Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 49

Thread: compound angle dovetails

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Lexington, KY
    Posts
    112

    compound angle dovetails

    Have been practicing angled dovetails recently. But only single angled. That is, two boards are vertical, 2 slanted. Interested in making a doughbox or sea chest with sides and ends angled outwards. I watched Chad Stanton do it on youtube. He cuts the boards on a tablesaw. I read that Roy Underhill describes the technique of compound dovetails in one of his books. If so, I would buy the book. Wondering if anyone can comment on a good reference for this or their personal experience.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
    Posts
    12,402
    I have made chests with compound angled corners. The spinet harpsichord I made in my film has a sharp back corner that was dovetailed. That dovetail was later covered by a molding. Hundreds of years ago,people did not think seeing the joints was desirable.

    I don't really know what to tell you about compound angle dovetails though. I just automatically altered the angles of the tails,so that visually,they went with the angle of the corners. I would reduce the angle on one side of the tails,and increase the angles on the other, until the dovetail fitted in with the angular "flow" of the corner. I'm sure that doesn't help you a bit! On the side around the corner from the angled dovetail tails,I would also angle the STRAIGHT sides of the dovetails so that they ran parallel with the bottom edge of the chest. They would look quite awkward if you did not do that. You have to have either an eye for such things,or you DO need to get instructions.
    Last edited by george wilson; 03-27-2017 at 9:28 AM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    So Cal
    Posts
    3,737
    I think might know what your trying to do I made several hickory pieces with sloping sides.Compound angles were done with a bandsaw or saw guide or both.I really don't remember the tops are also mitered.
    My point is it can be done but don't take it too serious you will drive your self crazy.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Aj

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    twomiles from the "peak of Ohio
    Posts
    12,120
    Something like this, maybe?
    IMAG0301.jpg
    Underside view of a tool tote I made..
    IMAG0299.jpg
    I cut the angles into the boards first, then cut the dovetails square to the angled ends..
    tail board.jpg
    Then chop out the waste..
    tail board done.jpg
    And the pins..
    pin board.jpg
    Is this what you wanted to know?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Dickinson, Texas
    Posts
    7,655
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by David Sloan View Post
    Have been practicing angled dovetails recently. But only single angled. That is, two boards are vertical, 2 slanted. Interested in making a doughbox or sea chest with sides and ends angled outwards. I watched Chad Stanton do it on youtube. He cuts the boards on a tablesaw. I read that Roy Underhill describes the technique of compound dovetails in one of his books. If so, I would buy the book. Wondering if anyone can comment on a good reference for this or their personal experience.
    Roy covers it in his book "TheWoodwright'sApprentice".

    He shows it in chapter 4 "Sailors Sea Chest".

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Lexington, KY
    Posts
    112
    All very helpful gentlemen and beautiful work. I will keep at it and I need to buy Roy's book. I have a lot of woodworking books but none of his. Thanks so much for the comments and photos.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Bellevue, WA
    Posts
    297
    Try some internet searches. About a year ago I found a number of good explanations on how to lay them out. Unfortunately I forget what I used for a search term. You might just try 'angled dovetails'. What I found was the center lines of the tails and pins were layed out parallel to the top and bottom edges of the box. That means you need 2 sliding bevels with different setting for the top and bottom slop of the dovetail sides. The objective is to have these sides at the same angle off the tail's center line. Hope that helps a little bit.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Rural, West Central Minn
    Posts
    218
    Hi David,
    I found the 28 minute video that Paul Marcel made on making compound angled dovetails to be vary helpful to me. His demonstration is simple and easy to follow. Skip to the 2:00 min. mark. Good luck.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9h9maJNFAc
    Chet

