NO.

19
NOTES FROM THE SHOP
~~~----------~~

$2.50

Sawdust
Number Nineteen

January, 1982

EdiIO<
Donald B. Peschke
Art Otrector
Ted Kralicek

_I

Ed.,or

Steve Krohmer

G<aphlc D9$ogner
Marcl. Simmons

Subscr.ption Manager
Sandy J. !!<Ium
SUb$CnplionAssislanlS
Christel Bork

Conna Prins
AdminiStratlV8 Assistants
Connje L. Lowe

Cheryl Scott
Conlribulitlg Edi'O<
Adolph E. Peschke

ABOrT THIS ISSUE. Two yea,, ago we de-

voted an entire issue of \\'uodS)lith to mor..

lise and tenon joinery. At the time I was
somewhat hesitant to have only one sub-

ject in an issue, BUL now we're 8L iL again.

This time with dovetails.
Irealize that a lot of woodworkers tend
LOavoid this joint. I think that's because
dovetail joinery also has that im"g~ of being reserved for only an elite g.oup or
master craftsmen,
I understand thaI f&eling. But I also
know the feelinj( of being in the shop, all
alone, \\ orking quietly with hand tools.

and euuing " joint that'. a bit of a chalk;nge. True. it takes concentration. but it
must be relaxed concentration. Being
thoroughlv involved in your work, yet
calm and rel ..,,,,1 ... and having' a bundle
of run rioin$!il. rt."$,,,,warding work.

COFFEe TABLE.M)' faverite project in

this issue is the Contemporary Coffee
Table. It looks so simple. Just a top, two
sides, and thrw drawers. But simple? No.
In fact. it requires a certain measure of
COU...age to undertake this projCCL

I "ish I could Lake credit for designing

and building it. but I can't. Ted Kralicek
(our An Director) is the one who had the
patience and the guts required LOCUt aU
those dovetails.
Ted might get mad at me for what I'm
about to say. but ... before building this
table, Ted made only three practice runss a t
CUlling dovetails, The Ii",t two were complete disasters. By the third try he was
gelting prett) good so be decided to go for
broke on this table,
The best part of lhi$ sory is the tool~ he
used. We were down at a local store that
sells woodworking tools. The store man-

agel' handed us. mangled Japanese dovetail saw (half the teeth were missing). The
saw had been purchased and mangled by
an irate customer who proclaimed. "The
darn Lhing doesn't work. "
Ted used the saw on his third pra Ni ce
run, and produced 8 set of perfectly
matched dovetails, lf'there's a lesson here.
Iguess it's thaL if you want to do something
all you have to do is do it
'll16LlSJt~R'S~"T;\Tt~)'r.;~,.
Ever~fyear in
the January issue we're required b)' the
Post Offi"" to run the statement shown
below. Although IL'J'nOt to think ofll'ml(/
sl1Iith in terms of the number of people
subscribing. it', fun to see the growth.
\\Tc'v. almost tripled our circulation in
the past year. But more important. we've
doubled the number of pages in each iss ue.
And I'd Uketo think that we've made some
friends along the way.
SEW .A(t:S. Part of the growth at u~.
8'Jl

itA includes a few new faces,

Prins has joined Ill! to help with openi

the mail and gelLing everyone's subscriptions entered in our computer.
ChelJ'l Scott has taken on the challenge
of keeping the computer in line. Cheryl will
also be helping out \\ith a IOLof the administrative functions She's also volunteered
to correct my .peUing.
L\,I)EX OF CO;O."TXl'S
I'd like to thank
Chris Kozakiewicz for making possible the
Index of Contents in this issue. Chris (one
of our subscribers in New Jersey) took it
upon herself to get this project started.
8IXI).~R.\\re've had numerous requesu s
for 8 three-ring binder to hold all the back
issues of lVood"",ilil. It's finaUy here! See
the special offer on tho bad page.
~&XT)tAILISC, March. 19l!2.

STATE~INT OF OWz.IRSBlP. MAKAGE~lENT AND CIRCULATION

l~~

I "..

1.(

~.
~.

WOODSMITH (ISSN 016+4114) Is published

bimonthly (January. March. May. July. Seplamber. NoYlilTlber) by Woodsmilh Publishing

Co.. 2200 Grand Ave. Des MOInes.lawaS03l2.

WOODSMITli Is a ,eg,~ered lIademaf1< 01 the
WoodsmiUl Publish ng Co.
Copyright t982 by Woodsmllh Publishing Co.
A. Rights Reserved
Subscrlptlons:

Ono yes, (6 ISSUes) $10. Two

yos's (12 Issues) S18. Slnglo copy price,S2.50

(Canada and Foreign: add $2 per year.)

Change or Address: Pleasebe SUI. 10 InoluOO

both your old and new address and a ma,ltng

label Irom a recenllsstJe.
Poslmasl&r: Send change of address nonce,
Form 3579. to Woodsmith PubUshlng Co.. 2200

Grand Avo.. Des Moines, Iowa 50312.

b)'!9 C,S,(\ ~.;_<;)

r4-.

PobIlcalkllc \\'t.<dqQll. I. ~
~JJI,~.a114, :L ~
III t'llwr ~I'
ap, 1!1il .l r~.,
aa. No of ~ pcab!:chtd a:m:aDy:. G~mJ. *b. AfIIRIalllOlwripd<1IIpnn.- tlo.tll). CompI~ addno. (I( kDov.-n (>ftIff II
ItI)t~

A...... o.M(,IitWot.,lrol ...C'UUI)\J'),l",1

503(l9

5, ("~J

rm;ihnc*","-u'I.h.. ~~or

JlKlf'nU

puWulltn: J(ll~CrodA'i't-., 0.:. M!I'.........lo.....~19 S. f.'WIJIA~ IIndlUlSJ*"".Mn... ,rpublUh- .&01'.

and ~
~
l~
lJonIld8.- ~'".
Itt: Grud A'll""o..~),tMII. t~ G(OO!I, 4Itor. ~
.... ~).
MIItVoJUICdi~ lllCQ'l 1 D1mer Dc.nald B. YI...-hb. Iii!! Gf1IfIII A'Cr fliM llut.llt't., til". !o'13O!l." 1\III>'trI' ~.'n.
-.n~.:IId oclwr tI:!'nnV)' boId.....flI ~
I p.-rn1It or __ ut local aoou:Il rrtMnd&"
S r0 ,,'Ply' 1(1F:llWnt lind lIIlutr ot~
~ol'llaltbrt.hl!'

11I(II'T"'~(/(~ ~.

f"

Arttul

A\ tnjII' noA. (O"'I~

....... r..
1l1

I s.let tknuJtb ~.NJ CWrTlor". ~

'n'!'.J!S,on- ~
t'GII!IU1' uLr10
.,!,_ lIail :o4lt.cnplKlu.
__
(0 Toul JIAI.d ~
<SUm oliO-Blind Ij821
l) ~"- _lnbllCJoo by r..o. QUft'r cr bt:r till....
C'MIp!tmtDtM)', aM

~.Ilfj

31,S!(

M
tl.6:'i

~.

t.o tlhlllrl: ~t.

(Sc,pl. 3), 19t5J.

.or!

29,1"A

!t:!1

21,1f1~

*"

,s... ,,(

aap_

PQWWK<4 tI"...",.,q

!t.9!3

oc.t.r trw (0lIl"

E ~
d..t.nbuUun ISum J C &Jat D.

P ('".OPW
~of<I
L ~
u......1\ 0\ t'f'. ~nl.c'd, ~1ocI Idt('f" pnllli",
: Jl.tocam. I'ronI nf1" Ig('M.If
G. T"'"
E. ,., .... :t .......""'" '" _ ...... ~ .. A..
11 I m1i(J ,hat u- fW#I1IIIIf'I'IU"JNIIJt> by ItIt abov-. atf'aII'ftd..UId ~I':.~'

DO.

r .ttI""",_:.Io"

r"~~

~t.:~
A.lot1WfM).C'OJ*"SII'tnfN'''''t
8, PaidctnIl .....

