Thread: Dovetail angles

I don't think it is quite as critical as the purists might make out. I know some people who mark them out by sight rather than using a dovetail marker.

I usually use a dovetail marker or a bevel gauge. I try to keep to the larger angle for softer timber and the more subtle angle for hardwoods. My LN dovetail marker has 1:6 and 1:7 but not 1:8. I usually use 1:7.

I've been unable to find any scientific reason for it. That doesn't mean to say there isn't one. Sometimes these traditions are aesthetic and sometimes they are what works best.

If the angle is too steep, you're likely to lose the side off a tail because there's too much disconnected long grain in it. Most authors seem to recommend between 1:5 and 1:8 for this reason. If you go too far the other way, you lose strength in the joint.

If I was to hazard a guess, I would say that it is the 1:8 for hardwoods that is the compromise.

Agree with you Silent - one of the reasons for not getting too aggressive with the angle is because you create more short grain, and fragile tips, as you say. This can be a real pest with a tight test-fit. So it's sort of counter-intuitive to recommended steeper angles for softwoods!

Apart from the looks, you'll find keeping the angle shallower is just plain easier. Easier to saw and chisel, easier to get a really nice fit.

I've never done the expt. of making a number of different sets at different angles and testing the strength, but having busted apart a few done at around 1:8 to 1:9, they seem plenty strong - I would imagine any increased 'strength' from steeper angles is largely illusionary....
Cheers,

Whilst I know nothing about dovetails.

Was watching a woodwork video I got with some Timelife books a while back but had never watched. The guy demonstrating dovetails just did a rough angle nothing measured.

Originally Posted by oges

Whilst I know nothing about dovetails.

Was watching a woodwork video I got with some Timelife books a while back but had never watched. The guy demonstrating dovetails just did a rough angle nothing measured.

Sounds like Frank Klausz. But then if you had cut as many dovetails as he has you probably wouldn't need to do it either.

FWW did destructive testing on dovetails and other joints a couple of years ago, can't remember the bloody results tho' - sorry!

BTW, there is an article on how Frank Klausz goes about it in a mag currently at the newsagency, I think it's the Oct issue of Popular Woodworking.


Cheers...............Sean, angle of the dangle

So do all yous with gifkins and other jigs have 2 lots of cutters for doing hardwood and softwood?

Originally Posted by markharrison

Sounds like Frank Klausz. But then if you had cut as many dovetails as he has you probably wouldn't need to do it either.

Yes that who it was

Originally Posted by echnidna

So do all yous with gifkins and other jigs have 2 lots of cutters for doing hardwood and softwood?

I only do 1:8 because 1:6 is ugly.

I guess I am going to shock a few people then.

The last time that I did a dovetail joint was about 20 years ago. On the recent project I needed to make dovetails and so I did them at 1:4.

I had put the draw together about three days ago and will see how it holds up. One other thing that I should mention is that the gaps were hugh. But they are all square????

These days with the glues we have available, dovetail angles are really chosen for aesthetic reasons, not strength.

I like to cut skinny dovetails, but a 1:8 ratio would look like a box joint on thin stock. So I choose an angle according to the thickness of a board. For 1/4-3/8" boards I tend to prefer 1:7.

Regards from Perth

Derek

1:8 all the time, for the same reason as Wongo.

What Alex said.