A couple of nights ago I attended one of the local woodworkers meetings and we had a fellow member demonstrate his approach/methods for cutting a dovetail box. As usual lots of variations on the topic. Pins or tails first … you know the drill.
<!—-><!—-> <!—->
What I noticed when all was said and done was how much fumbling he did to get the well cut pieces together after he cut them. In his effort to explain his process it was disjointed and confusing to the audience for what I think was a simple marking method.
<!—-> <!—->
My tip is not DOGMA. Just take a look at the pictures, think about it and play with it for a couple minutes. If you already have your own method and it works- skip step 1 and return to your bench and forget this thread. <!—-> <!—->
<!—-> <!—->
<!—->On the other hand:(still here I see)<!—->
<!—-> <!—->
Once I have my box(top, sides, bottom) pieces picked out, I draw a triangle on the top edges to establish the way the box will fit together. This is a very useful method for dovetailing. The outside of the triangle is your visual face and its important to be extra careful.
<!—-> <!—->
Look at the photos attached and see if it makes sense. It might be helpful to a guy out there who’s thinking of getting into some dovetail work. Feedback and Questions always welcome.
later
dan
Edit 26 Oct: Don’t know why I took so long with this and added pictures?? Chris Goucher in the Skills and Techniques said the same thing and did a better job. His photos are better too. Oh well I guess I need to read the whole site or ….Be quiet.
Edited 10/26/2007 10:04 am ET by danmart
Replies
In my opinion you are right on target.. However the marks should be used on any 'sticks' in a project. Dovetails or not! Come to think of it that is what you did!
I for one will mark all 'sticks' with A,B,C,D Etc. and have a small sketch of the project marked with these.. Sure helps trying to figure out a part you made a month ago!
By the way.. I have taught classes (not woodworking) and we fumble a bit sometimes.. Maybe a cocktail party the night before?
Edited 10/23/2007 9:00 pm by WillGeorge
Thanks. I'll study this. I made a right pig's ear of through dovetails on some drawers in my shop because I handn't got the layout figured properly. They are now a conversation piece. "Tell me what's wrong with these dovetails."
The classic triangle is quite useful for all sorts of layout issues. I also use letters (A, B, C, D ...) and numbers (1, 2, 3 ...) to keep mating parts straight in various joinery situations. Lines spanning dry fit joints of various sorts are also useful to aid in quick matching up during glue ups.
I see that you are on the beltway. There's a guy around the beltway Wayne Dunlap who sells figured wood for rifle stocks and some beautiful curly maple for furniture projects. He's a very nice guy and he'll give you a fair deal if you go and see him.
You can try out some of those numbers... hopefully not too many.. the boards are so wide. Ha
later
Thanks for the tip. I love curly maple! - especially WIDE curly maple!!
Hoorah. So do I - just can not get enough. I love the red maple and the sugar. Seems lately, the red is where all the curl is. Don't back up, the stuff is great. There are too many guys out there putting the bad mouth on red maple and singing the praises of sugar maple. OK enough. I grew up in maple country and I like the warm fuzzy of finding hard white sugar maple that has killer curl. Its rare.
If you are using curly to build furniture pieces and you are not planning to carve it, ignore all of the debate, get some tight curly red maple and be happy. You won't regret it and Wayne Dunlap is bound to have some hidden in a corner -- press him for the "good stuff" in the back.
http://www.dunlapwoodcrafts.com/
Since you are on the beltway you ought to look up Larry Gardner in Silver Springs. This is one visit you won't regret. I am attaching a photo of what Larry does with a piece of maple. Don't know for sure but... Larry might have found this piece at Wayne's place. Its a small world check it out.
good luck
Edited 10/24/2007 6:09 pm ET by danmart
Thanks for all the names!
As for wood, it's kinda like women for me, I have no favorite type, but enjoy the beauty in many varieties!
"like women for me,"
If you've seen one burl, . . . you pretty much wanna see em all.
"like women for me,"I like em' soft sort of like Balsa..
Dan,
You MUST stop posting those photos of fabulous gunstocks.
You have doubled the cost of my blood pressure medicine. I get excited when I see that stuff.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled