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7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
1/24
2 50NO 19 NOT S ROM TH SHOP
7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
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\
WOODSMITII
A.lot1WfM).C'OJ* SII'tnfN'''''t ....... r l1 ~Ilfj 31,S (
8, PaidctnIl .....
Is.let tknuJtb ~.NJ CWrTlor . ~
' n ' '. J S ,on - ~ t 'GII IU1' u L r 1 0 M . o r
. _ lIail :o4lt.cnplKlu. __
tl 6: i ~
m
(0 Toul J IA I . d ~ < S U m oliO-Blind Ij821
t.9 3
29 1 A
l) ~ -
_lnbllCJoo by r . . o . QUft rcr bt:r till....
~ C'MIp tmtDtM)', aM o c . t . r trw (0lIl t: 1
E ~
d. . t .nbuUun
ISum
C & J a t D . 21,1f1~
:$I,N
P (' . O P W
*
~of
by
ItIt abov-. atf'aII'ftd..UId ~:.~ u.-Jd B .. p~~'llN l,h...,..
STATE~INT OF OWz.IRSBlP. MAKAGE~lENT AND CIRCULATION
l~~
b)' 9 C,S, \
~.;_
7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
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3
OODSMITH
O. C CaylsolL
S c otts da le , .4 >1 zo > lO
and the length or the ellipse
BC)
i. then
laid ou t as shown.
The
distance
between the two focal
points is found by measuring the distance
between points A and C . To findthe length
orthe sl,ing. add the distance between
AC
and
Be.
A
+ AC
LlNGfH
Of STlING
8
1>1:.-
+
-I
AS
IlC
ELLIPSE LAYOUT
When I cut an e ll ip se. I use a s te el s qu ar e
to determine how to draw the ellipse to lit
the Ilni~hdimensions Ineed.
The width of Ihe ellipse I need, mnrked
All, is laid out on on~ leg of a steel square,
FMllk
J.
Rome
tliallapa-
m it ted cannol
be
,o lumed.)
S en d Y OU'Id ea s 1 0 :W o o d s m llh . Tip s
Tect>-
o ;q uo s . 2200 Gran d Ave .. O e s M oin es. Iow a
60312
L lo gd R . D ic kil,s oll
Gle l lda /e . Ca l i /o . , .. /l ia
Atfirst, I 03a
little
s/o:l'pticalaoolLt M r.
Dicki,(Soll's dou,lg jig, b,,1 ~
r ided
10
b uild it lI d try it
m il ill
U lt s h op .
After-tryillg tll.jig,1
WQsama ze d I taw , ,, ,II
The infeed block (with the 'Is. hole) is
glued 1W ' from the en d of the fence. The
outfeed block (14 hole) is glued
v,,'
from
the first
block. These two blocks support
the square blanks as they pass by the
I r
straight router bit. The third block (also
with '. o hole) supports the end of the
dowel to prevent whipping.
To auach the fence to the base of the
I'OUt4>l', Idrilled one hole in the Ceneethe
exact
s ize o f
a No.
1().32, 1 14 '
pan head
bolt. The other holewasdrilled twice, form
ing a slot
10
allow for f ine ad jusunen ts ,
Tomake the dowels,
I
cut a blank ,.
square. The end of the blank is pointed
to
help guide it into tbe outfeed hole. The
blank is then chucked in 8 portable drill and
o/m.ly advanced past the router bit.
Iusually make the dowels a little over
sized and sand them to their finish size.
OOU1..
' loSE
CUSTOM MADE DOWElS
During the process of making repro
ductions
0(
turn-of-the-century fretworks,
I discov ered I
needed several
1 4
white
oa k
dowel for spindles, After trying several
methods to make my own 'custom made
dowels (without much
SUCt'E SS), I
finally
eame upwith the followingset-up using my
router and electric drill.
As shown in the diagram, the basic set
up consists
0( three
blocks auached to a
fence, which
in
turn isbolted to the base of
a
portable router. Before gluing the blocks
to the fence.
I
drilled a iiI, hole in one
b lock . I II Id V , holel
7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
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WOODSMITH
I
= r
YoureaUy can't talk about dovetaila (or comfortable environment make all the 1b layout the cuts for
dO\'etail you'lI
even begin 10eui them) without getting' difference in the world. need fivetools: an adjustable bevel gauge,
over
tWO
obstacles: fear and joy. The first A PLACf10 WORK a small t y square. a steel ruler. a marking
obstacle (f ar) raises its ugly head jusl gauge. and a scribe or a sharp pencil.
whenyou've taken saw and chisel inhand. Although dovetails can be CUI almost $l.lUtNGBEVEL. Slidingbevels (Xin Fig.
It's the moment of truth. And now you anywhere. it's nice to
01
up a litlle work I.)are availableat almostevery hardware
actuallyhave to cut this joint that's beena area - a place where the work goes store. The 'ann' can be adjusted to any
hallmarkofexcellence forcenturies ... no smoothly.In our shop tend to work bes; angle and tightened in place with a thumb
small undertaking. on the corner of our large workbench. The screw. The sliding bevel is used to make
Then after cutting one. or two. or 0 bench is hea\'y and solidso I don't have to the initial marks for the dovelail .
dozen dovetails, it gets in your blood. worry about things jiggling around. TRYSQl. ARE.Most of us have a 6 or 8
There's the thrill of feeling the ,-----------------------., try square in the shop, (F in
joint go together, ofseeing the A B
I)
Fig. 1.). It's also nit. (but not
near perfection of every joint ' necessarv) to have a smaller 3
line. of knowing every saw cut try square tomark the straight-
was made right on the money, line cuts on the end and face of
and knowing that. at last. you
the boards.
have joined the ranks of the r'T TT'-r-:::';:;:;:;;:;;;;:;::;::;;---', STEEl. RUI.ER. A good 12
master craftsmen. ) : I f t
==~~
10 steel ruler is a lmo s
t
Don'tlet it get to your head. I cl,:::: : : :: :: : : : :::: ::I [:J indispensablein any woodwork-
think the real satisfaction in ~:r:~:::::::=====:::::: ~F ingshop. (C
in
Fig. 1). It's milch
cutting dovetails is the actual E~ J V ~ easier (and uguaHymilch more
doing- not the result. Yes,it's I 1 1 accurate) to work with a steel
true
iharadovetail
tsabeaunful H~ _
= - . . . ~
~:;~~~G~ ruler than fumbUngwith a tape
joint. a mark of craftsmanship.
=
/ l J or a wooden foldingrule.
And indeed, it is a strong Joint ~I.ARKL CAI CE On page 12
- nice for drawers and special in this issue we've shown the
applicationsof case work. plans fora marking gauge, (0 in
But the thing I like most rig. 1). We used this one to
about dovetails is tbe actual mark aUof the base lines for the
cutting. So many things in our dovetails in this issue.