.!.-'I:e

:$I,N
1,(122

20

..

I~
".t.r.
u.-Jd B.. p~~.f'llNl,h...,..

"'.'"

WOODSMITII

T_i~s & Technig_ue_s__

__

CUSTOM MADE DOWElS

During the process of making reproductions 0( turn-of-the-century fretworks,

I discovered I needed several 14' white oak
dowel" for spindles, After trying several
methods to make my own 'custom made'
dowels (without much SUCt'E!SS), I finally
eame up with the following set-up using my
router and electric drill.
As shown in the diagram, the basic setup consists 0( three blocks auached to a
fence, which in turn is bolted to the base of
a portable router. Before gluing the blocks
to the fence. I drilled a iiI, hole in one
block. IIIId V," holel<in the other two.

it foorkft.
w.found liral 1M tighler the do,,,e! fits
j"to the (lutllUid!toles ~flht'ICUlttwo b/<Jck.,
Illf INtIKr fi"i." I/0" '/I get. A "1/810ppi.l6s.
he", will calise all WI"""" d()ll'el t a .~orl 01
sp;yol tlfretl. The Bize oltllcfillis/Lfd dowel
can be adjusted by )II""ill9 1/.. fenc, }tll
ea.y w(l1I to ell",g <Iv.t to all crud jit i.to
sighl through lj,t III/eed ('Ii.) bote

1/1

th

y,,,. sql~nre blank

i"to lilt

1/,..'"

insert

rtlltud

/w/f of Ihe JiTilI block. /I doesn'! fit. Theil

II.. fried ill$erlillg I},~blank into tnc

'I,"

hoi. D.' 1M drill

FMllk J. Rome
tliallapa<. New J'ork

tn

.lirst block Illld ad,,,st the fence so the b,t

Ii"es up ,rill, th. edlle 01 th 1101<j" th_
(/lIlfeed (.eool/d) bl<JCk.
iJ'le prob/~,), ti"t hod il'(t.~
truin!!,o

bottom of the table tOil for the trammel

point to pivot. Nextl adjusted the distance
between the trammel point and the router
bit "" that it would cut a 36" diameter
circle. The table topi~ then cut b~'
lowering
the hit in V.u'" increments for each im...s,

W(JS rttllnillg
Although
Ute1'CIrus- saTIre ,csw'laltCf'. u. orked. TI,e
four Nln,.,. ,...,. lI'(In! down as tht bla Ilk

ELLIPSE LAYOUT

When I cut an ellipse. I use a steel square

to determine how to draw the ellipse to lit
the Ilni~h dimensions I need.
The width of Ihe ellipse I need, mnrked
All, is laid out on on~ leg of a steel square,
IlC

Il-aS PI(8ltcd into Ill" Itole. ~Vt'alSt, ",(Ifd

Hard Maple lor lhe j.g to help eliminafe
1(0001' <m I}~biOI'''. -

S.K.

+
-I

AS

DRIH PRESS TABLE SUPPORT

OOU1..

'loSE

The infeed block (with the 'Is." hole) is

glued 1W' from the end of the fence. The
outfeed block (14" hole) is glued v,,' from
the first block. These two blocks support
the square blanks as they pass by the I'r
straight router bit. The third block (also
with '. Vo" hole) supports the end of the
dowel to prevent whipping.
To auach the fence to the base of the
I'OUt4>l', I drilled one hole in the Ceneethe
exact size of a No. 1().32, 114' pan head
bolt. The other hole was drilled twice, forming a slot 10 allow for fine adjusunents,
To make the dowels, I cut a "blank" ",.'
square. The end of the blank is pointed to
help guide it into tbe outfeed hole. The
blank is then chucked in 8 portable drill and
o/m.ly advanced past the router bit.
I usually make the dowels a little oversized and sand them to their finish size.

Llogd R. Dickil,soll
Glellda/e. Cali/o.,../lia

Atfirst, I

'('03 a little

s/o:l'ptical aoolLt Mr.

Dicki,(Soll's dou,<,l-",.ki>lg jig, b,,1 w~d~rided 10 build it lI"d try it mil ill Ult shop.
After-tryillg tll.jig,1 WQsamazed Itaw ,,,,II
WOODSMITH

I n our cabinet shop, we usc a counterweight 0" our 'hill I)''''_' to take the strain
olf ,,.isinj( and lowering the table. An old
window weight (II cylindrical chunk oftead)
acts as 8 counter-weight to SUPI)()rt. the
table when we adjll>1.the height. And it
doesn'r cost $75 like some models do.
\\.e attach " wire 10 an old window
weilthtlmd slip it down the hollow support
shaft art he drill press. The wire i. then run
through a window weight pulley and connected 10 the table. The puUc~'is mounted
to a small piece of wood which rests on the
101' of the hollow column and is positioned
so the weight hangs free in the column.
The wire runs down the front of the support column and is bolted to the table near
the column.
Different si,.e weights arc available SO
you can size them to the weight "f the
table. lVith the proper amount of weight,
Iheheighlofthetablecanbeadjusted\\~th
a touch of lh~ fingers.
Rqy St1ll)l'i

Ray'. Cabiue: Shop

A IIk''''II. I ott'"
CUTTING CIRCULAR TABLE TOPS

Isolved the problem of CUlling a circular

t"ble top out of a square blank of glued-up
lumber by u><inga router and a trammel
IlOintattachment.
1 purchased two 36"long steel rods fi'(lm
~ local hardwal~ SIOl~ to replace the rods
that came with the tr..mmel point attach
ment kit. Theil'''' inserted belween the
trammel point and the router.
Then I drilled a hole in the center of the

1>1:.-

J
8

A.

+ AC

LlNGfH
Of STlING

and the length or the ellipse (BC) i. then

laid out as shown.
The distance between the two focal
points is found by measuring the distance
between points A and C. To find the length
orthe sl,ing. add the distance between AC
and Be.
O. C CaylsolL

Scottsdale, .4>1zo>lO

1----,------------1
SENO IN YOUR 10EAS

Wo In",lo you to share you, woodwor1<ing bps

and I&cllniques Wllh othe< .eaders of Wood
smith. We will pay a mln;mum 0' 5510' a 11f).and
$10 (11' more tor a Spo:!ClSI
technique_ All material
submitted becomes the plopeny of Woo<I$mlth
Publishing Co UPCII1 paymenl. you giVe Wood
smith the right to use the malarial In any manner
lOr a.1ong a. we wish.

K your idoa invofves drawing 0' pl\Qto 10

8l<pIain II. do YOU' best and. if necessary. we'"
make a new drawing. or build the prOjeet 01 log
and pl\Qlog!Sphd. (Anydrawlfl9$ Of phoUtssuI>-

mitted cannol be ,olumed.)

Send YOU'Ideas 10:Woodsmllh. Tips & Tect>o;quos. 2200 Grand Ave .. Oes Moines. Iowa
60312

Dovetails: The Tools

THE RIGHT TOOLS MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE
You reaUy can't talk about dovetaila (or comfortable environment make all the
even begin 10 eui them) without getting' difference in the world.
over tWO obstacles: fear and joy. The first
A PLACf10 WORK
obstacle (f"ar) raises its ugly head jusl
when you've taken saw and chisel in hand. Although dovetails can be CUI almost
It's the moment of truth. And now you anywhere. it's nice to '01 up a litlle work
actually have to cut this joint that's been a area - a place where the work goes
hallmarkofexcellence for centuries ... no smoothly. In our shop r tend to work bes;
small undertaking.
on the corner of our large workbench. The
Then after cutting one. or two. or 0 bench is hea\'y and solid so I don't have to
dozen dovetails, it gets in your blood. worry about things jiggling around.
There's the thrill of feeling the ,-----------------------.,
joint go together, of seeing the
A
B
I
near perfection of every joint

line. of knowing every saw cut

= r I
was made right on the money,
and knowing that. at last. you
=
have joined the ranks of the
r'T"TT'-r-:::';:;:;:;;:;;;;:;::;::;;---',
master craftsmen.
():If'' t
Don't let it get to your head. I
cl, : :: : : : : : : : : : ' : : : : : : : I
""
[:J
think the real satisfaction in
cutting dovetails is the actual
E~.J
V
~
doing- not the result. Yes,it's
/1/1
/,
true iharadovetail ts abeaunful
H~:
_.
'~:;~~~G~
joint. a mark of craftsmanship.
=" ,/l.J
And indeed, it is a strong Joint
- nice for drawers and special
applications of case work.
But the thing I like most
about dovetails is tbe actual
cutting. So many things in our
lives are done at breakneck
... .... "
speed. Do it. Get it done. And
L
~.
then move on to the next task.
,-,;;;;i!lIl!~
Not so with dovetails. This is
handwork, done the old-fashionedway. It
On this workbench I have set up three
takes concentration. Yet you must be calm aids that help when cutting dovetails.
and relaxed to get the job done. It's not a First there's a woodworker'. vice (ours
task 10 be undertaken after a hectic day at happens to be a Rectn'd vice, purchased
work. It should be done when there's lime. from Woodcraft Supply catalog, address
HopefuUya quiet time when you can get below). Any vice will work as long as it
absorbed in your work. That's wood- holds the board in a vertical position.
working at its tinest.
Second. I attached an adjustable light to
Granted there are ways to speed up the the bench. The one I use Will! purchased at
process. Many of the initial cuts can be an art supply store. but any kind of lamp
made on a table saw or band saw. But that moves where you want it will work.
why? Dovetails, when done with eoneen- (Oneofthose mechanic'slights with" hook
tration and thought, produce more than a on the end would be nice.)
woodworkingjoinl. The result is personal
One other thing that helps is to clamp a
satisfaction.
small piece ofA(~(J"ileto the workbench.
I almost forgot the third obstacle: the T clamped it on with the rough (back)side
tendency to become long-winded.
up to protect the bench during the
romantic, and almost. poetic about chiseling phase and also to provide some
dovetails. So. maybe I ought to comeback friction to keep the boards in place.
downto earth and get on with the details or
LAYINGOUT AND MARKINGTOOLS
cutting a dovetail joint.
Since I've embraced this rather roman- Next. come the tools. There are acWall)'
tic (translated, that means slow)approach two sets ortools used in makingdovetails.
to cutting dovetails. I'd like to mention The first group is used to layout and mark
some of the tools used to undertake Ihis the cuts. Thesccond group is used to do the
task. Indeed, the proper tools and a actual culting and fitting.

II.

1b layout the cuts for 3 dO\'etail you'lI

need fivetools: an adjustable bevel gauge,
a small t,y square. a steel ruler. a marking
gauge. and a scribe or a sharp pencil.
$l.lUtNGBEVEL. Sliding bevels (Xin Fig.
I.)are available at almost every hardware
store. The 'ann' can be adjusted to any
angle and tightened in place with a thumb
screw. The sliding bevel is used to make
the initial marks for the dovelail .
TRY SQl.'ARE. Most of us have a 6' or 8"
try square in the shop, (F in
I)
Fig. 1.). It's also nit. (but not
'"
necessarv) to have a smaller 3"
D try square to mark the straightline cuts on the end and face of
D the boards.
STEEl. RUI.ER. A good 12"
'10
steel
ruler
is a lmo s t
indispensablein any woodworkF
ingshop. (C in Fig. 1). It's milch
easier (and uguaHymilch more
accurate) to work with a steel
ruler than fumbUngwith a tape
or a wooden folding rule.
0
~I.ARKL"C
CAI.!CE. On page 12
in this issue we've shown the
plans for a marking gauge, (0 in
rig. 1). We used this one to
mark aUof the base lines for the
dovetails in this issue. If you

~Uya marking gauge. the point

.
should be reshaped as men, tioned on page 12.
SCRJJI vs, Pl'CIL. The last
item you need is up to some debate. The
traditional toolused to mark the cut lines is
a sbarp-pointed scribe. which is just a
lightweight version ofan awl. (J in rig. I).
I prefer a sharp No.3 pencil. Thd uses a
fine-point felt-tip pen.
Among traditional woodworkers the
mere mention of using a pencil or a pen is
enough to make them shiver with disgust.
A scribe, they would say, is the only
acceptable tool for marking.
If you use a scribe. it should be
sharpened to a long slender point to mark
(scratch) a fine, accurate line. or course,
this line is almost impossible to see. so it
may help to sprinkle some pencil-leaddust.
(for light-colored woods) or white chaulk
(for dark woods)in the scratch line.
But when you get down to it, the line is
only there as a guide for cutting. If T can't
see it. it doesn't do muchgood. So. I prefer
to use a .Iwrp No. 3-1.ad pencil
Most pencils have a rather soft No.2
lead that'S nice for writing. 'rhe No.8 (or
even a No.4) leadpencil marks a line. crisp
line that's much easier to see than the

==~~

~:r:~:::::::=====::::::, ~

=-.~. .~'

"1

WOODSMITH

serateb line of a scribe. Infact these harder

pencil leads almost scratch the wood jmt
as a scribe does. yelthe hard lead leaves a
visible Une.
The key thing is that the pencil is sharp.
Most pencil sharpener. go only so far.
After sharpening to get the point. I hone
the point on a piece of sena teh paper (rubbing and twirling to sharpen the point).
'ted prefers to use a line-point felt.-tip
pen. (Here's where tbe traditionalists
scream. "nla..<phemy''') There's no doubt
that you can see the line when it'. marked
with a felt-Up pen. And since Ted's
dovetails are mud> better than mine. he
must be doing something right. ('fed also
use' a Japanese saw and chisel to cut
dovetails, and likens the felt-tip pen to the
traditional Japanese practice of using A
quiU and ink to mark their cuts.)
DOVETAIL SAWS

After you've layed out and marked the

dovetail, you need onl~' two tools to cut
them: a saw and a chisel, The choice of the
type of saw and chisel is, once again,
fraught with debate. But what it boils
down to is a matter of personal preference.
DOVETAIl. SAwS. There areseveral types
of saws designed for cutting dovetails.
Although they differ in appearance, they
do (or should) have a few things in

common,
t'irst, a high number of teeth per inehusually these saws have 16 to 21 teeth per
ineh ( the more the better). Second. a fine
or narrow set to the teeth. The finer the
set. the less chance of skipping or hopping
as the Initial cut is made. Third, the saw
blade itself is made of lilin-puge steel.
This allows for a narrow kerf (if the weth
are set properly). And fourth. since the
blade is thin, these saws have a 'back' of
thicker metal to keep the blade rigid
(hence the name, back saw).
With these things in common. the only
real dill'erence between one dovetail saw
and another is the handJe. A Tyz(1ck dovetail ..aw, for example. has a normal saw
handle grip. The Gent's saw (presumably
for gentlemen) has a turned handle (much
like a chisel) that extends straight back
from the saw's 'back,' And finally, there's
the Japanese dovetail saw with a long
handle extending at a slight downward
angle from the saw's back (surprisingly
similar to the Cent's ssw.)
T\'ZoACK DO\ETAII. SAW. So, what saw d~
you use? My favorite saw for cutting
dovetails is the 'llI:ad< dovetail sa w, (A ill
Fig. I). The blade of this saw is only about
O.21"lhick, it comes with a very fine seton
the teeth (the way it's supposed to be).
there are 21 teeth per inch, and [ust plain
does a nice job.
Besides the fact that it cuts with ease,
makes an super-fine kerf. and has an easy
sure grip ... besides all that, it's quite a
WOOOSMITH

handsome saw. The solid brass back and

nicely proportioned handle make it a
treasured addition to any tool collection.
(Available from LekhluOlU. Pine Tool
Shop, and \VoodCI'IJjlOatalogs.)
JAPANESI:: 1)()"f,'TAlL SAW. 'led has a yen
for the Japanese dovetail saw (called a
dozuki), (L in Fig. I). The one we. have was
purchased at a local store, but several
catalogs are now carrying Japanese saw"
(the best is the WOQdli1lt Catalog.)
These Japanese saws are made of "cry
thin steel (ours is 0.12" thick. Orabout the
thickness of 2 pages of IVoodsmith!). The
teeth are long and narrow (about 24 teeth
per inch). The major difference is that all
Japanese saws cut on the pull stroke (the
teetb point toward the handlel, as opposed
to the push stroke on all Wpstern saws.
This actually makes a lot of sense. M the
saw is making the CUt, pressure on the
blade pulls it taught. This allows the steel
for the blade to be very thin (for a very
narrow kerf),

other factor that may influenee the

decision of which chisel to use. Most bench
chisels (including paring chisels and butt
chisels) have beveled edges. (This refers to
the bevel aIongthe length of the 'back: not
the beveled cutting edge.) This beveled
edge makes it much easier to chop out the
waste in the angled corners of Lbo. dovetail.

WESTE.", liNCH
(Mist'

JAPAHm
DOVETAil CHISEL

Also, seme chisels are thinner than

others, so it's easier to gel the chisel where

you "rant it. For example, we have a set of
Ulmia paring chisels which are somewhat
thin and nice for cutting dovetails.
'tedlikestow;ethespeciaiJapanesedo"
..
tail chisels. These have steeply beveled
backs specifically designed for cutting dovetails. Also, the steel used for these chisels
JAPANlSE DOVETAil SAW (PlIll)
is excellent (see \Voodline Catalog).
One last point: 1 tend to like shert ehisels
(like butt chisels) because 1 hold the chisel
by the blade (not the handle) to position it
to chop out the waste. Short chisels don't
'wag' around .. s much, making them easier
to put them ..xaetly where I wall! them.
When it get.s down to it, it'. not what the
If you want to Lry out tbe Japanese, [ chisel looks like, it'. the ,er.l tip, the
might oll'er one note of caution. This is a cutting edge, that does the work. Above
very delicate saw to be used with a very all, the chisels must be sharp. All of the
light touch. Let the saw do the work. don't chisel work on dovetails is done with the
foree it. Many Japanese saws wind up with chisel SCt across the grain and chopping
straight down. The (mill way to do this is
bent and mangled teeth because they're
\\~th a sharp chisel.
man-handled beyond their limits.
Ct:J,TS SAW.M for the Cent's saw: I'm
llAl'~l1:tOJt ~'AI..I:T. For a long time I
not particularly
fond of these saws
used a wooden mallet to drive the chisel
(although they're probably the cheapest
into the wood. It seemed only proper. But
and most available of the bunch), (E in Fig. the turned type of mallet (the kind wood
carvers use) hag 3 tendency to roll oll'the
I). However. after trying out the Japnnese
bench and find its way to one of my toes.
saw. Idid SOmeexperimenting on a Gent'.
Recently, I've come to use the SIIlIlicy
saw. I removed the blade from the 'back',
flipped it around (so the teeth pointed No-Mar hammer, (H in Fig. 1). This is a
toward the handle). Then I pressed the light-weight hammer (14 oz.), yet has
teeth together in " machinist~ vice to enough heft to drive the chisel as far as 1
1'OO10Ve
most of the set. There was. in my want it to go. It's made of some kind of
opinion, a dramalic improvement in the black plastic material and the head is filled
with lead pellets and oil. Plastic or not, it's
saw's action.
a nice hammer and quite nice for pounding
SELECTION OF CHISELS
thcjoint together during the final lilting (it
The only other tools you need is a good set
won't dent or mar the wood).
of sharp chisels, and the mallet or hammer
SOL'RCP..s: If you can't find some of the
to go with them. And here the selection tools listed above at a local store, you may
process is much easier. Any chisel that can
want to send for the following catalogs:
Til. Fine Tool Shop (Catalog $6), 20
be struck with a hammer or mallet will get
the job done. (Gorretl Wade.Fin~ Tool Backus Ave., Danbury CT 06810. GaM'eti
Slwp, and Woodcrojl Supply all have a Wade (Catalog S3), 161 Avenue of the
Americas, New York NY lOOI3_I--eichtlfl19
good selection of chisels.)
\Ve hay. six or seven sets of chisels
(Catalog SI), 4944 Commerce Parkway.
around the shop. I generally choose the
Cleveland OH 44128. Wood<'I'OjlSupply
(Cat.;llog $2.50), 313 Montvale Ave., WIr
ones that are closest to me at the time burn MA 0lS88. Woodline (Catalog $1.50),
provided, that is, they are sharp.
However, in
fairness, there is one 1713 Clement Ave .. Alameda CA 94501.

an

Dovetail JoinerY __
AN OVERVIEW OF HOW TO LAY OUT THE CUTS
Once you've collected the tools to do the
job, it's time to start laying OUIthe cuts.
There are three basic variations on the
dov~tailjoint: througb dovetail. half-blind,
and mitered (or fullblind).
Although much of the process is very
similar fur all three variauons, we're limit...
in)! thi~ article to Ihrough dovetails. Half
blind dovet.ails (which are used mainly in
drawer construction) will be covered in the
next issue. And mitered dovetailfl WOIl'tbe
covered at 1111 becausetbey bave extremely
limited application (and they're really kind
of a waste of time).
THROUGH UOVETAU.s. The method des...
eribed here for cutting through dovetails
may not be the best. It's certainly not the
fastest. But it is satisfying' work .. done
,,~th hand tools.
A through don "tail joint consists of two
halves: the pin> and the tails. The worst
parlabout laying out a dovetait is gcttinl!"
clear picture in your mind of what these
two halves look like and how they fit
together. This just takes a little getting
used to.
When viewed from the faee sides of Ihe
boards, the pius Ofthe dovetail (t he board
on the right in the photo) look jusllike the
rectangular pins of. box joint. The toils
(the board on the left in the photo) look like
a dove's tail (hence the name of the joint).
Just to keep you on your toes. when
viewed from the ends of the boards the
pins look like tails. and the tails look like
pins. But this confusion will clear up aner
you've cut one or two dovetail joints.
DIRECTION OF STRENGTH

Now the question arises: Which board get.

the pins, and which board gets lhe t.aiL.?
And does it make any difference? Althougb
8 dovetail is eommonly considered 3. very
<("rongjoint. it is only strong in one direction. (Here I mean the mechanical or
interlocking strength oflhe joint. Once it',
glued up it's nearly impossible to gel apart
in any direction.)
The direction of strength 1$ toward the
pins. To illustrate, refer to the drawing at
right, Dovetails are normally used to join
four boards a\ right angle. to form a box. If
this joinl were on a drawer, for example,
the pins would be cut on the drawer front
where the mechanical strength of the
joint holds the drawer together tIS it's
pulled open. If the joint were on a wall
hung cabinet t.he pins would be cut on the
bottom which is the direction of the weight
of the contents.
However, tbe direction of mechanical

THE FIRST THREE STEPS

strength of the joint may n(lt be the primary consideration. If the box is meant to
support weight from the outside (as with
the Shaker Step Stool in this issue). the
direction of pressure (or weight) is more
important. This has to do with the size and
placement of the tails. The tails. in this
ease must be "ide enough to support the
"eight (downward pressure) on the face of
the board, and positioned so they take the
brunt of the weight..

DflilECnOf\l

Qf VlEtGMT
I

In some ca.se s both direction of strength

and direction of pressure must be considered - as with tbe eoffee table in this
issue. The pins are on the legs to keep them
from splaying out, which works out nicely
because the tails must be on the top to
"UPPO'1 the weight.

\~'hat's the first step in laying OUta dovetail? At this point I'm supposed to launch
into a discussion about pins and tails, and
angles, and such. But the firsl step (indeed, the first lhre<>steps) have nothing to
do with pins. roils, or angles.
t. TRl'I~G THB BOARD$.The first (and
often neglectedl step L, to true up the
boards you'll be working with. I rip the
boards to width, makinll sure both edges
are ripped square, (The edges can be
smoothed on ajoint.,r or with a hand plane,
but 1usually wait until after the dovetails
are cut for the 6nal smoothing.)
Next, both faces of the boards should be
planed or sanded to remove any defects
(such as "ripples' leit b~'
a surface planer).
or to remove any 'cup' or twist in the
boards. Also, make sure the thickne. ...s
(particularly at the ends of lhe boards) is
equal from one ooge to the other.
