dove tail joints

[a1gutterman]

Can anyone please tell me what is the easiest way to make dove tail joints and
what tool is the best to use ? Or should I with my limited knowledge use some other type of joint to make a box?? I sure like the way dove tails look tho..

Here is what another member just ordered to create dove tails.

[mistystarz]

Thank you so much for all the info I think I aquired an Incra Jig with my S/S
I guess I will investigate it .... need to get some scrap wood and see just what
I am capapable of ....

[nuhobby]

I have seldom done dovetails and I need to refine what I have done.

But...

Here is a jig from one of Nick's books for using the bandsaw:
http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=1866


And here is the only project I've used it for, to date:
http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=3371

[dwevans]

I favor the incra jig. I have an old one I inherited from my dad, I bought the book with all the templates in it. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11496&filter=incra Works Great!

[horologist]

I expect there are probably about as many answers to this question as there are woodworkers. While I have not cut many dovetails, my preference is to hand cut them. Ask me when I have some big project with lots of drawers and I may change my tune.

Either way you can go low budget with primitive tools or spend outlandish amounts of cash. To a degree the more you spend the easier it is to get good results, especially if you aren't too skilled at making this joint.

On one of my early projects away from the comfort of home, I made a coffee table out of an old liberty ship hatch cover. The framework is made from scrap 2" x 4" and 1" #2 pine. The most expensive part was the oak plywood that I used on the drawer bottoms.

I decided to use dovetails on the drawers as a learning exercise. The results are far from perfect but they are adequate. Most people never even realize the drawers exist as I disguised them as rails on the end of the table.

I used and still use a Japanese Dozuki saw from Woodcraft, very similar to:

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2003901/9410/Dozuki.aspx

This is my all time favorite saw for joinery, I feel like I get better control with the cut on the pull stroke than I have ever been able to get out of the more traditional back saw.

Otherwise I used a 1/4" chisel, a square, marking gauge, and a wood mallet.


First Dovetails:
[ATTACH]7284[/ATTACH]

The drawer face is colored with ebony aniline dye and then a wax finish. As you can see some of the dye has smeared in the wax on the side of the drawer.

Troy

[Ed in Tampa]

My problem with dovetails is most of my projects are hurry up quick types of things. I rarely am able to sit down and plan out building something, obtaining plans and then going about doing building it.

Usually my projects are we need a this or that quick. Or Dad I need you to build me a ____ for one of kids room quick. Or hey this just broke can you fix it or build another one?

Dovetail joints were used to pull joints tight without glue. Then they became a sign of "quality" or "craftsmanship" both of which may or may not be true today do to CNC machines and various jigs and such.

In today's world there are better methods to assemble projects and far superior glues (compared to when dovetails were commonly used) so there is very little need of dove tails as such.

Now this is my opinion. Dovetails can be used to showcase your "craftsmanship". But I believe that only happens when you hand cut them. If you do them on a jig all your doing is adding what I call bling or glitz. I just don't like it, again that is my opinion.

My wife dragged me out furnture shopping the other day and the salesman kept pointing out the "dovetail" drawers. It was true they drawers were dovetailed and the fit was perfect (they were done of CNC machine) however the quality of the piece was junk. Cardboard backs, cardboard drawer bottoms and they used a punky wood put together haphazardly when it couldn't be readily seen. So what did the dovetails do? Nothing other than perhaps convince a unsuspecting person to think this was a quality piece.

As far as tools needed to do quality dovetails you can spend what you want and some where there will always be a better mouse trap. It is almost like fishing lures, most that are on the market today are aimed more at catching fisherman than fish.

What is really needed to cut quality dovetails is time (which I rarely have) patience (another quality if don't possess) and skill (compared to some skill I have seen in the pictures of projects some of you guys have done is mine is miminal ). My use of dovetails is limited to projects that simply won't work without them and since I'm aware of my lack of time, patience and skill I tend to avoid them.

[a1gutterman]

Can anyone please tell me what is the easiest way to make dove tail joints and
what tool is the best to use ? Or should I with my limited knowledge use some other type of joint to make a box?? I sure like the way dove tails look tho..

Well, mistystarz, you sure have received a plethora of pros and cons for making dovetail joints by hand, by machine, or knot at all!

Although I have posted to this thread already, I really haven't offered my opinion yet, but I offer it now. I can see Ed's point about time (lack of), but as some of us use woodworking as a hobby (I think that includes you), we hobbyists tend to want to improve our skills and do knot really look at the clock, so to speak. I do think that hand cutting dovetails is worthwhile and a good way to improve your skills (and receive kudos:D ), but I see nothing wrong with using jigs and power tools to accomplish them either. In fact, if you learn with the jigs and power tools, and your joints come out nice, you can shoot for that level of skill when you do try your hand at hand cutting them. Like you, I do like the way they look (hand or "machine") and that alone is reason enough to create those kind of joints. Yes, there are other joints that hold well, yes there are other joints that you can create faster, but which joint do you get pleasure in when you look at a finished project that you created? It all depends on what you want to get out of your project.

BTW, IMHO, dovetail joints stand up to the rigors of drawer slamming better then any other joint. I know that the builder of a project wood never slam a drawer, but you have no control what others do.

[------------------------]

Dove tails joints are a really cool way to add detail to a joint. When I had my furniture shop, I used to make finger lap joints. While not a dove tail, I found them to be a whole lot easier to mass produce on a Shopsmith as it is easy to adjust your table left or right for a perfect fit. I made my jig directly from the 1953 issue #9 of Shopshith Shavings.
Mark

[ATTACH]7286[/ATTACH]

[paul269]

You might be intertested in these video for making dovetail joints. the first is for hand cut and the second one is for machine cut.

http://www.woodworkingonline.com/2008/0 ... -pedersen/

http://www.woodworkingonline.com/2007/0 ... dovetails/

[mistystarz]

You might be intertested in these video for making dovetail joints. the first is for hand cut and the second one is for machine cut.

http://www.woodworkingonline.com/2008/0 ... -pedersen/

http://www.woodworkingonline.com/2007/0 ... dovetails/

Thank you I really enjoyed watching these videos and learned a few things too. I really liked watching the hand made ones ,I like to watch a show called wood smith its about "primitive " woodworking and I find it fasinating to see how things were done before high tec . Thank you also to everyone for all the replies:D You guys are awesome !