If
you
lives are done at breakneck ... .... 1 ~Uya marking gauge. the point
speed. Do it. Get it done. And L ~. . should be reshaped as men-
then moveon to the next task.
e
,-,;;;;ilIl~ ,
tionedon page 12.
Not so with dovetails. This is SCRJJI vs, Pl'CIL. The last
handwork, done the old-fashionedway.It On this workbench I have set up three item you need
is
up
to
some debate. The
takes concentration. Yetyou must be calm aids that help when cutting dovetails. traditional toolused to mark the cut linesis
and relaxed to get the job done. It's not a First there's a woodworker'. vice (ours a sbarp-pointed scribe. which is just a
task 10be undertaken after a hecticday at happens to be a e c t n d vice, purchased lightweight versionofanawl.
J
inrig. I).
work. It shouldbedonewhenthere's lime. from
Woodcraft Supply
catalog, address I prefer a sharp No.3 pencil. Thd uses a
HopefuUya quiet time when you can get below). Any vice will work as long as it fine-pointfelt-tip pen.
absorbed in your work. That's wood- holds the board in a vertical position. Among traditional woodworkers the
working at its tinest. Second. I attached an adjustable light
to
mere mention of usinga pencilor a pen is
Granted there are ways to speed up the the bench.The one I use
Will
purchased at enough to makethemshiver with disgust.
process. Many of the initial cuts can be an art supply store. but any kind of lamp A scribe, they would say, is the only
made on a table saw or band saw. But that moves where you want it will work. acceptable tool for marking.
why? Dovetails, when done with eoneen- (Oneofthose mechanic'slights with hook If you use a scribe.
it
should be
tration and thought, produce more than a on the end wouldbe nice.) sharpened to a long slender point to mark
woodworkingjoinl. The result is personal Oneother thing that helps is to clamp a (scratch) a fine, accurate line. or course,
satisfaction. smallpiece of
A ~ J ile
to the workbench. this line is almost impossible to see. so it
I almost forgot the third obstacle: the T clamped it onwith the rough (back)side may help tosprinkle somepencil-leaddust.
tendency to become long-winded. up to protect the bench during the (for light-coloredwoods)or white chaulk
romantic, and almost. poetic about chiseling phase and also to provide some (for dark woods) in the scratch line.
dovetails.
So.
maybe I ought to comeback friction to keep the boards in place. But whenyouget down to it, the line is
downto earth and get onwiththe details or LAYINGOUT AND MARKINGTOOLS onlythere as a guide for cutting. If Tcan't
cutting a dovetail joint. see it. it doesn't do muchgood.So. I prefer
Since I've embraced this rather roman- Next. come the tools. There are acWall)' to use a wrp No. 3-1.adpencil
tic (translated, that means slow)approach two sets ortools used inmakingdovetails. Most pencils have a rather soft No.2
to cutting dovetails. I'd like to mention The firstgroup isused to layout and mark lead that'S nicefor writing. 'rhe No.8 (or
some of the tools used to undertake Ihis thecuts.Thesccond group isused to dothe evena No.4) leadpencilmarks a line. crisp
task. Indeed, the proper tools and a actual culting and fitting. line that's much easier to see than the
THE R IGHT TOOLS M KE LL THE D IFFERENE
ovetails The Tools
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WOOOSMITH
Also, seme
chisels are
thinner
than
others, so it's easier to gel the chisel where
yo u ran t it. For example we hav e a set of
Ulmia
paring chisels which
are
somewhat
thin and nice for cutting dovetails.
'tedlikestow;ethespeciaiJapanesedo ..
tail chisels. These h a v e steeply beveled
b a c k s specificallydesigned forcutting dove
tails. Also, the steel used for these chisels
is excellent (see
\Voodline
Catalog).
One
last
point: 1 tend to like
shert
ehisels
(like butt chisels) because 1hold the chisel
by the blade not the handle) to position it
to chop out the waste. Short chisels don't
'wag' around ..s much, making them easier
to put them ..xaetly
where
I wall them.
When itget.s down to it, it '. not what the
chisel l o o ks like, it'. the ,er.l tip, the
cutting edge, that does the work. Above
all, the chisels must be sharp. All of the
chisel work on dovetails is done with the
chisel SCt across the grain and chopping
straight down. The mill way to do this
is
\\~th a
sharp
chisel.
llAl~l1:t
OJt
~AI.I
T
For
a long time I
used
a
wooden mallet to drive the chisel
into the wood. It seemed only proper. But
the turned type of mallet (the kind wood
ca rv e rs
use) hag 3 tendency to roll oll'the
bench and find its way to one of my toes.
Recently, I've
come
to
use
the SIIlIlic y
No-Mar hammer,
H
in Fig. 1). This is a
light-weight hammer 14 oz.), yet has
enough heft to drive the chisel as far as 1
want it to go. It's made of some kind of
blackplastic material and the head is filled
with
lead p ell ets a nd oil. Plastic or not, it's
a nice hammer and quite nice for pounding
thcjoint together during the final lilting (it
won't dent or mar the wood).
SOL RCP . .s: If
you can't find some
of
the
tools listed above at a local store, you may
want to
s e n d
for the following catalogs:
Til Fine
Tool Shop
(Catalog $6), 20
Backus Ave., Danbury CT 06810. G a M e t i
Wade (Catalog S 3), 161 Avenue of the
Americas, New York NY
lO O I3_I eichtlf l19
(Catalog SI), 4944 Commerce Parkway.
Cleveland OH 44128. Wood< I Oj lSupply
(Cat.;llog$2.50), 313 Montvale Ave., WIr
burn MA0lS88. Woodline (Catalog $1.50),
1713 Clement Ave.. Alameda CA 94501.
If you want to Lryout tbe Japanese, [
might oll'er one note of caution. This is a
very delicate saw to be used with a very
light touch. Let the saw do the work. don't
foree it. M an y J ap an es e s aw s wind up with
bent and mangled teeth because they're
man-handled beyond their limits.
Ct:J,TS SAW.M for the Cent's saw: I m
not particularly fond of these saws
(although they're probably the cheapest
and most available ofthe bunch),
in Fig.
I). However. after trying out the Japnnese
saw.
did SOmeexperimenting on a Gent'.
saw. emoved the blade from the 'back',
flipped it around (so the teeth pointed
toward the handle). Then pressed the
teeth together in machinist~ vice to
1'OO10Veost of the set. There was. in my
opinion, a dramalic improvement in the
s a w s action.
SL TION OF HIS LS
The only other tools you ne e d isa good set
ofsharp chisels, and the mallet or hammer
to go with them. And here the selection
process is much easier. Any chisel that can
be struck with a hammer or mallet will get
the job done.
Gorretl
Wade Fin~
Tool
Slw p, a nd W oo dcro jl Supply all have a
good selection of chisels .)
\Ve hay.
six or seven
sets
of chisels
around the shop. I generally choose the
ones that are closest to me at the time -
provided, that is, they are sharp.
