Replies

1. 
   shoffman13 | Apr 17, 2002 11:19pm | #1

   On half-blind dovetails, you can align the dado within a tail and it will not show thru the assembled joint. With thru dovetails or box joints, you either have to use a stopped dado so it doesn't show (router works best for this btw, not TS), or plug the resulting hole after it's assembled...

   Steve Hoffman

   1999 Cherry/Ivory Roadstar

   SCRC #241005

   ISRA # pending forever

2. 
   Alan | Apr 18, 2002 06:31am | #2

   Doc,

   There is a third way to hide the groove on through dovetails.  All you need to do is to alter the size of the pins and tails so the tail will cover the end of the groove. 

   Make the pinboard so the groove comes out through a pin.  Then cut out the wood on the pin with the groove so as to narrow the thickness of the pin so there is no "groove"--so that you've cut it off.  Then mark out that pin on the tailboard and cut the tailboard so it will fill up all the space left when you narrowed the pin.  Needless to say you must cut all these dovetails by hand; no machine I know of (I don't know anything about a lot of machines!) will cut such tails and pins.

   Whew!  I hope the foregoing is clearer to you than it is to me--and I know how to do it.  There's really not that much to it.  I think you probably ought to practice it once or twice on some scraps of lesser wood, of course.  I seem to recall reading about this where it was well explained and illustrated, but I cannot remember where.  (Again no help from me.)

   Alan

1. 
   SgianDubh | Apr 18, 2002 07:04am | #3

   Steve' s partly covered it. Stop the groove using a plunge router.

   Alan's described another method, i.e., a stopped dogleg.

   You can also work a mitre at the critical intersection,

   or you can hide it all with a planted front if it's a drawer or similar.

   Or you can move on to lapped, secret lap, or mitred dovetails, or

   just mitre the whole shebang. Slainte, RJ.