Half-Blind Dovetail Help

**E.Cama** · 14th January 2012, 07:54 PM

So I will premise this post by first stating I am an amateur.

I have been trying to do some half-blind dovetail joints for drawers with OLD recycled timber from a demo. yard (wood is supposedly approx 80 years old from a Queenslander). Spent two days removing all nails/screws etc using a metal detector from Carba-tec. Jointed and thicknessed, dressed, sized etc, etc marked cut the dovetail joints on the drawer sides but when it comes to doing the complementary joint on the drawer front I continually get splitting down the grain.

I have tried this several times now and always with the same result. I mark the joint and depth on the drawer front using a scribe. Use a tenon saw to make multiple cuts along the joint meeting both lateral and vertical scribe lines. Sharpen my chisels (albeit cheap Plumb brand) using Japanese 1000 and 6000 waterstones to achieve a mirror finish (ensuring I can feel no wire with my fingers). Begin to chip out along the tenon saw cuts, no problems so far.

When I being to try and remove more meat however is when I start to experience continued splits along the grain of the wood. I have tried several times now, trying different angles of approach to the meat but still continued splits along the grain. I am sure that if I were to use a dovetail bit in a router I would remove a headache from my life however I believe that learning the grassroots of anything is the best way to strive towards quality.

Any and all help would be very much appreciated as I am becoming rather disheartened by the whole affair

**derekcohen** · 14th January 2012, 08:20 PM

Hi Kris

It sounds as though you are trying to chop out the waste with the grain and before any further preparations having been taken.

Chopping with the grain will cause wood to split. You can only chop across the grain.

I saw out the dovetails withe a backsaw (dovetail saw) and never use the tablesaw (although I know it can be done - but it is fiddly and open to errors).

After sawing the lines, I saw out most of the waste with a fretsaw. Only then do I use a chisel to clean up to the baseline.

Below are a couple of articles on my website on techniques for dovetails:

http://inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/M...Dovetails.html

http://inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/D...Baselines.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

**E.Cama** · 13th February 2012, 03:53 PM

Hey Derek, Thanks heaps for your reply, after looking at your post I quickly found where I was going wrong. On a side note, for visual learners like myself a video may help increase traffic to your website. Cheers, and thanks again for the help. Kris

**rustynail** · 13th February 2012, 04:54 PM

Kris, as Derek said a dovetail saw followed by a fret saw to take out the bulk of the waste. I then lay the piece face up on a piece of scrap to protect the bench, then lay a squared edge piece of relativly hard timber across the base line, clamp down with a couple of g clamps. This piece needs to be about 50mm thick. The squared face now acts as a guide for the back of your chisel as you chisel out the remaining waste to the base line. It also keeps a perfectly straight finish along the base line. A quarter inch chisel is ideal for this.

**E.Cama** · 13th February 2012, 07:13 PM

Thanx rustynail,

I have now entered into my lexicon this

1. Mark Tails
2. Cut Tails with as fine a saw as I can find (0.41mm Japanese Joinery Saw atm)
3. Transfer Tails to Drawer Front stock
4. Grab a piece of waste HW stock approx same size as drawer, clamp drawer front onto bench using waste stock (well as waste)
5. Proceed to chip/chop pins using very cheap chisels.
6. Lament my inaccuracies
.......
165. Buy new chisels that are not made of cheap alloy and hence lose there edge when looked at.

**Pac man** · 13th February 2012, 09:49 PM

I have a book for sale in the marketplace that may assist you here

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