However, in
a n
fairness, there is one
WESTE., liNCH JAPAHm
Mist DOVETAil CHISEL
other factor that may influenee the
decision ofwhich chisel
to
use. Most bench
chisels (including paring chisels and butt
chisels) have beveled edges. (This refers to
the bevel aIongthe length of the 'back: not
the beveled cutting edge.) This beveled
edge makes it much easier to chop out the
waste inthe angled corners of L b o dovetail.
JAPANlSE DOVETAil SAW PlIll)
handsome saw. The solid brass back and
nicely proportioned handle make it a
treasured addition to any tool collection.
(Available from LekhluOlU. Pine Tool
Shop
and \VoodCI IJjlOatalogs.)
JAPANESI:: 1)() f,'TAlL SAW.
led
ha s
a yen
for the Japanese dovetail saw (called a
d oz uk i), (L in Fig. I) . The one w e have was
purchased at a local store, but several
catalogs
are
now carrying Japanese
saw
(the
b e s t
is the W Qdli lt Catalog.)
T h e s e Japanese s aw s a re m ad e of cry
thin steel (ours is 0.12 thick. Orabout the
thickness of 2 pages of IVoodsm ith ). The
teeth ar e long and narrow (about 4 teeth
per inch). The major difference is that all
Japanese
s a w s
cut on the pull stroke (the
teetb point toward the handlel, as opposed
to the push stroke on all Wpstern
s aw s .
This actually makes a lot of sense. M the
s aw is making the CUt , pressure on the
blade pulls it taught. This allows the steel
for the blade to be very thin (for a very
narrow kerf),
serateb line ofa scribe.
Infact
these harder
pencil leads almost scratch the wood
jmt
as a scribe does. yelthe hard lead leaves a
v is ib l e
Une.
The key thing is that the pencil is
s h a r p .
Most pencil sharpener. go only
so
far.
After sharpening to get the point. hone
the point on a piece of
sena
teh paper
(rub-
bing and twirling to sharpen the point).
'ted prefers to use a line-point felt.-tip
pen. Here s where tbe traditionalists
sc ream. nla.. better than mine. he
must be doing something right. ('fed also
use' a Japanese saw and chisel to cut
dovetails, and likens the felt-tip pen to the
traditional Japanese practice of using A
quiU and ink to mark their cuts.)
OVETIL S WS
After you've layed out an d marked the
dovetail, you need onl~' two tools to cut
them: a
s aw a n d a c his el
The choice of the
type of
saw and
chisel is, once again,
fraught with debate. But what it boils
down to is a matter ofpersonal preference.
DOVETAIl. S AwS . There areseveral types
of saws designed for cutting dovetails.
Although they differ in appearance, they
do (or should) have a few things in
common ,
t irst, a high
number
of teeth per ineh
usually these saws have
16
to
21
teeth per
ineh ( the more the better). Second.
a
fine
or narrow set to the teeth. The finer the
set.
the
less
chance of skipping or hopping
as the Initial cut is m a d e . Third, the saw
blade itself is made of lilin-puge
steel.
T h is allows for a narrow kerf (if the weth
are
set properly). And fourth. since the
blade is thin, these saws have a 'back' of
thicker metal to keep the blade rigid
(hence the name, back saw).
With these things in common. the only
real dill'erence between one dovetail
s a w
and another is the handJe. A Tyz(1ck dove
tail ..aw , for example. has a normal sa w
handle grip. The Gent's saw (presumably
for gentlemen) has a turned handle (much
like
a
chisel) that extends straight back
from the saw's 'back,' A n d finally, there's
the Japanese dovetail
s aw
with a long
handle
extending
at
a
slight downward
angle from the saw's back (surprisingly
s i m i l a r to the Cent's ssw.)
T\Z oACKDO\ETA II . SAW . So , what s aw d~
you use? My favorite
saw
for cutting
dovetails is the 'llI:ad< dovetail sa w ill
Fig.
I).
The blade of this saw is only about
O.21 lhick comes with a very f ine seton
the teeth
the
way it's supposed to be).
there are 21 teeth
per
inch,
an d
[ust plain
does a nice job.
Besides the fact that it cuts with ease,
makes an super-fine kerf. and has an easy
sure grip ... besides all
that,
it's quite a
7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
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In some ca both direction ofstrength
an d
direction of pressure must
be
con
sidered - as with tbe eoffee table in this
issue. The pins are onthe legs to keep them
from splaying out, which works out nicely
because
the tails must be on the top to
U PPO 1 the weight.
r
flilE nOf\l
Qf Vl EtGMT
\VOOOSMITH
strength of the joint may n(lt be the pri
mary consideration.
f
the box is meant to
support weight from the outside
aswith
the Shaker Step Stool in this issue). the
direction of pressure (or weight) is more
important. This has
to
do with the
size
and
placement of the tails. The tails. in this
ease must be ide enough to support the
eight (downward pressure) on the face of
the board, and positioned so they take the
brunt of the weight. .
THE FIRST THREESTEPS
\~'hat's the first step in laying OUta dove
tail? At this point I'm supposed to launch
into
a d i scus sion
about pins and tails, and
angles, and such. But the firsl step (in
deed, the first lhresteps) have nothing to
do with pins. roils, or angles.
t. TRl'I~G THB BOARD$.
The first (and
often neglectedl step L to true up the
b oa rd s y ou ll
be
working with. I rip the
boards to width, makinll sure both edges
are ripped square, (The edges can be
smoothed on ajoint.,r or with a hand plane,
but usually wait until after the dovetails
are cut for the 6nal smoothing.)
Next, both faces of the boards should
be
planed or sanded to remove any defects
(such as ripples' leit ~surface planer).
or to remove any cup or twist in the
boards. Also, make sure the thickne. ...s
(particularly at the ends of lhe boards) is
equal from one ooge to the other.
In
other words. the boards should be flat
and smooth - to the point that all they
need is little finish sanding. This w ill
ensure things don't get goofed up durin :
the layout phase.
2.( I.IT1 OLeNGTIf.
Now
the boards can
be
cut to length.
However ,
the final length of
each board depends in part on step three
(which deals with marking the base line. or
shoulders of the joint). But (or noll', let's
assume the boards ar e CUtto length tor a
box. The key thing here is to make sure the
ends of the board. are cuI square with the
edges.
If neither the inside or outside dimen
sions of the box is absolutely critical. then
the boards can be cut to length without
much concern ifthe actual final dimensions
vary a little.
However, in drawer work, especially
when the drawer mU ,,1 fit in R spec if ic
opening, the procedure followed in Step
3
mus t be taken into consideration first.
fall ofthis is toomuch, lhe real point of
Step
2
is
to
make sure the end$ofaIJ boards
are square with the edges.
3. MARK TH: SIIOt'WERS.The boards art
true, the end, are cut olf square. Now all
that remains smarking the base line (the
shoulders) of the pins and tails. This base
line is actually the bottom of the cut on
both pieces, and in effect dictates the final
dimensions of the box.
The base Unealso dictates the amount of
work you must do during the final cleaning
up stage. Without getting boggoo down in
to o much detail, you have three choices.
The base lines can be marked exactly at
Once
you've collected the tools to do the
job, it's time to start laying OUIthe cuts.
There are three basic variations on the
dov~tailjoint: througb dovetail. half-blind,
and mitered (or fullblind).
Although much of the process is very
similar fu r l l three variauons, we're limit...
in) thi~ article to Ihrough dovetails. Half
blind dovet.ails (which are used mainly
in
drawer construction) will
be
covered inthe
next issue. And mitered dovetailfl WOIl'tbe
covered at
because
tbey
ba
ve extremely
limited application (and they're really kind
of a waste of time).
THROUGH UOVETAU.s. The method des..
eribed here for cutting through dovetails
may
not
be
the best. It's certainly not the
fastest. But it is satisfying' work .. done
,,~th hand tools.
through don tailjoint consists of two
halves: the pin> and the tails. The worst
parlabout laying out
a dovetait
is gcttinl
clear picture in your mind of what
these
tw o halves look like and how they fit
together. This just takes a little getting
used to.
When viewed from the faee
sides
of Ihe
boards, the usOfthe dovetail the board
on the right in the photo) lookjusllike the
rectangular pins of. box joint. h toils
(the board on the left in the photo) looklike
a dove's tail (hence the name of the joint).
Just to keep you on your toes.
when
v iewed from the ends of the boards the
pins look like tails. and the tails look like
pins. But this confusion will clear up aner
you've cut one or two dovetail joints.
IRE TION OF STRENGTH
Now the question arises: Which board get.
the
pins,
and which board gets lhe t.aiL.?
Anddoes it make any difference? Althougb
do ve t i l i s
eommonly
onsidered
very
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7
I>~11TAII~~.....ich d. YOIlulli 't, the
pin. or thc' lail.? In lhe ease of through
do\'e 'il . It', lIen(>ra]ly accepted that it
dO \ ~ ] o jn ln a k ( 1 muc h
diff(.'-nn~ hich is
cu t
fir.;t. How,\('r. I mark and CUIlbe pins
fil -ol
(ur
thn . \
rvUOI .......
Fi...t. I Ihlnk the I n. ....
ea.;;lI . ' r
to cut
and I like
ttl
j \ t .UU'led \\.th the easy
part. Sec-ond. \\h,ch~'er half
is
mar' ed
fi '>t (the I n.,
in
my c-_) '
u e d to
mark
the hn. for Ih. 'C01lI1cut., (the taib). 1
think it'. much I., \\ k\\ard It, position
and hold th. boards ,(the pin ' are cut tir.'t
and u-ro to
ma r k
tho>ine. (or the tails, The
third ,a. 'n b that I rmd it eagier to check
the '~'CUMlC~'f th~ linished cuts on lhe
pin.. fand do any correcting) Ihan it is with
the wil.
Now you're ,'Cltdy to cut the pins.
P
J
,
7
'1
I
eo
,
lS.7,.l
)
~'OOD
KtArwmt
CUANlOG[
SU O IN G l EVEL
A:;(; I .: T he 1 .1 c on sid era tio n is
lh~
angle un''fl for layout. The general rule is
that a 1:5 .ngl,'I. used on .on woods, and a
1:7 or 1:1l u>\'(1 on hardwood s, The dill'
1.''''
enee h.s .om(thing to cl o with th e strength
o( the WUI)t .
I p r.r a 1 .5 anlli. on an~' wood ju.t
because I think It Iuok,. m e.. ,
n e
again
Ihi., a mal 'r 1)( I 'N'n..J (\,- ,all prefer
enee, A IS angl
make,
the 'n , , , ,k ' of th~ tails look di'turbingly
weak, while mere than I~ look,. like a
box jmnt.
To .H th, .Ii.llnl\ bevel at Ihe proper
anl(l., Iu
(the OIIu l.. (a< \ ) .. \\ ,de, then the tailF
,hould be 3t
1 . 1 I
1de.
\\1Ien 'I .. ... m. a I''''pnate. I think it's
nit\ 10k ,'p all th pin. the me , U 4 < . but
8.1 ) the ..inth of the bib. The tail, near
e,t tilt
edit.,
of the b ani
art
Ihe .maII ....
t.
hil. th on th m.ddle of
the
board
are
id.. r. (Th,' layuut of the joints on the
Coffee Thbl . .
art'
done lhi. \ \ 3Y. )
A. you layout the po.oition of the pins,
there .hould be hair pin on the two OUler
. - d gc . (Half riM
an'
not nend ofeaeh board here the dovetail b
to be CUI
Most of Ih,' lime youll be cutting do\'....
tail< on ~ I'ral board , to (orm a box or
dra\\ or, Since th.. is all handwork, the size
of the pm.
0 1 1
tail. \\
I I I
undoubtedlyvary
from board to board. It'. best to
clearly
mark the two board. tth.
corners)
that
wil l
go toj(\'th(r.
IIrrll Of I 'IN
S
T ..One \ \ 'a y 1 0 lay
out th,'cut.for adovctaili. to U,.. 8 ruler to
divide th~ board for the pms into equal
spaces. Then th. pin, ,U l lI t he s pa ce s be
tween Ih llins (w h ic h w il l be the tails) are
la id out at (>ndgnun on the p in . -;. m a k i n g it niee
and .mouth. AI80you'lI be remo\'ing the
.houlder (.crntch) line at the same time.
GENERAL LAYOUT
By Ihi. time you'r(>probHblygelting titt ' ;.AfWr all the cuts
have been made, hold a try square along
each CUt line (both front and back) and
make sure the edges of Ihe pins are per
pendicular to the end of the board.
I( the pins are not straight, I mark a
slightly heavier line (as illFig. 4) and cor
reet them by paring down with a fairly
ide sharp chisel, Fig. 12.
Youcan also cheek the pins by eye, sight-
ing down the lengtb
the board to see if
the pins are all straight and parallel.
Next comes the tails.
The saw should be angled (about-lS'l
so
your rll'lltcuts will be on both the face and
end ofthe board. Now. relax your hand and
make the first two strokes.
The kerf should be skimming along the
pencil line. Since the teeth o( a dovetail
saw have very
narrow
set, these beginning
tWOstrokes will hold the
saw
inposition for
the rest of the cut. I(you're not on the line
to begin with. any attempts to force the cut
or make adjustments in mid-stream
will
cause the saw to bind and ;U lead to all
sons of problems.
After
a
few strokes the
saw
should be
about /s of the way down the face and
o/. s across the end. see Fig. 6 . Now you
can level out the saw so it starts cutting
through to the back of the board. Continue
sawing until the Wjust barely touche.
the ba.se Iines, (All the time your hand
should be very relaxed.just barely holding
the saw. Relaxed. yet eoncemraring.)
