7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019

1/24

2 50NO 19 NOT S ROM TH SHOP

7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019

2/24

\

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

3/24

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

4/24

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

7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019

5/24

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

6/24

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

7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019

7/24

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

7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019

9/24

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

10/24

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

11/24

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

12/24

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

7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019

13/24

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

14/24

\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

15/24

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

7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019

18/24

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

7/24/2019 Woodsmith - 019

22/24

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

, . P i tWOOO

{ a

NK~Y-

Fa.

nSSUEBOX)

GWI SSO SlCT10H

... fO aO JT O M F lA M E -

',' SlOCK

101 HINOES

.}-,1._

t

mUR 2

lA S