Replies

1. 
   chills1994 | Jun 07, 2005 08:51pm | #1

   taught a shaker table class where the aprons were sliding dovetailed into the legs.

   the table had a drawer so the bottom front rail was mortised and tenoned in.  the top rail was dovetailed in the same way.

   dovetail router bit in a router table.  stop marks penciled on the legs.  pushed top of leg into spinning bit till the pencil stop marks, held leg firmly in place while shutting off the router.  let bit come to a stop, pulled leg out.

   you could lay your long top rail stock across the top of the two front legs and then trace the dovetail pattern from the socket onto the rail from underneath.  then cut with a handsaw and trim as necessary with a chisel.

   if i ever teach that class again, i think i'd do the joinery different.  live and learn

   chills

1. 
   AndyE | Jun 15, 2005 04:47pm | #10

   Ok, I have to ask now. You say you would do the joinery different now, how so? I am about to build my first dining table and the sliding dovetail for the apron to legs has always seemed like it would make the strongest joint and even allow me to make it knock down for travel. I am making it for DWs sister in MD and I am in NY. No drawer in the side but one leaf in the middle and both sides sliding out from the middle. How are you doing that sort of thing these days? Thanks for the input.Andy"It seemed like a good idea at the time"

2. 
   WillGeorge | Jun 07, 2005 09:57pm | #2

   Just me.. Re-Sharpen that chisel AND take you time... .. You CAN do it!

3. 
   Dano | Jun 07, 2005 11:20pm | #3

   Frank,

   Have you handcut half blind dovetails before?  For a carcase dovetail where you're joining a bearer rail into a leg or post, the socket is cut using the same exact technique one uses to cut the sockets on a half blind dovetail (pins are the dodads between the sockets).  The slope for a carcase dovetail is no less than 1:5 nor greater than 1:6.

   Layout the socket, take your dovetail saw and cut to the lines with the saw at an angle (toe higher than the heel).  Cut to the top back line and bottom front line, bore out the waste then pare with a very sharp chisel.

   Dano

   Edit in:  Fig 1, I believe is the joint you're trying to execute....

   Attatchment:  The Encyclopedia of Furniture Making, Ernest Joyce, Drake Publishers, Inc., page 200, copyright 1970 by Ernest Joyce.

   "Form and Function are one." - Frank L. Wright

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   Edited 6/7/2005 4:39 pm ET by Dano

   
1. 
   WillGeorge | Jun 07, 2005 11:23pm | #4

   Dang   THAT looks HARD!

1. 
   Dano | Jun 07, 2005 11:26pm | #5

   Will,

   It really isn't, you're just removing the wood that isn't used...

   Dano"Form and Function are one." - Frank L. Wright

2. 
   jackhall | Jun 14, 2005 08:39pm | #9

   "bore out the waste then pare with a very sharp chisel."

   How do you bore out the waste?  From which direction?

1. 
   Dano | Jun 15, 2005 05:25pm | #11

   Jack,

   With a brad point bit, from the top.  'Course, a series of  kerfs would also work...

   Dano"Form and Function are one." - Frank L. Wright

4. 
   joinerswork | Jun 08, 2005 01:08am | #6

   Frank,

   Here's how I do 'em. 

   Lay out and cut the tails on the ends of the top rail.  Use the same set on your marking guage to mark the length of the tails, and the depth of their sockets on the end of the legs. 

   Then set the guage to the thickness of the rail, and mark it onto the inside faces of the legs. 

   Put the rail in place on top of the leg, and scribe the flared sides of the tails onto the end of the legs.  Square lines down the face of the leg from the scribed lines.

   Saw just inside the lines you scribed, and squared down, til you reach the marking guage lines, on the top of the leg and the inside face.

   Drill a series of  1/4" holes across the bottom of the socket, just above the marking guage line.

   Carefully split off the waste stock, a little at a time, inside the saw kerfs, down to the drilled holes.  

   Clean up the inside of the socket with your chisel, down and back to the layout lines, by paring away a little at a time.  You can use the tip of your pocket knife or a skew point chisel to reach into the inside corners.

   Trial fit as necessary.

   Good luck,

   Ray

1. 
   BG | Jun 08, 2005 01:19am | #7

   frank,
   Just to add a note to Dano's and Joinerswork methods, after you saw the leg, put a wood clamp on the end of the wood to protect from breaking off the end...damhikt....:-) 

5. 
   Teddy523 | Jun 09, 2005 10:28pm | #8

   Thanks all for your input on cutting dovetails into the end grain of a leg - I guess I'll sharped up my chisels