If you're 9;oingto :oofon these cuts, it's
best
to
goof 01 1 the waste side of the line.
That is, the saw should leave a little extra
woo d
between the kerf and the pencil nne.
f there is a problem, let it go for now. It
can be corrected Iatez)
CHOPPING OUT TH( WAST(
After making a U of the saw euts, you can
start chopping otltthe waste. One way to
do this is to hold the chisel absolutely per
pendicular
to
the board. and chop straight
Mostof the preliminary work (or laying out
dovetail joint has been covered in the
article on the p revious tWOpages. Once
all
of these details have been worked out on
paper, it's nowjust a matwroflransferrmg
the~e measurements to the end of the
board. and start cutting the pins.
Before you start marking. however. the
first three
steps rernam
th ,
same.
That is,
I
rrue the boards yc,ur working with,
2
CUtthem to length (making sure the ends
are square to the edges), and
3), mark
the
b as e lines .
Por the
pins,
the base
lines
need
only be marked on the two faees of the
board,
see
Fig.
LAYINGOUT THE PINS
To mark the position of the pins. clamp
the board in
a
ice \\;th the
-orr-
SIde of
the board facing me. Since I've already
worked out lhe size and position oflh. pins
on paper its
now
jus t a matter
oftransfer
ing the marks with the aid of. 12 steel
ruler, Fig. 2. (This is where it's helpful to
use a chisel togauge the width of'the pins.)
MAf; from get
ting confused (whicb often happens)
mark an
X
on the waste seetions be
tween the pins.
SAWING THE PINS
Nowyou're ready lo take saw nhand. Slop
everything. Relax your hand, your arm,
your shoulders and especially your mind.
The way toget the best results is to relax,
yet concentrate on what you're doing.
Place lbe saw on one of the lines.
The placement o( the saw and the
first
two gentle strokes will detennine the suc
cess of the rest of the cut. Look closely at
the teeth of the saw. Because the teeth
have 'set' (that is, alternate teeth are bent
to the right and lelt.), you'll only see half of
the teeth. Place one tooth right up against,
tbe waste side of the pencil line. That is, so
the kerf will be on the waste side (the X
side) of the line, see Fig. S.
TH E F IR S T S T E P B E G IN S W ITH TH E P IN S
ovetails The Pins
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9
12
Thr P IB ,,,.,
be ':l(1ctly per-
{*lIdl(lIlar 10 Iht bost Ii
e.
Check
ba(/ , .Ii,,,...
ilh Iry
.qulI l l 11/1(1
atroigllf.
au i
t lJ 1 11 b a ll 1 1 (1 ,,1
C lffs
~(I;lhl f} t isel .
11
C t th i \
rrtl
~
btlou'
tke bast
liJlt
(a d (/m.
brlu...
Ih. 3a'cui8), there
lcill bf liltl plilllr of
WO.lf
i l
(h e ror-
lit (hal 1I I1U1( bf
riealll d
mil.
\\OOI)SMITH
10
f I,p
b < . .
rd JI J .0
I,\ rid.
is up).
0,11101 ( ilt J J I
of
tht
u:osw.
7
1 (1
a b or klllg f ell a /o llg tlte b as r
lin,
Uolll
rlli.rtt~irally
ond lOT)
. nligllt f luu' on btur linr.. 11ak~
~IIN
oocl.:i 1 ft II~. dtlflt), f 1,1 f
9
A.n( y ri tll lng atHJllI I. .
01 r~ (l8t .ilt
1ti.,II,,wdh.'.ghllil
100tnrli yo to
'mdt .... II .1 , ldrr. Hoard has ol'r
8idl lf/J If JII(J~t4' I I I (J' l l /pro (Jld e a . . s i l , 1 .
8
Holdrl .,1
(1 ,,lupl
abo,,' ,/ .
dO l'II
/ rely, A Oilltlt lap ~hould df}1
01(1 . 7 1 IO l s l r o ig hl rl J11 I1011baee
lint (1 d r t
Uf ( ~( t(Jtfd
la lt 'r o f
tlU8U.
. .
,
6
1, ,
000
, , O ( h i 1 8 (ifIJI~I / Y J Y (1(J.,~t1
thrfurr u ll U( 1 .Nf~ thf t 1 1,ski,Jlllr;n9
a/Oll9
Ihl I , rillll TI Ieeetou l lit,
Mf( to ( I tn 1 ) ,. ' MrJ, . X M r
3
c ;, t tli, ,/ltll/ig b i t t
I
I tIlt, n g f (flll
It Ilut(/
i i '
J 5J.l l f f l r l ,)(,)I , t l t ,, IIr ,
8/1J, an
I
to llOt'll
(1
pencil , o ..J orf.:
th~a 9 ,. I n tl,,. nul
tJj
f
J . I 1 t J n I .
4
T ilt p il lN
o , V tl
fn(Jlrgl('~ poi-t,li'lg
t(j trm lOll ,
,\fark th rertica tine
dOll /t to II, MIl( lin, aNd then mark. tilt
I tYJ , t r I't('tlt},u ,t l/k a .... ',
1
.'Ialer6 II b. ,rd~ orr I
n t
a d II
f
IIt i$,Jrt '< i '1l ln To
' I Inrk tnl'Oa$t
line
,' tI
P
n~,
. II
,artlng
J IO 9< 1 0 Ih
Ihuk ......
) J
Ih.
board
fv, ''''
tail.,.
5
T I
plll~.
a
fillr.Iolh
dtnxtai
lttlfl
1'14lC't
fJII~ toot), ICp a ga ins t tile
X
(' it I,,,, S r i , ~ 1 J 4 1 1 IJ f al,gEed ~n ( fit
,, ,n lit U I
Ja~t (JIIll
~ d_I n
tIlt
lim Jtrokes.
2
'(Irk tllft tltt, , It (0,1$ o f tJI~
~i:e
d
.pan7lg oj 0 I,m, I P . Tltn
r/(l~ p
h,. board ~
a
t c V . / 1 t .
M ()1 r:
fa toward
Yffi
artd
:m~ffTlit.
mart,
MAtMING
OUO
7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
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WOOOSM1TH
0
enough room to get the chisel between
the corners of th e tails. fig, 6,
After chipping out the waste about s
of L he w ay down, flip the board over and
continue on the other side. Fijt.7.
, .. .; EN DS .
Notice
the waste s ec tio ns fo r
the two half pins on the outside edges of
the board. t'ig, 7, Here 1 \,. chopped
strnight down on lite base
tine,
however,
no undercutting was done, The shoulder
that' , formed will be visible, and you wont
it to be ~traight across.
