Thread: Little kitchen project - advice needed

I would cut the pins in the pine. The softer wood has more give allowing for a tighter fit/less gaps.

goodluck

joez

Originally Posted by joez

I would cut the pins in the pine. The softer wood has more give allowing for a tighter fit/less gaps.

goodluck

joez

I guess Joez is assuming you are going to follow the 'standard' procedure of cutting the tails first, then marking the pins off the tails. If the tail material is softish (pine), you can saw more generously on the waste side of your scribe lines & get a very firm fit. But be careful on the two outside half-pins, these need to be a neat, but not over-tight fit, or you risk splitting them away as you drive the joints home.

On the other hand, Merbau is a nice, crisp wood that is easy to saw, and chisels pretty well, whereas pine can be a struggle. Radiata has very big diference in hardness between earlywood & latewood, & it can make it hard to keep the saw on track. Some soft pines like Hoop will crumble rather than cut, unless you use a very low angle bevel, & keep your chisel exceptionally sharp.

Myself, I would rather just aim for a neat fit no matter which way you use your woods. A 'good' joint should need to be tapped home, but not require heavy-duty bashing! In figuring out which wood to use for which part, I would decide on what I wanted most visible, or which wood is going to be exposed to wear & tear, and maake sure the more durable wood cops that. The rule of thumb when orienting tails & pins is to look at where any likely tension will be applied, and put the tails on the piece that will be subject to tension (look at the way dovetails are oriented on drawers, to see what I mean). However, on a box, it really doen't matter, unless you are going to be storing it under a bench & hauling it out, in which case, I would think of it as a big drawer.

P.S. I like to fit my dovetails "off saw", but that takes a bit of practice. For those starting out, there is quite a good article by Robert Howard in the last AWR on how to get dovetails to fit well with a little judicious paring......

Cheers,

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the advice, as always I enjoy your explanations. Forgive me but AWR ? Australian Woodwork Review .... am I close ?

Man, I did not realise just how difficult hand cut dovetails can be ! I thought my chisel was sharp but it didn't pare too well and the joint is not quite snug. Still I'd like to think I've made a promising start. I'd post a pic but I'm a technophobe and basically have no idea how to do it

Will keep practising on scrap timber before attempting 'the project'.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Ozziespur

..... Forgive me but AWR ? Australian Woodwork Review .... am I close ?

Close enough, Oz. "Australian Wood Review" to be precise.

Originally Posted by Ozziespur

... I'd post a pic but I'm a technophobe and basically have no idea how to do it

Scroll down to "manage attachments" & follow the directions. It's a bit less intuitive than the old version, but you should get there if you take your time....

Practice is the key, alright. It took me a few years before I felt totally comfortable cutting dovetails - especially if they were going to be very visible. I have a reasonable rate of success these days, but every now & then a slip-up occcurs. Just keep all the scraps until after glue-up, in case a matching sliver is needed to close a gap or two. If done carefully, only you will know, & after a while, you won't remember which one it was either.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Ozziespur

I'd post a pic but I'm a technophobe and basically have no idea how to do it
Cheers

The easiest way is to choose this clickpic.jpg in the section above your typing.

You can choose off your hard-disk or enter a URL.

When you select more than one pic, do it in reverse order in order to get the pics to come out in the right order.

Cheers,
Paul

Awesome, thanks guys. I won't send a pic of my first attempt as it was embarrassingly bad (actually it looks quite good from a certain angle ... and if you don't stand too close hehe). I don't have a dovetail saw so have used a tenon saw (maybe the kerf is a little wider) but I did allow for the kerf when cutting. I think my main problem was not having the chisel sharp enough to get a smooth finish when paring the waste.

It looks so easy on youtube when someone like Paul Sellers cuts them !

I'll have another crack on the weekend after I sharpen my chisels.

Originally Posted by Ozziespur

Awesome, thanks guys. I won't send a pic of my first attempt as it was embarrassingly bad (actually it looks quite good from a certain angle ... and if you don't stand too close hehe)

You wanna feel better about yourself? ...
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f213/o...ml#post1553602
https://www.woodworkforums.com/blogs/...d-attempt-903/

You want to actually learn something ... look for Derek's website.

There is a recent thread here on beginner dovetailing that I have links to add to ... not sure how soon ...

Cheers,
Paul
PS: I also grew a bit fonder of my finger-joint attempt. Like a red-headed step-child, as they say