Compound Dovetails?

[hamster]

Hi Guys,

I need to make a piece of timber into a "lazy" L shape. Picture a 400mm wide 1200mm long piece of Redgum standing up (but not vertical, maybe leaning back 10 or 15 degrees ) with a second piece acting as the bottom of the L.

What I want to do is dovetail the two pieces to make a feature out of the join. I'm almost certain that I will need a jig to do this, can anyone suggest the appropriate one? It seems most jigs are set up for 90 degree dovetails and not a compound one like this.

Marcus

[Iain]

I haven't tried this but if you cut the 'grooves' in the top section of the jig a lot deeper than you need then cut off at an angle it should give you the angle you require.
I might try it later to see if it works, failing that my hand cut 90 degree cuts generally are about 10 degrees off. http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/wink.gif

Logic just kicked in, won't work as the pins and tails are still going to be straight, a wedge is another possibility?

[This message has been edited by Iain (edited 23 February 2001).]

[Dave in Cairns]

Marcus , with a lot of mucking around , you may be able to build jigs to do this with a router , but by the time you do all this , you could have laid out the pins and tails , cut them by hand and be on your third or fourth stubbie , admiring your handiwork. http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/biggrin.gif
Because , the two pieces need to come together at an angle , the pins will need to be cut on that angle . This is a Japanese joint called "nejiri arigata". Should look something like this.
<a href="http://www.australianwoodart.com">
http://webx.taunton.com/[email protected]^[email protected]/3!enclosure=.eeb4494

[This message has been edited by Dave in Cairns (edited 23 February 2001).]

[Robert Read]

For what it is worth I would go half way with Dave. If you have a home made tenoning jig or similar it could be modified to cut the tails by holding the piece at the correct angle and passing it over a dovetail bit in a table mounted router.
Mark the pins from the tails and cut by hand. Alternatively use router assisted pins. Make saw cuts by hand, then remove most of the waste with the same jig and a straight bit.

[hamster]

Thanks Robert,

I don't have a tenoning jig so I will have to sit down and scratch my head to figure out how to do this. I have a new Japanese handsaw so perhaps I will just try doing it by hand to start with. Do you normally make just two cuts and then chisel out the scrap from the slots?

All these compound angles make my head hurt!

[Robert Read]

The usual method is to make two saw cuts and chisel out the waste between. The method is described in most woodworking books.
I use a piece of wood clamped across the piece to guide the chisel and keep the bottoms of the cuts straight and level.
For these dovetails I would suggest cutting one edge of a piece of scrap to the correct angle, clamping it across level with the bottom of tails (or pins) and using it to guide the chisel.

[Sandy Johnston]

Once you have mastered the dovetailing, how about this link for clamping? www.taunton.com/fw/features/techniques/17clampaid.htm (http://www.taunton.com/fw/features/techniques/17clampaid.htm)
Keep the edges keen.

Regards
Sandy across the ditch