After the waste sections in the middle of
the board
ar e
chipped away, the waste for
the half pins call be removed. Thrn the
board on edge an d chop straight down on
the should.. line (it was marked in Fig, I,
Then
pare
out
a
small
v-eut.
Fig, 8, Fin
ally, saw dO ~1this shoulder line to remove
the waste, Fig.
9,
Since lhe sa cut may
not be cry clean, pare off the roughness
with a sharp chisel. And while you're al it .
go ahead and dean up the corners in all the
waste sections.
A SS EM BLY A N D FIN IS HIN G
No'v cernes t.he m om ent o f truth, Po~ilion
the tails over the recesses between the
pins, 10 get
even
pressure across the
board, place. suiking
board
on
O p
Fig,
10 and tap the joint together,
You sec, every joint line lit$ perfectly,
Oh, there may be a fc\\ little places where
the ke rf is too wide, but these voids can be
filled during the finishing stage,
The one problem you wanl \0 be careful
of is the joint being too tight in some
places. This will cause the wood to split.
So, tap the joint together gently,
check-
ing for overly tight joint lines, f there
are light SPOIS, knock the joint apart and
pare
off some of the excess from the tails,
\Vhen the joint fits properly it ca n be
admired as it is, or glued up to finish the
project you're working on, Only a small
amount ofglue is needed (I usually apply it
to the pins.)
(,1.I'.A~IN(;
'P'
Once the joint is together,
the end grain of the pins and tails
will
either stick up above tlte race of the
boards, or
be
somewhat recessed, If it',
recessed, you can use a plane to shave the
face of the boards down, eventually get
ting lo the end grain of the pins and taus,
making them smooth, Fig, 11.
H the end grain is above the surface of
the boards, it can be leveled with a fiI To
protect the surface of the boards, place
some beavy paper (from a (I OCerybag) in
the path of the file, fig, 12,
hat s
it
a p e rf ec t do \tetail
make an angled
CULlhaLjUSI
barely skims
off part of the pencil line, This cut is diffi.
c:uJtfor two reasons, first, you're cutting
along the IN side oithe board- the side
that won t show in the final assembly. The
other side of the board (the ouT side) is
what
ill
show,
Second, the 58W must be tilted to the
same angl~ of the cut, 'hat usual ly hap
pens to me during these cuts is that r tend
to SaWstraight down, Fortunately, this
means the kerf stays on the waste side of
the cut. But it 01
7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
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WOODSMITH
11
12
If th P (lIId tail, .tick up alxrl
tI rfare I tlu: boords, use afile
10
teve
thrIll
[f Hro,w I 'per proUd. Ihe
[au
qf Ihr
lxx,rd. rtilll 8cralc/l
motk$.
11
1[ ba~r
IIlIro
or marked ,es tha
Ih~
thirklln. of
,colld
board,
tI..
pill
alld tail. will lo t rcce
rd.
Us.
a
plone
10 8ho, I boo, d dm
7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
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WOODSMITH
2
knife e d g e (in fa ct, you can ;till see the file
mar on the arm). This shape slices th~
fibers o( the wood, producing a .mooth
cr~p i l l .
I may be prejudiood, but I reshaped my
SIO (auge the II'
JUlla MUSTSUDE
FI (L 't ON
SCREW
Not onlydid Ihey manage tomention the
n a m e
l V I I }
thre e tim es in four
s e n t e n c e s .
but they offered a nice finishing tip. After
reading
this,
l
couldn't resist experiment
ing a little bit.
\\'hat I
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W[ Gt
\
..... ItOSAN INSEtT
1
I fHUMt SCREw
NO ~
XACtO lAOE
FfGURE
Rllll~HOlt ANO SOUAJEUPWITH CHISEl
; ND DRILL ~\1:101,.(
FOJtOSAN INSt
.
_ J
DADO ~ WIDE.
I
DfiP
t G U .
\VOODSMITH
One of the nicest things about woodwork
ing is having the chance to make your own
tools. Granted, it's a wee bit difficult to
build something like a table saw out of
scrap> laying around the shop, but every
once in a while thert>is a U>'efullit1legad
ge t
you ea n
make.
One of the things I've always wanted to
make
w a s
my own marking gauge. 1 kept
LOyingwith the idea,
but
there were two
problems r couldn't find a solution for.
knew J could
m a k e
the
a rm
and th~
body out of wood - that' < common prac
tice and relatively easy to do. Rut r
couldn't
f igure
out
a c hea p a nd e asy w ay
to
hold the
arm
securely in
place
after it
was
set, This is usually done with n fancy brass
thumb
S < : 1 e W
that
goes
through
a
threaded
hole in the wooden body. (There a re to o ls
forlhreadingwood. but they're not c h e a p .
When I discovered rosan inserts 'some
times called threaded inse
rtsl
it solved
th e p ro ble m, A ll [
had LOdowas screw the
rosan
in.o;ert
into the body and use a regular
old thumb screw to hold the arm in lace.
Rut the thumb screw dented the wood,
leaving little holes along the arm that C U-
se d problems. So . next needed a fancy
brass shoe like on the 'stcre-beughi' mark
ing auges. Since
idn't have o ne o f these
either. I had LOmprovise. Ujr deep in
m)' pocket and came out with. penny. And
that
was
the
answer for my
penny-
pinching marking' gauge. (On Lhe deluxe
model I use a dime.)
Getting this all put together is shown in
the drawings at right. Since r had to eoun
terbore a hole for the shoe tpenny), I made
the body by cutting a dado insome
Y
stock
(the one shown is made of cherry).
Arter getting the two halves (Fil '. I), I
drilled a 0 hole ~.' deep (for the penny),
and followed ith a . hole for the rosan
insert. Then 1 glued the two halves
together so the dadoes formed a mortise.
Next ipped a piece fo r the arm so
it
fi t
snugly
the mortise, f'ig. 2.Since I didn't
have a fancy steel pin for the marking
point. [ used an atoblade.To mount iL r
had to mortise a hole near the end of the
arm. I just
drilled
a hole and squared
it up
;t
h a chisel.
Pinally, I carved out a small wedge LO
t
the mortise. It', a little hassle getting the
7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
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\VOODSM1TI1
No' all thret' .Iahtl can be ripped to a
final .. ,dlh of 20~. Oneend of each slab
for the leI(\ i. cut off square -leaving the
other end rollgh and ~ little long for now,
Both ~nds oflhe ~Iabfor the lopare
cut
orr
square, to a finllll('ngth I I f 51'.
SHOV 1'II)Tt;.
To get good clean edge, J
used a ci ..cular 0 (Ski saw) with a
hoUow.pound plaJwr blade to make the
CUt.Abo. lamped 8 fence
to
the slab to
guide the shoe of the c ir cu la r s aw .
TH(
eovrrsus
The top
and
1 1: are JOIIk '< I w ,th through
dovetails, ' f Iwo
.'t part
about cutting
the-e
do,.tail. ~ findinl(
a ay to
clamp
these rather larg. ..nd heavy slabs in place
to make th.