In other words. the boards should be flat
and smooth - to the point that all they
need is little finish sanding. This will
ensure things don't get goofed up durin!!:
the layout phase.
2.('I.IT1'OLeNGTIf. Now the boards can be
cut to length. However, the final length of
each board depends in part on step three
(which deals with marking the base line. or
shoulders of the joint). But (or noll', let's
assume the boards are CUtto length tor a
box. The key thing here is to make sure the
ends of the board. are cuI square with the
edges.
If neither the inside or outside dimensions of the box is absolutely critical. then
the boards can be cut to length without
much concern if the actual final dimensions
vary a little.

However, in drawer work, especially

when the drawer mU,,1 fit in R specific
opening, the procedure followed in Step 3
must be taken into consideration first.
Ifall of this is too much, lhe real point of
Step 2 is to make sure the end$ofaIJ boards
are square with the edges.
3. MARK TH!: SIIOt'WERS.The boards art
true, the end, are cut olf square. Now all
that remains is marking the base line (the
shoulders) of the pins and tails. This base
line is actually the bottom of the cut on
both pieces, and in effect dictates the final
dimensions of the box.
The base Unealso dictates the amount of
work you must do during the final cleaning
up stage. Without getting boggoo down in
too much detail, you have three choices.
The base lines can be marked exactly at
\VOOOSMITH

the thid",~< of th, board" hr a tiny smidg~n ""'''' than the thic:kne"., or a tiny
~midgxn less.
Huw the has~
are msrked is important for t wo reasso O'. The base Iirlr.<

w.e.

boanI to .' Old canfu"lOn. I simply

wme .n Ialye teuers ., and "01T near
tIM.>
end of eaeh board "here the dovetail bof _h

to be CUI
Most of Ih,' lime youll be cutting do\'....
d~t~..mul\t.' the final measurements (the tail< on ~"I'ral board, to (orm a box or
final IcnRthl of the board. you're joining dra\\ or, Since th .. is all handwork, the size
togeth,r. If you're building 3 drawer, for of the pm. 011 tail. \\ III undoubtedlyvary
from board to board. It'. best to clearly
exam pi,' thi. ml'""un:ment becomes eritical because lh,' distance between the base mark the two board. tth. corners) that will
line. ActUAllydN~rmme tho final width of go toj(\'th(r.
tht." drawer,
" IIrrll Of I'IN
T'" .. One \\'ay 10 lay
The seeond re_n has to do with the out th,'cut.for adovctaili. to U,.. 8 ruler to
amount clf.. ark you ha"e to go thl'ough 10 divide th~ board for the pms into equal
clean up the finL-hed joinl. Let', say, for spaces. Then th. pin, ,UllI the spaces beexample, that you're goinlt to build a tween Ih"llins (which will be the tails) are
drawer, All (our CUTnCl'l' are joined with laid out at <'<lualwidths. Thi; is ea.;;~'.but
through do, <wis. The pin> are cut on lhe very boring :-;int't'the p.n. and tails are
dra"cr'. (runt and back. and the taib are nearly th. aame .w-.Ih~ dovetails look a.'
.f they are machuK'mad e, as shewn at th..
cut on the 8iolt$.
The ba.<JC procedure (or marking the top in the dra,,,ng.
buf, 1iD<.>5 I' to use tIM.>
thickness of tIM.> II', a mauer o( Ind"1dual preference,
board for th. tail, (In thi. <:ale. the ""'~) to but I pn:f"r th,' P"'8 to be quite narrow
... t the marking gauge. Thus, wben the compared to the lads. A. a Kl'neral rule I
~
hne IA marked on the drawer's from, use a minimum 1- t ratio (or the relationthe distance between the base line and the ship betw ... n the pins t l l and tails (4). For
end o( the board i. equal to tbe lhickness o(

'S.

th~drawer's~i(lt'~.
Mn~t boo"" .a~'
to &>1the marking

g3UJ(e

a little more (ju.t a hair more) than the

thickness
of the ~ccond b,ard (the
drnwcr. 'ide). The re<ult i.lhatlhe
pin:;
will ~tick out jU"t hair beyond the face of
Ihe .ides \\ hen the jOllu i. complete. Thoy
mu,t th"n ",. cut.
or planed down
Ou<h
I like to mark the .bouWen. just a uny
,.mid~"('nI.,.,. Ihan Ihe Ihi~
of the ~
0,.1 board. Th .. m<-an. the end.. Qftbe pin"
are """.~,.,.. olilthtly. 10 clean up the fink.ht-d JOint, it'$ hOW qwte ~}' to ll.'ie a
plane to rloan up the joinl. Aoo planing
ti><-$;01... a tittl .. bIt, lhe plant" get. down to
th(>(>ndgnun on the pin.-;. making it niee
and .mouth. AI80 you'lI be remo\'ing the
.houlder (.crntch) line at the same time.

m,'II

GENERAL LAYOUT

By Ihi. time you'r(>probHblygelting titt!<!

of n'llding ali lhi.<preliminary stuff about
dov(>tail. But I would Uke to make a fe\\
more lIeneral comment. coneerning
layout.
Laymlf OUI the jowt - the ~ize and
p!_ment of the pin" and tails - is "dl
worth lIOml'lune and thoultht. (f you ru"b
mto the (<<tualcutting. you may end up
..ith a j0101 that" cut ~i>eJy, but loob
dum..~).or "f)~ borin..r.
",.. be,l prucetlure ;. to <Ira .. the pins
and uu~ on a piect' of ""per ( or on .orne
scrap" oodl Yuu should mark out all the
detail.ofth, ,woand pl"""ment-and
feel
comfortable \\ ith them - before taking
s3"' in hand.
\lARKI~c:TIff. PJt:CES.Aft"r cutting the
piece. to .,te and truing them up, it is "ery
heillfullo mark the iMide and ouwide (QC('S

MAl'It UNlS ro

OUtslOl Of CHISB

A:;(;I.:"" The 1".1 consideration is lh~

angle un''fl for layout. The general rule is
that a 1:5.ngl,'I. used on .on woods, and a
1:7 or 1:1l" u>\'(1 on hardwood s, The dill'1.''''
enee h.s .om(thing to clo with the strength
o( the WUI)t!.
I p""r.r a 1.5 anlli. on an~' wood ju.t
because I think It Iuok,. me.. , Once again
Ihi., a mal"'r 1)( I"'N'n..J (\,-",all preferenee, A IS angl<'lran,1:11c>I" 7slS. "bile
a I ,angl~ is about t-3 That may seem hke
rut"ickml!'. bul the", I, a definne visual
dill'.",n, -e An)1h.ng I~ than I:.'>make,
the 'n,,,,k' of th~ tails look di'turbingly
weak, while mere than I"~ look,. like a
box jmnt.

To .H th, .Ii.llnl\ bevel at Ihe proper

anl(l., I u<el<"mall pice,' ofplywood. First,
draw a lill" ,\.clly 9<)' to a good clean
.dgo. Along thi~ IiiI('mark" ""mlo" (or 8
or Wh81t'vl'r you ""mt) from th. edge.
Then draw anolher line perpendicular to
the fi.. t on,. and mark a point I' to the left
or riJ(ht. ['(>!Oiti"nIh,' bod)l of the $Uding
bevel along th. edge o( Ihe ply\\ood and
then adju,t Ihe arm 10lhl' mark that,l!'ives
.)'00 lhl"

e'amp .... tf Ih,' 1W1'O\\'(.t part o( the pin>

(the OIIu"l.. (a<'\') '" .. \\ ,de, then the tailF
,hould be 3t 1.""1 I" "1de.
\\1Ien 'I ..... m. a"I''''pnate.
I think it's
nit\' 10k",'p all th" pin. the ""me ,U4<. but
''8.1')' the ..inth of the bib. The tail, near
e,t tilt edit., of the b"ani art! Ihe .maII ....t.
"hil. th""" on th" m.ddle of the board are
"id ..r. (Th,' layuut of the joints on the
Coffee Thbl.. art' done lhi. \\3Y.)
