sides. I use a slightly different tool but it does the same thing, and the LV is lower cost. You can't use a regular double square because the blade is too wide to get between the tails.

LV shows a picture of how to use it in the link I posted. Having a storage case for it is a good idea because the small end of the small blade could be bent if the tool knocked around.

Mike

[Herv Peairs]

Thanks for this thread, Augusto. We noobs traveling in your wake greatly benefit from threads like this.

Herv

[Augusto Orosco]

Your dovetails look great!

One thing I found that helped my students (in my hand cut dovetails class) is a device like the one sold by LV. It allows you to check whether your tails are square on the sides. I use a slightly different tool but it does the same thing, and the LV is lower cost. You can't use a regular double square because the blade is too wide to get between the tails.

LV shows a picture of how to use it in the link I posted. Having a storage case for it is a good idea because the small end of the small blade could be bent if the tool knocked around.

Mike

Yes. Mine is not from LV but from Sterling Tools; it really has helped me diagnose and correct issues, I love it!

Thanks for this thread, Augusto. We noobs traveling in your wake greatly benefit from threads like this.

Herv

Glad it helps! After sawing/coping/chopping/paring about 100 pins and tails (which is really a small number) the improvement has been dramatic. And more importantly, I am better equipped now to better identify what specific aspects of the process need the most improvement. As with everything, it is a matter to get your hands dirty and get going.