Popular Woodworking Magazine » Dovetails

A Quick Tip for Half-blind Dovetails

Megan Fitzpatrick — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:26:18 +0000

It’s Sunday, and I’m at work to process lumber so that I can get started on a project that involves 44 half-blind dovetails for the October issue of the magazine. And it’s possible that on Saturday night I had one-too many adult libations (or I perhaps just didn’t sleep long enough…or both); I’m feeling a … Read more »

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Choose Dovetails, But Choose Wisely

Glen D. Huey — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:00:09 +0000

I spend hours looking at photos of furniture. If I don’t have my nose buried in books, I gaze upon photos sent to me by other woodworkers. In a flickr set sent to me by Mark Firley (thanks, Mark), I stopped on a bow-front chest photo. (I think Mark was on a dovetail expedition that … Read more »

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What is it With Southern Joinery?

Glen D. Huey — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:38:39 +0000

Since Bob Lang and I returned from our scouting trip for potential book projects at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, I have had the opportunity to build a few southern projects. A couple or projects came from our book “Furniture in the Southern Style” and the project on which I’m working now was … Read more »

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Dovetails with Help from the Drill Press

Christopher Schwarz — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 22:16:29 +0000

When I make a lot of half-blind dovetails, I’ll use a drill press to help bore out the waste between the pins. The video below shows how I do. Some caveats to consider before you try to cram your boot between my buttocks via a comment below: 1. Ya, I use machines at times to … Read more »

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French Dovetails or Sliding Dovetails

Glen D. Huey — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:03:24 +0000

Before I jump onto my soapbox to spout off, I’ll share a bit more about drawers for my upcoming workbench. I plan to have two stacks, each with five drawers. Sizes range from a small 2-3/16″-deep drawer to the deepest, bottom drawer at 3-3/8″ deep. My SketchUp drawing shows an exploded drawer, including how the … Read more »

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Compound Dovetails

Article Index — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:41:52 +0000

Discover how to join oblique sides with through-dovetails.By Tom Calisto Pages 32-35As an avid sailor and full-time furniture maker, I’ve always wanted to make a proper sea chest replete with rope beckets and a compass rose inlay. The compound-angle dovetails are the only tricky aspect of the sea chest so I designed this little handled tote to practice oblique dovetails. This tote tray is useful around the house and fun to build. The angles of the oblique dovetails offer a challenge.Web Site: Visit the author’s web site to see more of his work. Pattern: Download a full-size PDF pattern for the tray divider/handle: Tote_Handle Web Site: Here's a good compound angle calculator. In Our Store: Warm up for compound-angle dovetails with a simpler version of a dovetailed tool tote that has simple angled ends. Read more »

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Use Dividers for Quick & Easy Dovetail Layout – No Measuring

Megan Fitzpatrick — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 03:33:25 +0000

I’m in the midst of making a place to put my woodworking stuff, a la Christopher Schwarz’s “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” The picture at left shows my dire need for just such a receptacle. (And it perhaps also shows a need to cull my collection.) It’s the same chest build Chris is teaching to a … Read more »

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On Symmetry and Screwing Up

Christopher Schwarz — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 01:43:56 +0000

In the world of design, you read a lot about the acceptance or rejection of symmetry. Wait, wait. Don’t go away. This blog entry, by the way, has to do with Audrey Hepburn’s gorgeous face. You can reject symmetry in design based on the fact that human beings are decidedly not symmetrical. A perfectly symmetrical … Read more »

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Installing a Drawer Stretcher

Matthew Teague — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 15:33:12 +0000

I’ve been working on a cherry and bird’s-eye maple entry table for the October 2012 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, and as I was installing the upper drawer stretcher I remembered how puzzled I was when faced with cutting my first one. It’s just a single dovetail cut on the end of the stretcher that … Read more »

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Tapered Sliding Dovetails by Router

Matthew Teague — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 19:30:23 +0000

For the James Krenov-style hanging cabinet I built out of cherry for the April 2012 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine I used tapered sliding dovetails to join the case. For a step-by-step slideshow of how to use a router to cut these joints, click on the video player below: – Matthew Teague

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