A. you layout the po.oition of the pins,
there .hould be" hair pin on the two OUler
.-dgc. (Half riM an' not ne<:cssarily onehalf the \\,.dth of any other pin, il's just
that Ihey'1"<'cuI on only one side). The
",,>Ilion and "pacing o( aU Ihe other pin,
<thn"" b('l\\l't'n Ih. 1"0 half piru;l i. a mat
I(,r of choi"".
Aft. r JaYIl1J[th",all out on paper. I transfer the mrl<s (or the po.ilion of the pi""
\\ith It" &teel rulcr. The"! marks ..-ill
indicale the narro" ..,,1 \I kith of the pInS.
Ho" el.r. )'Otl \'an
a lot ofha.>..<Ie
later
if the narro\\ ,"" part of the pin.-;k marked
of! ..-ilh the chi.el you' rc going to US<! to
chop outth. \\Qt.te.
A. sho\\ n in Ih. drawmp: (.bove. rip:htl,
Ih~ rnarkg Ill'(' placed ju.<1 a smidgen out
side thl' \\;c!th of lhe chi.el to allow some
room. (Thi. mNhod is dll>Cugse<!
more in
the "'Clion on CUlling the tails,)

$a".

"-P"
17.
I

8n~lt
)'00 "ant.

'1
eo

lS.7,!.l

"~'OOD

KtArwmt
CUANlOG[

SUOING lEVEL
I>"~
011TAII~~
......
hich d. YOIl.ulli"'t, the
pin. or thc' lail.? In lhe ease of through
do\'e"'il . It', lIen(>ra]ly accepted that it
dO\~]ojnlInak(1 much diff(.'-nn~ "hich is cut
fir.;t. How,\('r. I mark and CUIlbe pins

fil"!-ol(ur

thn."\

rvUOI .......

Fi...t. I Ihlnk the I"n. .... ea.;;lI.'r to cut

and I like ttl j!\!t .UU'led \\.th the easy
part. Sec-ond. \\h,ch~'er half is mar'"ed
fi!'>t (the I"n., in my c-_) '" u....ed to mark
the hn. for Ih. "'C01lI1cut., (the taib). 1
think it'. much I., \\ k\\ard It, position
and hold th. boards ,(the pin!' are cut tir.'t
and u-ro to mark tho>line. (or the tails, The
third ",a."'n b that I rmd it eagier to check
the '~'CUMlC~'
of th~ linished cuts on lhe
pin.. fand do any correcting) Ihan it is with
the wil.
Now you're ,'Cltdy to cut the pins.

Dovetails: The Pins

THE FIRST STEP BEGINS WITH THE PINS
Most of the preliminary work (or laying out
dovetail joint has been covered in the
article on the previous tWOpages. Once all
of these details have been worked out on
paper, it's now just a matwroflransferrmg
the~e measurements to the end of the
board. and start cutting the pins.
Before you start marking. however. the
first three steps rernam th", same. That is,
I) rrue the boards yc,ur working with, 2)
CUtthem to length (making sure the ends
are square to the edges), and 3), mark the
base lines. Por the pins, the base lines need
only be marked on the two faees of the
board, see Fig. I.

or

LAYING OUT THE PINS

To mark the position of the pins. Iclamp

the board in a "ice \\;th the -orr- SIde of
the board facing me. Since I've already
worked out lhe size and position oflh. pins
on paper, it's now just a matter oftransfering the marks with the aid of. 12" steel
ruler, Fig. 2. (This is where it's helpful to
use a chisel to gauge the width of'the pins.)
MAf<KL~G'TII ANGLE. Ne"" the sliding'
bevel is set to the proper angle (I use 1:5).
Plate the point of a very sharp pencil (or
scribe) on the mark at the very edge of the
board. Then move the sliding bevel up to
the point of the pencil, and mark the angle.
The result should be a bunch of triangles,
all pointing toward yOU(the "our face of
the board), Fig. 3.
llARK I'ER'TICAl. LINES. Now use a try
square to mark vertical lines on the -ocrface of the board. These lines are used a"
guides for cutting and should slop right at
the base line, Fig, 4.
Finally, just to keep thing>; from getting confused (whicb often happens) J
mark an "X" on the waste seetions between the pins.
SAWING THE PINS

Now you're ready lo take saw In hand. Slop

everything. Relax your hand, your arm,
your shoulders and especially your mind.
The way to get the best results is to relax,
yet concentrate on what you're doing.
Place lbe saw on one of the lines.
The placement o( the saw and the first
two gentle strokes will detennine the success of the rest of the cut. Look closely at
the teeth of the saw. Because the teeth
have 'set' (that is, alternate teeth are bent
to the right and lelt.), you'll only see half of
the teeth. Place one tooth right up against,
tbe waste side of the pencil line. That is, so
the kerf will be on the waste side (the "X"
side) of the line, see Fig. S.

down on the base tine. But there's a pro~

lem. The natural tendency of the chisel is
nut to go straight down, but rather to
undercut the shoulder.
No matter how careful you are, Or how
gentle the fihlt CUt,the beveled rront edge
orlhe chisel will act as a wedge to force the
cut back. away from the base line. One
solution to this is to carve out a small
V-shnped section along the base line. This
removes the wood on the bevel side the
chiset, and prevents the wedge action.
An even beuer way (for me) is to damp a
backing (ence along the base line, Fig. 7.
Although this is time-eonsuming. it
provides sure rest for the chisel and
prevents undercutting on the fi...l few
strok es. Now, chop straight down at the
base line. Don't get earned away. One or
two medium size taps are all that's needed
at first. Do this along the base line of each
waste sectien.
CLEAN Ot;T WASTE. To clean OUI the
waste, hold the chisel (bevel up) on the end
of the board and make a small tap, Fig. II.
Thil; should cleanly remove H little chip of
waste (about Yi, thick).
liNDE RCUT. A fter chopping $traight
down for about \I)'. you can start undercutting. Hold the chisel at a slight angle
(lilt the handle toward you). This forms a
slight V-cut on the bottom of the shoulder,
~'ig. 9.
OTHER SIDE. After chopping down about
'Y.,'s of the way through the board, Dip it
over. POSition the backing (ence once
again, and proceed as before, Fig. 10.
However. be very gentle with the hammer
- too hard a whack may slice through to
the "OLT' face.
CI.EAS Ot'TCOR.'1ERS. Since the saw kerf
may not have gone all the way to the base
line, and because the V-cut of the chisel i.
actually below the base line, there will be
little splinters of waste in the corners.
These "dirty" corners can cause a lot of
problems, SOit's important to clean them
out with a sharp chisel, Fig, I J.
CHECKING 'THE Pt!>'!;.AfWr all the cuts
have been made, hold a try square along
each CUt line (both front and back) and
make sure the edges of Ihe pins are perpendicular to the end of the board.
I( the pins are not straight, I mark a
slightly heavier line (as ill Fig. 4) and correet them by paring down with a fairly
"ide sharp chisel, Fig. 12.

Youcan also cheek the pins by eye, sighting down the lengtb
the board to see if
the pins are all straight and parallel.
Next comes the tails.

The saw should be angled (about-lS'l so

your rll'llt cuts will be on both the face and
end of the board. Now. relax your hand and
make the first two strokes.
The kerf should be skimming along the
pencil line. Since the teeth o( a dovetail
saw have very narrow set, these beginning
tWOstrokes will hold the saw in position for
the rest of the cut. I(you're not on the line
to begin with. any attempts to force the cut
or make adjustments in mid- stream will
cause the saw to bind and ,,;U lead to all
sons of problems.
After a few strokes the saw should be
about "/s of the way down the face and
o/.'s across the end. see Fig. 6. Now you
can level out the saw so it starts cutting
through to the back of the board. Continue
sawing until the '8W just barely touche.
the ba.se Iines, (All the time your hand
should be very relaxed.just barely holding
the saw. Relaxed. yet eoncemraring.)
If you're 9;oingto !:oof on these cuts, it's
best to goof 011 the waste side of the line.
That is, the saw should leave a little extra
wood between the kerf and the pencil nne.
