Dovetails, the remake.

Before I cut the board in two, I gave it a tart-up using my cabinet scraper to remove any planing ridges and other marks.

I then measured and cut the shelf piece which I then shot square.

The dovetails

It does not take much to cut dovetails, and here is the tools I usually use for the process:

• Dovetail saw
• Ruler
• Marking gauge
• Combination square
• Hammer
• Compass
• KUM automatic long point pencil sharpener (the best there is!)
• Dovetail template
• Pencil
• Marking knife
• Chisel

The compass is not really necessary, but it is a nice tool for the job at hand.

I measured in from the end to establish the outermost pins, in this case 15mm (about ⁵/₈”). I then measured the remaining width, subtracted the width of my chisel times the number of pins and divided the result on the number of tails. I wanted three tails, so there are two pins. And as you can see from the image of the compass alone, my marks were 4 mm off. I compensated that by moving my lines ever so slightly – 1mm towards the center on the outermost tails, and I added 1mm to the width of the central tail. Nobody is going to notice, so I could get away with this.

Remember: if your guests bring out a ruler and a square, expedite them through the front door immediately. Actually opening said door before the toss, is optional.
The result I got is good enough!

I marked my lines and scribbled the waste. Just to be sure – my quota of whoopsies on this project is about full…

Some frustration-removing whacks later (copping anything with a chisel and a hammer is pure therapy!), and I had my tails done.

Here’s a good tip: place a plane on its side (one of the VERY few times placing a plane on its side is necessary…) and flush the pin piece in the vise to the side of the plane, like so:

Move the plane in on the bench, and you have a perfect height support for your tail piece when marking the pins.

Using a SHARP pencil, I traced the lines onto the end grain. I then extended the lines down the face of the board using the combination square. Here’s the pins marked and the waste X’ed out. No silly mistakes now…

Using a coping saw, I removed the bulk of the waste. This is not really necessary, but I find it easier than chopping the waste in one piece. By removing most of the waste, it is very fast and easy to chisel out the waste. I do that by chiseling in from both sides, sneaking up to my line. I also undercut slightly, giving the glue somewhere to go and making sure that I do not get any high spots that prevents my dovetails from closing all the way.

A few minutes later, and I had my dovetails fitted and dry assembled. I still have a bit of ways to go before I cut perfect dovetails straight off of the saw, but these are pretty darn good!

Before glueup, I drilled a 25mm (1”) hole for the T track rod of the miter gauge. A forstner bit is great for this. A piece of scrap under the piece made sure I didn’t get any tearout on the exit side.

Here are the parts, ready for some glue:

I applied Titebond III glue (any glue would do, really. It was what I had at hand) and assembled the pieces, checking for square. I then let the glue fully cure before proceeding.

And on the next page, we’ll put the finishing touches on the project.