CUb .
wound up clamping
them to the workbench ..ith pipe clamps.
The actual {'Ultinj(i tL:Illike any other
dovetail, except there's a little problem
with vibration b ee au se the slnb is so wide.
I might add that it took almost a full day
ju.t to cut and chop them OUI - mostly
because I didn't want to blow cut.
THEPI~~.
To
tart
the
p in s a re
marked
out onthe Ie) l'. Each ofth~ pin. ls the same
m
Lookin) '
al
th~
ou. . .
ide f_ of the
1 ,,
the narrowest
p ri
of each pin
is
11 , '
wide. Fig.
2.
To rnuklheangl.,.ontheend
grain
I used a u.nR of 1:5
(10 ).
Hcwever, the fpa . between the pins
varies,inc~L~lngrom. 2~. onthe outside
edge< 10 4' in th. center, This spacing
a dd s a
ralher
meeeus tom-made
look to the
finishe..1
jomt.
T11F. T \lIo1,and tho cut lines for the
tails are marked. Then it's just a matter of
cutting' Rnd .,.
started
with
the
leg. because the pin, of the dovetails
would CUt
rn
IIKmi After
an-ancr ing
the section- in the same order for each
slsb, I applied
Il'lue to the
edge. and
c l amped them tog\ ides).
Each
slab
is I1lulodup from ~, oak (~, bsrdwoed is
I~.. thIck actual], A, shown in the CUI'
I
ting Diagram. I started out ,,;th four
boards 5. ,' ide
and
10nR.
Befort' CUllingthe board, into the three
section. fur the three .lab.l. I marked each
section
80
1could keep them inorder. Then
I
cut
of f
each
se-ction
to rough length,
an d
ripped.
clean
edge on both edges
trim-
ming the wldlh
down
to aboul5V( wide).
Three
rawer Coffee able
DRAWERS W ITH NO V IS IBLE M EANS O F SUPPO RT
7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
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15
,.
saOlS Ut(ND '.. ABOVE
,toNf AHOAC.
'A(I Slot
>
DlAwt. lt l AltO ~ IStX f l E C E S
OIAwtt
-
6
I
-
I e, J
I
1
'AClllOf
SIll(
flOUU 3
WAcr ON &OTHlNDS
I t
I
[:
.
+
.
_j
. .
UOW fO l SA.WlI((tfS
flGUltt
4
ftGUlf S
4---
'Of'VlfW.) ANGll
>G',
-----
UGS
G U
uons as th
A n J 00'
euW.
IIITI..Tbe three slab,
1100 ~ ~ lll between the
0111, , ,1 .,
dra\\ ,. anti Ih
l egs .
see Fig. 3).
;';ow divide the remainder by 3 to get the
f in a l I cnK th of each drawer. Icam . . u p
with
n
length of 16' fur each pieee.)
Tilt:~lIIt:~,h,' rlruwer sides are cut .,'
wid.. (I, wid. than the fronts and backs),
The fillllll,'ngth of the .,de.
L
191.' OIes..
than
Ih,' w,dth of Ill,
table ).
This mean.
th~ draw , will
t.,.
rece-sed lI:' from both
Ihe fmnt .. Ig,
a n < ]
back edp:eof Ihe
tab....
TIlt: 1>(1\.T'II. :\0\\
the drawers eanbe
mbll~1 ,th through dovetails. you
manaJ:ed 10( Utillcd(l\'ctail on those.labb
for th .. bl.... the dra .. are no .....
at.
m a ll I br e< .' dra ...... Ill' S
the f(Uidebars, but they
will
probably rub
I Ii~
,
again>l each other. [( the drawers bind on
~
~
,
th e
f(Uid bars, plane or sand down the
tongue
a
little bit.
If
they
still
bind, you
may have to
realign
the guide bars.
-O UWEJtS SHOUlO T IGHTAGIJNST A .CHOTHEI
'fo allow clearance between the middle
f tGUR.E 1.
I
rawer and the tw o o utsid e d ra we r s, plane
SA N D OR P LAN f S lIGHT HOllOW
or sand a slight hollow on the sides of each
ON WIlt SlOtS
drawer. As shown in Fig. 14. The hollow
_
allows the drawers to move freely as
C:~tOS
they're opened. but leaves the front and
nGHl
back fairly tight when they're closed.
DA AW U FRON T D R Awt. S l O E
DlAWER lACK
DRAWERS, BOTTOMS AND CATCHES
Now the drawer bottoms can be installed. 15
G ulf .
To mount the bottom
s, a
rabbet is routed
t _
, . IASln Irr
en
the bottom four
edges
of the
drawer,
WITH lor
r
IUUU
JABtf tOP
This rabbet is * deep to allow for the
CUT RAISin ON
CATCH . . .
plywood bottom. plus
Vi
as a lip to pull the
OiV
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W O O D SM I T H
SOLID WOOD BOTTOM
Since dovetails are usually reserved for
drawer. (and fumitu re) of ra ther high
quality, you may Want to
make
a solid
wood bottom (instead of USingplywood).
The problem with solid wood is that it's
going to move (expand/contract with
s e as on a l c h an g es in humidity). If a solid
wood bottom
were
glued
into
a
rabbet,
it
wouldn't be free to move. an d sooner or
later it would split. So it must be mounted
with the
stopped
groove method.
The solid wood bottom ca n be ,luedI of
slightly thicker wood lhan the groove.
Then the edges
ar e
chamfered
(jUSt
like
a
raised-panel in
a
door), or rabbeted toform
a tongue to lit the groove.
The primary considerution, however, is
l he d i reeucn
oflhe grain,
Fig 4
TIle grain
m u st ru n a cro ss the width of the drawer.
That is.
so
the end grain it;mounted in
th e
drawer sides.
h front edge of the bottom can be
glued into tbe groove inthe drawer front to
hold it
in
place. However. the edges in the
drawer sides must be free to move (no glue
is used
Also
the back sbould be trimmed
SO it rests on top of the solid
wood
boUom.
This allows the wood to move freely.
ItA llln s on o
fOR GIOOVES
G4Uf 1I0 OM lNIO HlONl ONLY
DO NOT aWE INTO SLOES
lAC)( l_ IMMEO TO
Itl$1 80 OM
,
lO E
GUSH P ARA LL ELwnH
FRONT AND tACK
ACk 1.0wtR
tHA N SIDS
THROUGH GROOVE
O N F RO NT
STonED GROOVE
ON S10fS
flGUR ..
THROUGH0200 *
O lom
SU>
A.bET WI TH
t tY WO O O
lonOM
SIDE
UlaEl WITH GROOV1 w
GWIN,G lOCI soue WOOD
aorrOM
their skill by conceaJinl(
all
signs ofjoinery.
Drawer Jrcnts, for example, were joined
w uh
half-blind dovetails the joint could
not be seen (when the drawer W8:< closed).
