Thread: Fancy dovetails -for the afficianado's

A couple of issues of FWW ago they had a similar thing that a Japanese guy had been doing.

Impressive stuff but a bit OTT for mine.

I agree with craig but I might be tempted one day to have a go at them.

Jeez, Can you imagine doing 10 drawers like that? I have a hard enough time with normal hand cut dovetails!

There was an article in the black and white days of FWW on making those dovetails.

Darn. Went back to the site and saw that he already referenced the article.

It seems dovetails are one of those design details where there is apparently infinite scope for design innovation. I went along to the Design+Wood 2007 Exhibition in Sydney yesterday (I think today is the last day) put on by the Woodworkers Association of NSW. A very humbling experience with some gorgeous cabinetry on display by some of the local masters (Tony Kenway's side table was a real eyecatcher) but the part I most enjoyed was meeting Leon Sadubin (what a nice guy!) and talking to him about the radial dovetails he used in the drawers of the stunning octagonal display cabinet he had on show. These looked SO effective; but also look relatively straightforward to make - no harder than ordinary dovetails, and really giving the piece the signature mark of a hand-made one-off design.

Unfortunately I didn't have a camera but the concept is simple. A single point is marked centrally on the face of the drawer side (or box side, or whatever) about six inches or so back from the edge to be dovetailed, which is marked with distribution of the pins. A series of radial lines are then drawn from the point to the edge marks, and presto, the outline for the pins is laid out. It's easy to imagine endless variations on this theme eg. two radii defining the inner and outer edges of the pins.

Originally Posted by Tony Hunt

Unfortunately I didn't have a camera but the concept is simple. A single point is marked centrally on the face of the drawer side (or box side, or whatever) about six inches or so back from the edge to be dovetailed, which is marked with distribution of the pins. A series of radial lines are then drawn from the point to the edge marks, and presto, the outline for the pins is laid out. It's easy to imagine endless variations on this theme eg. two radii defining the inner and outer edges of the pins.

Tony,

Sounds like it would make any piece very unique even the old nuts and bolts storage box.....which I'll start tomorrow.

Fletcher

And this fancy dovie

Originally Posted by Lignum

And this fancy dovie

Hey Lignum, That's clever! Nice Job!