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Lexington, KY
    Posts
    112
    Hi Chet and Richard. Trust me I searched the internet a lot and have watched the Paul Marcel video which is excellent and helpful. I found that Tom Calisto wrote an article in Popular Woodworking on compound dovetails and he also gives a course at the Woodwright school on making a compound dovetail tray. I have done the angled dovetails without a problem. I found quite a bit on that on the internet. It's the compound dovetails that I am wondering about. The math seems overly complicated for making the compound cuts. I watched Chad Stanton do the compound butt joints with the tablesaw. No one else that I could find talks about making the initial butt angle cuts by hand. I assume one uses a compound miter box? I guess that is all in the Calisto article and in Roy's book which I plan to buy. I hadn't made a hand dovetail joint in probably 15 years and have started making them again. I had read somewhere that someone suggested practicing dovetails by making boxes which will be something useful to use or give away. If the dovetails aren't great, you can just paint the box. So I have been doing just that in an effort to upgrade my skills. Anyway, as you all know, it is a lot of fun!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    5,582
    Quote Originally Posted by David Sloan View Post
    Hi Chet and Richard. Trust me I searched the internet a lot and have watched the Paul Marcel video which is excellent and helpful. I found that Tom Calisto wrote an article in Popular Woodworking on compound dovetails and he also gives a course at the Woodwright school on making a compound dovetail tray. I have done the angled dovetails without a problem. I found quite a bit on that on the internet. It's the compound dovetails that I am wondering about. The math seems overly complicated for making the compound cuts. I watched Chad Stanton do the compound butt joints with the tablesaw. No one else that I could find talks about making the initial butt angle cuts by hand. I assume one uses a compound miter box? I guess that is all in the Calisto article and in Roy's book which I plan to buy. I hadn't made a hand dovetail joint in probably 15 years and have started making them again. I had read somewhere that someone suggested practicing dovetails by making boxes which will be something useful to use or give away. If the dovetails aren't great, you can just paint the box. So I have been doing just that in an effort to upgrade my skills. Anyway, as you all know, it is a lot of fun!
    steven showed you a perfect example. Maybe he could talk you through the details

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    9,467
    Quote Originally Posted by David Sloan View Post
    Have been practicing angled dovetails recently. But only single angled. That is, two boards are vertical, 2 slanted. Interested in making a doughbox or sea chest with sides and ends angled outwards. I watched Chad Stanton do it on youtube. He cuts the boards on a tablesaw. I read that Roy Underhill describes the technique of compound dovetails in one of his books. If so, I would buy the book. Wondering if anyone can comment on a good reference for this or their personal experience.
    David

    I recently completed a chest of drawers where the bowed drawer fronts met curved cabinet sides.




    In my case, it was not necessary to alter the angle displayed by the dovetails, per se ...




    Rather, the hard work went into fitting the drawer side to the drawer front by reducing the amount of "compound" with an inspired "trick". This is seen here ..

    http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnitu...heDrawers.html

    The curves created many challenges, not the least that even the drawer slips required compound angles to fit inside the drawer. Building anything with curves or compound angles will quadruple the time you plan to build.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    twomiles from the "peak of Ohio
    Posts
    12,120
    I cut the ends of the boards first to the angle they need to be......

    I lay out the pins square to the angled end, and cut those. Once the pins are all nice and cleaned up, I lay out for the tails.

    On that tool tote all four sides splay out. I'd have to check for the exact angle...protractor says it is 20 degrees. So, I just cut all the ends at 20 degrees. The dovetails turn out to be square to each other..
    tail board.jpg
    I was trying to build a tote like Underhill made.....didn't care for the nailed corners. Was easier to do all the sides splayed out. I made mine to be able to hold a full sized handsaw. Dovetails are 1/2" through style though some of the spacing got altered, due to knots in the way....
    handsaw.jpg
    That is a D-23, 26" long crosscut saw.
    side view (2).jpg
    YMMV. Not really "Rocket Science" nor "Brain Surgery"......

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Lexington, KY
    Posts
    112
    Quote Originally Posted by steven c newman View Post
    I cut the ends of the boards first to the angle they need to be......

    I lay out the pins square to the angled end, and cut those. Once the pins are all nice and cleaned up, I lay out for the tails.

    On that tool tote all four sides splay out. I'd have to check for the exact angle...protractor says it is 20 degrees. So, I just cut all the ends at 20 degrees. The dovetails turn out to be square to each other..
    tail board.jpg
    I was trying to build a tote like Underhill made.....didn't care for the nailed corners. Was easier to do all the sides splayed out. I made mine to be able to hold a full sized handsaw. Dovetails are 1/2" through style though some of the spacing got altered, due to knots in the way....
    handsaw.jpg
    That is a D-23, 26" long crosscut saw.
    side view (2).jpg
    YMMV. Not really "Rocket Science" nor "Brain Surgery"......

    Thanks Steven, very helpful to have those pictures!

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Lexington, KY
    Posts
    112
    Derek, thanks so much. That is flat out amazing work! I am so humbled. I lived and worked for a year (in a hospital) in Sydney. Never saw anything like that furniture piece. I should have gone to Perth!

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    9,467
    Quote Originally Posted by steven c newman View Post
    I cut the ends of the boards first to the angle they need to be......


    side view (2).jpg
    YMMV. Not really "Rocket Science" nor "Brain Surgery"......
    Stephen, sorry but those angles do not work for me. The dovetails should angle in a way that makes them appear as per "vertical". The ones you cut appear to be on the diagonal. Paul Marcel (see the link above) went into great detail how he calculated the angles he used.

    I came across this article/video that may help:





    Link: http://www.finewoodworking.com/2015/...ay-third-phase

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •