Taildove, or tovedail ?

[arose62]

I've always wanted to approxi-make this 10 drawer toolchest, and whilst looking for something I came across my dad's haul from our last trip to Carbatec - a dovetail saw, dovetail marker, honing guide.

He didn't get to use them before he passed away, and I don't know what his plan was, but I decided to stuff up my carefully calculated cut list, and rather than using butt joints in the drawers, I would hand (mostly) dovetail the drawers in this chest.

As I've never made a dovetail before, I watched multiple YouTubes, mocked up the design in OpenSCAD, and knew I'd have to do some practice joints before I set blade to my precious pine. (Lesson 1: don't use pine :( )

I was rather chuffed when the first attempt actually went together, and it wasn't until the next day (but thankfully before any more cuts were made) that I realised I hadn't really made a "dovetail".

Is this a "taildove"
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or a "tovedail"
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The inspiration
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carcass
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fronts test-fitted
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Improving with practice
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[AlexS]

Nice first go. At least it's not a 'shovetail'.:D

[Sebastiaan76]

I'm intrigued about the OpenSCAD program you mentioned. Am I right that you create objects purely by scripting, not interactively like Sketchup?

Your tail-dove joint is quite cool btw! :)

[Carry Pine]

Nice work.
Does everyone know the humourous history of the dovetail as posted on the Bungendore Woodworks gallery? Ill post the link here if required.

[arose62]

Ah-ha! Now I understand AlexS' reference to a "shovetail" joint😁

Sebastiaan76: yes, OpenSCAD is similar to a programming language, so you can adjust your model by changing numbers rather than trying to drag something to just the right spot.
I like it (probably because of my IT background), and it's free.

[Mr Brush]

Nice first go. At least it's not a 'shovetail'.:D

Indeed. My first ever attempt many years ago was a "dufftail" rather than dovetail - two parts DO fit together if you belt them hard enough :D

[P.W.H.]

I'm pretty sure Tove is a girl in Denmark ....

[arose62]

... and a "dail" is?

Dail - the lower house of the parliament of the Irish Republic.

The things that you learn via woodwork!

[Sebastiaan76]

Sebastiaan76: yes, OpenSCAD is similar to a programming language, so you can adjust your model by changing numbers rather than trying to drag something to just the right spot.
I like it (probably because of my IT background), and it's free.

Hmm, I'm keen to check out out. I use Linux as my daily machine and Sketchup in WINE isn't great. Gotta say, at first thought, having to script my design doesn't sound very fast/intuitive, but I guess there's only one way to find out!
Thanks for bringing this program to my attention!

Seb

[arose62]

Yay! Another Linux user! What flavour(s)?

OpenSCAD has 2 Windows - code, and visual representation of the model, so code, then see what it looks like, adjust code, repeat. I often just iterate closer and closer to my end result.

One thing I didn't learn for ages was the debugging characters, where you can NOT render part of the code, or only render a part, or render transparent so that you can check internal alignments.

Also, if you are, say, making a hole by subtracting a cylinder from a cube, don't have the two parts exactly the same height - make the cylinder a tiny bit taller than the cube, otherwise you can get weird artefacts seeming to close the hole. (This will make sense once you do your first "difference")

This is a screenshot of somewhere along the planning for my toolchest
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Cheers,
Andrew

[Sebastiaan76]

Wow. interesting workflow! Thanks for the pic!

I work for Red Hat, so Fedora 28 at work, but at home I'm a sucker for Arch Linux. I use Plasma DE at work and prefer i3wm at home.

I feel we've gotten away from woodworking somewhat though! :)

[arose62]

Progress pics at halfway, and 8 out of 10 drawer dovetails done. 442904442905

[Christos]

I think you have done a good job.

[arose62]

Mostly complete, possibly lining the drawers and maybe some dividers once I know what will be going in.
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[Sebastiaan76]

Nice work! Loads of storage!

[arose62]

I think I've created a bit of a monster :)
I started by just lining the bases of the drawers, but then the levels nested so cutely that I had to make dividers to keep them in place, and then there was the green velvet for only 50 cents at the Salvos store ...

Boring plain drawer linings
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Nicely nested, but bare
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Wooden dividers added
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Adding velvet
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Finished !
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[arose62]

Now my dad's favourite chisels have snuggly green velvet beds, too. 444251