Thread: Gifkin dovetail Jig

Roger would be proud of you. Well done.

Boxers nice looking joints.

Originally Posted by Gumby

Roger would be proud of you. Well done.

Hey Gumby your watering problem surfaced. (time 1145pm)

Any project with nice looking dovetail joints is a pleasure to look at it.

There have been a few debates recently over hand cut dovetails vs machine cut. I like them if they are done nicely like these, they are good looking, fun to make and very functional.

Hi Boxes

Congrats! That is one sweet, tea box.

Glad to hear you are looking at wood very differently now.

Cheers
Wendy

Well done Boxers.

The tea box and the dovetails look great

Cheers Sam

Top Job

And if you make them really loose you can say there handcut


psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst plop

cheers

dazzler

nice work boxers

Boxers, as a first timer with the Gifkins jig, can I ask you a few questions?
* Did you experiment to see how many shims to use for the tightness of the joints?
* Did you trim the timber to 'fit' the evenness of the dovetails or just find the middle and go from there?
A hint from someone who has been there- don't attempt to drop down too many shims to achieve a tighter fit, especially if you need to dismantle to fit a base or lid.
What's next?

Originally Posted by Carry Pine

Boxers, as a first timer with the Gifkins jig, can I ask you a few questions?
* Did you experiment to see how many shims to use for the tightness of the joints?
* Did you trim the timber to 'fit' the evenness of the dovetails or just find the middle and go from there?
A hint from someone who has been there- don't attempt to drop down too many shims to achieve a tighter fit, especially if you need to dismantle to fit a base or lid.
What's next?

Fine-tuning Gifkin jig joint fit can be done using standard weight A4 paper. I think its about 0.25mm (quarter of a mm) thick.
Though I've found the best dry fit is achieved with the supplied shims. It also depends on the stock used. Softwoods will 'crush' easily when dismantling dry joints so don't 'wriggle' the components to seperate. It pays to make softwood joints nice and tight to allow for the 'crushing'.
Not a problem with hardwoods in my experience (limited as it is) experimenting with bits and pieces of scrap.

Shedhand,
I was interested in what he did as a first timer. I have the jig and my biggest mistake was to make the joints too tight in a recycled Tassy Oak box.....but that's what floor jacks are useful for!

Graham

Originally Posted by Carry Pine

floor jacks are useful for!

I use a rubber mallet....

Originally Posted by Carry Pine

I have the jig and my biggest mistake was to make the joints too tight in a recycled Tassy Oak box.....but that's what floor jacks are useful for!

Graham

Did the same thing on my first box , dry fitted it and there it stayed .
Tacked a piece of ply on the bottom and now have a tassi oak open top box for holding shims.

Rgds

Originally Posted by Ashore

Did the same thing on my first box , dry fitted it and there it stayed .
Tacked a piece of ply on the bottom and now have a tassi oak open top box for holding shims.

Rgds

my first experiment was with 120 x 12 fingerjointed crapiata. D/T's Too tight to take apart so I cut a million squares of 1/4 sheet sandpaper of various grits and store them in the box. Very handy.

Originally Posted by Zed

I use a rubber mallet....

Yes. well a floor jack has a slight mechanical advantage over a rubber mallet...and it was necessary. It was amazing how the Tassie oak stayed together. MORE SHIMS NEXT TIME!!!