Using the Rocker mortising jig to rout the pins of half-blind dovetails

[Rocker]

Forum members who have made my mortising jig may not have realised that the jig can conveniently be used for be used for routing away the waste between the pins of half-blind dovetails.

It is easy enough, with a dovetail guide, to hand-cut the tails of half-blind dovetails, but Dark-Side methods for cutting the pins are time-consuming and laborious. I clamp the outer face of the pin board against the vertical support of my jig, with its edge butted against the underside of the horizontal platform, and use the fence and the stops to define a rectangular area between the pins from which the waste is routed away, using a solid carbide spiral upcut bit. It then only requires a minor amount of chisel work to remove the small triangular areas of waste in the corners of the sockets between the pins.

Rocker

[doug the slug]

very much like the woodrat method, rocker!!!

[silentC]

It's the jig that just keeps jigging

[Rocker]

Here is a picture of some deep sockets on the pediment board of my clock that were routed on my jig, using a 3/8" spiral upcut bit; I would not have fancied the task of chopping them out with a chisel, though I suppose there are some masochists on the Dark Side who might have enjoyed it. Routing each socket took only a couple of minutes at the outside. The amount of waste remaining to be chiselled out is minimal.

Rocker

[Auld Bassoon]

Here is a picture of some deep sockets on the pediment board of my clock that were routed on my jig, using a 3/8" spiral upcut bit; I would not have fancied the task of chopping them out with a chisel, though I suppose there are some masochists on the Dark Side who might have enjoyed it. Routing each socket took only a couple of minutes at the outside. The amount of waste remaining to be chiselled out is minimal.

Rocker

G'day Rocker,

I wouln't have thought much more than twenty minutes to mark, saw and chisel those - all by hand, quite possibly less. Think of the satisfaction, and none of that screaming router and dust everywhere

Cheers!

[Rocker]

Steve,

I think I would rather knock my head against a brick wall for 20 minutes. I reckon it would take me at least 20 minutes to do each one by hand, and the end result would be pretty untidy, but then I have never aspired to acquiring Dark-Side skills.

Rocker

[redwood]

Steve,

I think I would rather knock my head against a brick wall for 20 minutes. I reckon it would take me at least 20 minutes to do each one by hand, and the end result would be pretty untidy, but then I have never aspired to acquiring Dark-Side skills.

Rocker

this dark side thing has me miffed. develope expert hand skills by all means if thats what tickles your fancy and have some fun in the shed. but furniture made by practitioners of all tools and machines and jigs make far superior furniture to those who favor the predomantly dark side methods. rockers jig looks fantastic