Comments on: Secret Dovetails for the Rest of Us

By: zdillinger

zdillinger — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:51:47 +0000

Yup, either way is fine. I prefer to over-cut the tails, it makes no difference if on the inside of casework or a presentation box since the presentation box will be lined. Overcuts are period-correct and make this joint much easier to execute with a minimum of chiseling.

By: Pkorman1

Pkorman1 — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 13:12:08 +0000

Great post and very timely. I was just ready to embark on learning how to cut this joint after watching a Japanese woodworker on Youtube make a chest with the same. The part I needed was the 1/3 rule for the rabbet. My only concern is that you seem to have given up showing end grain for saw kerf over cuts on the inside of the box. I know that this is period correct for 18th c. but i’ll have to opt to over cut a little in the long edge miter (staying away from the knife edge) and do a little more chisel work in the pins and tails.

By: David Weaver

David Weaver — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:44:17 +0000

Excellent, a discussion that needs to be had in a bad way. Who is it we’re showing endgrain to, anyway, and do they really want to see it? It’s a love affair with amateur woodworkers to want to show off routine underparts, but a stride in good design to learn to hide them.

Showing endgrain on purpose gets in the way of things that *really* make a design look nice, like mouldings and other details.

By: zdillinger

zdillinger — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:54:21 +0000

18th century makers took great pains to hide their end grain. It wasn’t fashionable at the time. Since I try to build pieces that look like original 18th c. pieces, I hide my end grain.

But, I do think that dovetails are oversold as “the sign” of fine furniture. They are just a joint, one excellent way to put two pieces of wood together. But they are far from being the only indicator of good work. There is so much more.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 06:46:21 +0000

Great narrative on making a blind mitered dovetail! However, it sounds like you had a traumatic experience with end grain at some time in your past… Maybe it was a butcherblock table that was ALL end grain? Personally, I love the contrast between end grain and face grain, especially in dovetails, fingerjoints, through tenons and wedges in Greene & Greene scarf joints. End grain is like “the rest of the story…” Without end grain, where would it all end?

By: zdillinger

zdillinger — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:36:09 +0000

Nope, let the end grain die off. I hope to be single-handedly responsible for the annihilation of the scourge of EEG.

By: zdillinger

zdillinger — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:33:56 +0000

Thanks Tom. I hope this helps some folks out of a jam.

By: Barquester

Barquester — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:06:54 +0000

If you don’t scroll through the pictures you won’t see the pretty beaver.
Here I am working my butt off to learn dovetails and show off some end grain and you come along with this! We just might need federal legislation to save endangered end grain.

By: wasmithee

wasmithee — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 02:44:01 +0000

Especially those with a meth habit…
http://i.imgur.com/QzVOS.jpg

By: TomHolloway

TomHolloway — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 00:59:59 +0000

What about us meth addicts?!
Seriously though, this is an excellent essay, Zach. Thanks for helping us deal with approximately one third of the surfaces on any 3-dimensional piece of wood: end grain.