(If there is a problem, let it go for now. It
can be corrected Iatez)
CHOPPING OUT TH( WAST(

After making aU of the saw euts, you can

start chopping otltthe waste. One way to
do this is to hold the chisel absolutely perpendicular to the board. and chop straight

or

WOODSMITH


MAtMING

OAUO(

"'(Irk
tltt, ,It (0,1$ of tJI~~i:e d
.c;, t tli,
6"'" II"b.",rd~ orr In't a "d II"
1.'Ialer
2
3
IIti$,Jrt '<i'1lln To 'IInrk tnl'Oa$t line
.pan7lg oj 0" I,m, "" I"'P". Tltn
r/(l~"pth,. board "~ a
M,
r:
0'

tllft

1'.,

",' tI" P n~, II" ",artlng JIO"9< 10 Ih"

Ihuk ...... ()J Ih. board fv, '''' tail.,.

O!

tc'V./1t.

"'()1

fa toward Yffi' artd ''':m~ffTlit. mart,

bi

,/ltll/ig

t't

I I"

"I'

"!lOll,

lttlfl

ItYJ,tr

aNd

1'14lC't

fJII~

a" ....\ "',

U("1'.Nf~ thf

ICp

tilt"

("fit

,,,nlit

UI! Ja~t (JIIll

~"d'_In tIlt

lim Jtrokes.

!(flll

'"f

$(1,(,

MIl(
I't('tlt},u ,t'l/k

n "gf

It'Ilut(/ "ii' J 5J.llfflrl,)(,)I,tlt"

,,'IIr!',
8/1J, an,
to llOt'll (1 pencil , o ..J " orf.:
th~a"9',. I,n tl,,. nul tJj
#J.I1tJnI.

pillN o,'V" tl" "fn(Jlrgl('~"poi-t,li'lg

000,,' ',,"O(hi"18
T" ""I plll~." a fillr.I<>olh dtnxtai!
4 Tilt
t(j'!''trm
,\fark th rertica! tine
5
toot),
against tile 6 thr furr u"ll
lin,
then mark.
TX" ('it I,,,, Sri," ~'1(J'41(1IJf al,gEed ~n
i~

dOll'/t to II,'

tIlt,

(ifIJI~I/YJY (1(J.,~'t1
t "11,ski,Jlllr;n9

a/Oll9 Ihl I","rillll"

TI"" Ieeetoul lit,
Mf(' to ('I" tn 1),.' MrJ,. XMr

. ..

a borklllg fell" a/ollg tlte basr

Hold rl".,1 (1",,lupl abo,,' ,/".
7('1(1"'"
lin, Uolll rlli.rt t~irally ond lOT) 8 /"'''' rely,
Oilltlt
~hould
.'nligllt fluu'" on btur linr .. 11ak~
A

~IIN'

oocl.:i"!1 ft'II~.

dtlflt),'f

1,1()

'f

f'I,p b<.. rd (JI'(J''.0 "I,\'" rid. is up).

0,1<(, agaill posilio" bocking fence
alld chop 31/'(Jlg'" dOIl?1 011 bo$t line. Tlte"
tllld. ......1 10 ",'>1101'('lilt ""JJI of tht u:osw.

10

\\'OOI)SMITH

01(1""."
lint (1"d

lap

dO!l'II

df}1

7'1"" IOl'sl ro ighl

r't "'Uf'( ~('t(Jtfd

rl(J11'I1011baee
la!lt'r of tlU8U.

'I.'.01 r~'(l8t"".lilt
9A.n('y
"1ti.,II,,wdh .'.ghllil 100tnrli yo" to
ri '''tll'lng

atHJllI

'mdt ....'" II" .1","ldrr. Hoard has "ol'r"

8idl'lf/J

If" JII(J~t4'NIII

III' (J'll/pro

(Jld

ea..sil,'1.

thi \ rrtl i..~btlou' tke bast

Thr P"IB ",,,., be ':l(1ctly per11S"'C"t
(a"d (/m. brlu ... Ih. 3a'cui8), there 12 {*lIdl(lIlar 10 Iht bost Ii" e. Check
lcill bf liltl plilllr" of WO.lf i>l (he ror- ba(/, .Ii,,,... ilh Iry .qulIl'l' 11/1(1atroigllf."
liJlt'

lit".

(hal 1II1U1( bf riealll!d mil.

aui tlJ111ball 11(1,,1Clffs ~(I;lh(l f}tisel.

Dovetails: The Tails

COMPLETING THE JOINT WITH THE TAILS

It may seem like you've completed a
monumental eft"on.ju..<tgetting the pins cut
and cleaned up - especially if you're cut-

enough room to get the chisel between

the corners of the tails. fig, 6,
After chipping out the waste about ""s
of Lhe way down, flip the board over and
continue on the other side. Fijt.7.

ting dovetails (or a whole set of drawers,

But now it's time to move on to the tails,
All of the waste you just removed from
the board with the pin. mw;t be filled with
something . , , the tails, Before marking
the cuts, however, the base line (or shoulders) must be marked, ~'ig, I, Sinee there's
a half-pin on the ou(,;ide edges of the firs;
board, there must be a complementary
I'<!<:CSS (or waste section) on lhp board for
the tails, This means that the edges must
be marked (as shown in the drawing) :IS
well as the face of the board
MARKING

THE CUTS

The pins on the forst board are used to

mark the cut lines for the tails on lhe
second board. Fig, 2. AB you hold the
boards in position for marking, make sure
the pins (on the "IN" race of the board) are
right on the base line.
In order to mark the cu; lines for the
tails, you should work from the inside CO'~
ner formed by the two boards. a.' shown in
F'ig. 3, If you were to mark the line frum
the outside, the point of the pencil would
naturally want to fall into the grain pattern
and 'straighten out.' By going to the inside
corner, the grain Iorees the point against
the l!dge of the pin - exactly where ~'ou
want it to be,
No matter what kind of marking instrument you use (pencil. scribe, or a rusty old
nail), the marked tine will always be On the
'good' side of the cut, Look at Figure 3
again, What you're marking is the \\8.te
section where the pin.. will reside as the
joint goes togetber, Notice that the
marked line is on the 'good' side, In other
words, you11 want to leave this line.
There's another dilemma here, \Vhen
marking the cut lines for the tails, you're
marking on the "IN" side of the board.
However, the pin "ill aCLually go all the
way through LO the other side (to the "OUT"
side), and that's where the two corners
must actually touch, This is why it's so
important for the pins to be absolutely
straight - (rom tip to shoulder,
MAItKlNG THE ENUS. Once all the angled
lines are marked on the "IN" face of the
board. use a try square to carry them
across the top (end grain) of the board,
Once again, it's best to dearly mark lite

waste sections.
SAWING DOWN THE LINES

Now we gel 10 the hard part, You have to

10

", ...; ENDS. Notice the waste sections for

the two half pins on the outside edges of
the board. t'ig, 7, Here 1'\,. chopped
strnight down on lite base tine, however,
no undercutting was done, The shoulder
that', formed will be visible, and you wont
it to be ~traight across.
After the waste sections in the middle of
the board are chipped away, the waste for
the half pins call be removed. Thrn the
board on edge and chop straight down on
the should .. line (it was marked in Fig, I),
Then pare out a small v-eut. Fig, 8, Finally, saw dO"~1this shoulder line to remove
the waste, Fig. 9, Since lhe sa" cut may
not be "cry clean, pare off the roughness
with a sharp chisel. And while you're al it.
go ahead and dean up the corners in all the
waste sections.
