Routing over top of dovetails

[Moses Weisberg]

Hey guys, I'm typically over in the turners forum, but I have a joinery question. As a precursor, I've searched extensively here and elsewhere but I can't seem to find what I'm looking for.

Has anyone here made a dovetail joint and then used some sort of edge forming router bit on the top edge of the jointed boards? I may have to make a few test pieces, but I'd hate to cut them if someone has already tried this. I'm not so concerned about loss of joint strength because of the number of other dovetails that wouldn't be touched, but rather with how the dovetail looks when its been partially cut away.

Best,
Moses

[Mike Henderson]

I haven't done it but I've seen work where it was done. I can't think of any negatives to doing it. You wouldn't remove enough material to weaken the joint and your risk of tearout is the same as for any other piece. It's all a question of whether you like the look or not. If I were you, I'd do some dovetails on a couple of pieces of scrap and do the round over. See if you like the look before you do it on your final piece.

[Just to add, the rounding over I've seen was done after the joint was glued up. I think that's what you meant in your posting.]

Mike

[Phil Thien]

I do roundovers of dovetails on tiny boxes. I also do the same to box joints.

Let me know if you need pictures.

[glenn bradley]

As said, I have seen craftsmen do this in magazine articles. They make the joint over-thick by doubling the stock just along the edges where the DT's will be cut (extra strip is on the inside of each panel). This makes deeper "fingers" to retain strength when rounding over. I saw it in American Woodworker maybe(?). Anyone recall?

[Phil Thien]

Here is a pic of some tiny speaker enclosures (just about 5.5" high and 3" wide) that have rounded-over dovetails.

The stock is 3/8" thick, and I used a 1/2" roundover bit. The roundover doesn't remove that much stock, actually. If I was worried about strength (in this case there won't be much in the way of stress) I'd just add some glue blocks inside.

[Moses Weisberg]

Thank you all for the replies. I'm buried with work right now, but will post pictures as soon as I get a start on this project.