Tnrougll dovetai ls were only
\ 1 I C d
join
the drawer back to the sides.
But times have changed .. )oinelY
has
om out in th~ open. Today. through
dovetails are used on drawer fronts to
show off this handsome joint. llnd add a
SPOl
of subtle
decoration.
However, hen
through dovetails arc used on drawer.
th ere a rc
some
spectal
coru;ideration~ ...
a nd s om e
problems.
LAYOrT The layout size and spacing of
the pin. and tails) should be done with
care. If the pins and tails are equal width.
the dovptail joint ill look j ust Uke a box
joint (from the front of the drawer), see
Fig. I.HOWever, if the joint is laid out 0
the relationship between the pins and tail.
i. about
1:4
Or
1:5
lhejoint takes on much
more of
a
custom look.
DRAWERBOTTOM
So nowthe joint isnicely proportioned, but
you still have to get the drawer bottom in
there some way.
There a re
twe basic
op-
tions for mounting the drawer bottom. se e
Fig.
2
The easiest way is to go ahead
an d
cut the
dovetails
on all four
pieces
and
assemble them. 'I'hen to insert, the bottom.
a rabbet is cut around the perimeter of the
bottom r,dge of the drawer and the bottom
is glued inlo the rabbet, (A plywood bot-
10m
must be used
with this method.)
On large drawers that \ \1U have to bear
8
lot of weight, it helpful to CUtthe rabbet
about
1 < 0 .
tONG
the pins were still an even thickness.
sive problems. dean up the pins as best
tEGS
i
lEGS
Although this makes marking the cut
youcanandyou'llprobablyhave
to
cutnew
,
line Corthe tails a rather awkward pro-
board. for the steps.
1 . .
fRoN lOGE-
cedure (as shown in Fig. 4). there is a Oncee\'~'1.hlng fits. the bottom of the
reason,
If
youglue the longand short legs legs can be cut 01Tsquare
l
did this on a
I
together first, you can plane this leg
as-
table sawwith the panelcutting jig shown
r
IS'
-
sembly smooth - eening out any vari-
in IVood/fmilhNo. is.) Finally. the 4 '1
s
alion at the glue-joint line. Since you'll
radius halr-clt-clecan
be
cut on the bottom
two SID'S
have to plane the wholesurface. the thick- of each leg.
I
nessofthe pins in bealtercd. This isokay
GUlE 2
because now the tails can now be marked TO' V1lW
to final (aelUllllthickness or the pins.
- -
-j-
r
On the other hand. if you mark the cut
6\
lines for the tails beforegluing up the two
~~~
.
~
~
egs, you could run into problems. You
~
ould have to be very accurate when the \ . ' , ' .
~
two leg sectionsare glued together. (fthe
fAU SDf
7 l ~/i-.,...--tr.r-- ~--f/.f-v.
.J . , . .
I
join; line is off and you try to plane it
smooth. the pins
ill
be shaved down and
\1
the
dovetails
won't fit properly,
TH E S TE PS
SIOfV1EW
Aller the legsare gluedup. the boards for
t
A UO W S PA Cf
fOI,
N OTOt
the steps can
be
cut
10
the
1 0
final length, ro
alCutWfJt
making sure the ends are square with the
edges. The final width of the steps is V
However, Lgluedthem up to width of
7 1
OOVtTAll LA'tOUT
tostart. Then. trimmingthemdown tosize
FlGUIE J
...., n n n
,.
MATERIA LS L IS T
I
Overall Dimensiom. 21 II: lSw x 14 d
A Shott t.g (2) x 7 . lOY,
(7
1/1 :
1~
M Ab: DOW N 1C 1h - _
)
'r
a
long
lAg (2) Y 7 21
7h.2IV.)
F.~OI ' lONG Lf G
ClAMI'ST fP
C Slep (2)
~,,7.1
7 t1a lSV.)
fOW
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WOODS~nTH
2
FtGURf S
T
THE BRACE S
IRACH (THan ECU)
.IiALI
r
AtI.$
Before gluing the legs and steps together
llP TO 'SlZ.fTE.
the braces must be cut. There are three
ON I O'r H (N OS
~
.r-
braces: one on the back to help keep the
Stand sturdy (prevent l lIcking), and two
IS -I
braces on the front to reinforce the
strength of the steps
themselves (to
take
6
_ _ ~ n
AGUtE 1
I
the brunt of the weight when tlQmoone
MAIl( I IO$OlOl'f OF I
-
steps on them),
~ Il>
m z
I.
NO TCH ON SlE' ~ A mf
All three
braces
are joined
to
the legs
-
r : < ~
on the brace fu t. and US( ( it to mark the
cut line. fQrthe notch s.
MARK ANGLE
& 1
Ii' Off WATt
, I
NOICH
JIAU .TAlL. To cut the half-tail. use a
N fRONT EOGf-
waste \\~th coping saw. and cleaned up
the
CU l
with a chisel. Fig. 9 .
_ , < ) t
G LU E-U P A ND FI NI SH IN G
~I(NE iS
OF LEG
The front edges of the step. can be
t -
7
trimmed to final width. ~ig. 7. Then dry-
assemble the Stand to make sure every-
thing fits. Clamping these
pieces
together
,-+'1
T
lV,1t /,
~
is kind ofa hassle because of the half-circle
1\.'.
at the bottom of the legs. I applied some
j_~
j_
glue to the joint. and tapped them
together. Then I pulled the lai in place
with pipe clamps. (Use a piece of strap
under the legs tosupport the clamps across
10
the half-ci...,leCUI-OUt.)
ID~
No it ~ just a matter of filing the ends
of the dovetails flush with the surface.
V
(Although it was nice to use hand tools for
mOSI
of
this
project.
I cheated
and
US( ( a
belt sander to smooth OUItbe end grain.)
.. IADIUS
nStSHtNC. I
wanted
to go with an oil
__
I.
finish mostly because
scuff
marks would
I
I
f = '
I
- ' - = 1
present a real problem on this kind of proj-
. ,
CCI.
I
finished the Step Stand with atco
14
oil. as described in Shop Notes. pags 12.
7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
23/24
\10liIlh is s afe fo rtls e w ith
food.
Salad Bowl Finish call b e
padded
011
,hich
111W hop laid on LOpof three concrete
blocks with sLitks be t ween each layer of
board~, J've been careful to as ure that the
tops of the concrete blacks all tie in the
same plane. Iam s til col,cerned thaL thi.
may not
be
the best method
of
storage,
If you have Ilny suggestions, 1 would
appreciate them.
SCOTCH GLUE
I've hoard people mention IImng Scotch
glue. but 1haven't used it
am i
really don't
even know
wha t
It is. Do
:\ ,OU
know what
Scotch glue is and where it can be
purchased?
1
TalkingSho~__
AN OPEN FORUM
7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019
24/24
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