Fixing a loose stopped tapered sliding dovetail
waking_crickets
| Posted in Joinery on
I’m building a small wall shelf. The main construction consists of two ribs running front to back that are affixed to the shelf via stopped tapered sliding dovetails. Something happened where one of these dovetails came out loose…. way loose.
What’s the best way to diagnose and fix this? I can’t figure out how to make the normal methods of adding material back on to work here. For one, I think it would mean adding material back onto the tail side and then some how getting it to fit back onto the pins, but I have no idea how to make that work given the stopped and tapered nature of the joint.
Replies
Without a drawing I'm kinda guessing, but if the parts are sitting where they should you can add material to the loose side of the male part. I am assuming this is a cross-grain joint.
My second (really first) suggestion would be to cut the offending part flat, glue on replacement material, and recut the joint to fit the existing socket. You'll have to choose one side of the male part of the sliding dovetail for the surgery.
Hopefully the two attached photos illustrate the joint I'm attempting to cut.
The joint has two issues. One, the rib does not sit square relative to the back edge of the shelf.
Second, the rib has so much play that you can wiggle it side to side.
I think what you are suggesting is to essentially cut the male "tail" flat, glue on some additional material and recut to fit the socket? I think the challenge would be in layout of the new tail. I can't think of a way to accurately mark that out.
I guess another approach would be to cut the entire socket out, patch in some material, and attempt to recut the socket.
Usually pretty simple fix is to glue a piece of veneer to the male section - then recut/sand/fit as you can. Typically will barely be noticeable if you use the same wood species!
(Alertnatively, if that is too hard to get it in that angled section, glue in a piece to completely fill in one side of the male dovetailed piece and recut.)
I agree with gluing on additional material (veneer) and recutting.
As others said, shim it. Or on a piece that small, just cut a new part.
The tapered aspect of such a joint is only necessary if the tail and it's housing are quite long, as the taper allows easy insertion without jamming on a high spot some way along either the tail or its housing. The joint illustrated is quite short and probably doesn't need the taper. This makes it much easier to make accurately, since matching tapers is quite a finicky business.
The FWW how-to video with Chris Gochnour making sliding dovetails for the cross-members of a Shaker Enfield cupboard is a very good illustration of the process for making tapered dovetail housing joints "by hand", by the way.
Lataxe
The only thing I am going to add to the excellent suggestions is that the joint looks to be quite well cut so it may be that only part of the joint is loose.
It might be worth applying some graphite to both sides of the socket then tapping the joint home to see where it is snug. You can then decide if veneer or re-cutting is the best.
I'm lazy, so I'd do the veneer and sanding option.
I ended up shimming the tail with a heavy plane shaving, which did the trick. It's not quite as tight as I'd like, but does hold together without glue. I was actually really surprised at how much I had to shim... maybe a 1/32?
Rob - Thanks, I'll take the compliment. :-) The joint wasn't loose in one spot... the entire joint was loose. It went together with no pressure.
Lat - As to whether the taper was appropriate, I decided on it for a few reasons:
1. I saw it, it looked neat, and I figured I'd use the opportunity as a skill builder
2. As this would be the first application for which I'm cutting a sliding dovetail, the ease of assembly was appealing
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