ASSEMBLY AND FINISHING

No'v cernes t.he moment of truth, Po~ilion

make an angled CULlhaLjUSI barely skims
off part of the pencil line, This cut is diffi.
c:uJtfor two reasons, first, you're cutting
along the "IN"side oithe board- the side
that won't show in the final assembly. The
other side of the board (the "ouT" side) is
what "ill show,
Second, the 58W must be tilted to the
same angl~ of the cut, "'hat usually happens to me during these cuts is that r tend
to SaW straight down, Fortunately, this
means the kerf stays on the 'waste' side of
the cut. But it 01<0means it's not where It's
supposed to be, 10 help with this problem,
Iangle the board in the vice so the cut line
i~
almost vertical,
Now, place one tooth of the saw up
against the marked line. This placement
"ill actually be taking the tiniest smidgen
too much (remember tbe line is on the
'good' side), That'. okay, because you need
a litlle (but not too much) clearance for the
joint to go together,
REMOVING

THE WASTE

Aiter you 've sawn down all the cut lines,

the waste can be chopped out. Here the
same preeedure is followed a. it was for the
pins: clamp the backing fence along the
base tine. chop (gently) straight down, and
chip out the waste,
This is where using the chisel to mark
the "idlh ofthe pins comes into play. Wben
the waste is chipped out, there must be

the tails over the recesses between the

pins, 10 get even pressure across the
board, place. suiking board on LOp, Fig,
10 and tap the joint together,
You sec, every joint line lit$ perfectly,
Oh, there may be a fc\\ little places where
the kerf is too wide, but these voids can be
filled during the finishing stage,
The one problem you wanl \0 be careful
of is the joint being too tight in some
places. This will cause the wood to split.
So, tap the joint together gently, checking for overly tight joint lines, If there
are light SPOIS, knock the joint apart and
pare off some of the excess from the tails,
\Vhen the joint fits properly it can be
admired as it is, or glued up to finish the
project you're working on, Only a small
amount of glue is needed (I usually apply it
to the pins.)
(,1.I'.A~IN(;I'P' Once the joint is together,
the end grain of the pins and tails will
either stick up above tlte race of the
boards, or be somewhat recessed, If it',
recessed, you can use a plane to shave the
face of the boards down, eventually getting lo the end grain of the pins and taus,
making them smooth, Fig, 11.
H the end grain is above the surface of
the boards, it can be leveled with a fiI., To
protect the surface of the boards, place
some beavy paper (from a !(I"OCerybag) in
the path of the file, fig, 12,
That's it, a perfect do\tetail!
WOOOSM1TH

..

Ste~By Ste~

~e /:.,
~~

(,II

1\1
,

ON WASTt
SIDE Of UN(

i1
~k/_../
//

Allgl. board ill "ise 0" lillts a'''' ol(,I,,,"p Ixrckilill J'" a/ollg b(l,<, Ii".
o"d ellol,,,t
n'tl,,'" Then rhill (Jut
5
,"",, P"'7I"IIdrrll/ar. Ploce toolh
6
'a,r noM ''1ll1ga ""'(}'f P' IIdllin,'so kerf wast, SM' Ihnt "".t. ,1","ld IJ< stightly
l'lllgllt

Of

tit ~'" thr

.!t't,,,f,..

"d~) a ud "'01..'(' cut,

widtr I"n)~'hI' rhilo,fl!tlr

(,OAy

"'"IlIlIQI.

--.

f'I,/1 b""nl on'" and align backlllg

To drOll 0,,1"".1. Jor half-pi,'s, (Iwp
P/ar., .a"'aVII,,I.t
7
8
,Itaight
Oli s/~o"ld('r Ii",
9
frnc to (})",
''V'Jnai"i,tg .r0.8tt brIII,d
'iff
tll'tl'lI tlli/. ()ltllf .'raigllt dOli.. rut a,,. ImQl"ldiIFig./J.1'h,,"pn~OIl(Q8moll
,t'ill bf'
clOUI"

I1ftt

mad, ""

haIr";,,. (dUll" ""d~...,ut).

\ ")1(1lch

'0 '0.11' ,...".

XI''''

KUlft r.1I1

ogo;',,11 Ihis .hOllldl'1'.

~h(llll(/,.r~r I'nolcil

1I.. ~tffor ltalJ pi" Thi.

Hf""t'l(,I,tll 1"Ol'911 80 rlca)l

1'1) th ,lfhuttld,,. It'illl (' .~hD'7)("i1ffl.

1[ ba~r IIlIro ."or.. marked , es tha

If th' P"" (lIId tail, .tick up alxrl"
.411" "'n"... tails a~ cleaned "p
10
II..JU''''
lot tapped. logether. Use 11 Ih~ thirklln. of ",colld board, tI.. 12 tI" ""rfare "I tlu: boords, use afile 10
a barki"g board[nr
pressure. A.joillt
alld tail. will lot rcce rd. Us. a plone
teve! thrIll "[f. Hro,w I"'per proUd. Ihe
Qf

I'm'

"'I'"

goe. logdl,rr, rI,eck board.for split/illY.

WOODSMITH

pill'
10 8ho,'I' boo,'d dm<tt' In Ih~~lId graitl.

[au qf Ihr lxx,rd.!rtilll 8cralc/l motk$.

11

Shop Notes

SOME TIPS FROM OUR SHOP

As \\TC were "orkillg on the Pl'ojects for
tbiJ; issue, a few thingl' came up that we
thought would be nice to include. Since
there never seems to be enough room in
the articles for lh~ projects, we gathered
toguth"r .. 'me of these tips for this

""ltC.

STARTING OUT WITH DOVTAILS

When you ""t out to cut dov~taib (01' the

first, lime, the wood you choose can mean
the difference bet wcen nerve-racking
u"U:<LJ1.tion
and bone-rauling angel'. (Let's

face it.

the fi~ltime out LI.lnot gning to be

easy.)
There are a couple of wood species that
can make the job a linle easier, Poplar
would be my fil'llt choiee. It'. relaLively
inexpensive (so your" allet doesn't hurt so
much if you blow a cut). Also. it', light in
eolor so the marked lines arc easier LO "1'(.'.
The key thing, however, is that Poplar-is
ju;:t hard (dense) enough to orrer " good
(ccl with hand tools. YN, not so hard Lhat
you have to slrUgglcjUl'tto make the cuts
and chisel out the waste.
Some other good choices would be So(t
Maple and Alder (on Lh. \"e.t Coast), I(
none of these woods are available, you
might be able to find some Philippine )fa
hogan~'(usually called Luan) at almost nny
good lumber yard, The only drawback i~
the dark colnr makes it a lillie more diffi
cult to see the CUtlines. SUt if your choice
is between Luan nnd pine, I'd cboose Luan
to cut dovetails,
B1o'all means. stay away from Hard
Maple. My first attempt to cULdovetails
was in ~!aplc - an event I'll always
remember,
SHOPMADE

BULLET CATCH

the end of 3 !l" long dowel. (It's easier to

work with this length to start.J Then I
switcheel to n ..,. bit for the pilot hole.
Next, the dowel W'-'" chucked in the drill
press and I used a file to round off the end,
finally, 1eut the V,lonlfbuUetoffthe end
of the dowel.
JUlla

MUST SUDE

FI(L't ON
SCREW
NO. 6.,. 1

aOUNo

COUNTfHORf TO AllOW
SlACf fOR SnlNG
{\
AN06UUET

r,
e
I ;

it

r---l

.......S(.''''- _.; t"-.

'" "101 HOU1_..>
II' t..
~1
,
,

V',

I,.

(OUNfEUOru;

SNt'NG"'OM
SAll POINT 'EN

,../

... DOWEL
ROUND OVER foots

The bullet is mounted by drilling a ~..

hole In the project. \\'hen dl'illing the
mounting hole, be sure to allow enough
room (or the compressed <pring (experiment. a little on some scrap wood). If this

catch were mounted in a duo)', you'd have

to drill a shallow dish-shaped hole to trap
the bullet ..' the door i,closed,
Oil FINISH FOR DOVETAILS

I'm always amazed at what )ou tan learn

by reading the labels on can. - especially
on <1UIl; of finbhing products. 1 1(\1 ' t
never expect to see anything but Lhe usual
"Stir well before using:'
A. you'v~ probably noticed in the P"-,t
i..'6UCS

of lVuodS-tl,ilh, one of m~'fa,'orite

fini.he. is 1I'{lifO Danish Oil ~'inisb. \\lith

out going into all the advantage. and dj,;
As we were building lhe Contemporary
Coffe!' Table .howll inthi.'! i""ue, one ofthe adv8ntall"s ofthi. pl"oduct, I'd lik~
to men
bigJ!'e.~ problem. we had was coming up tion all" oflhe fUlishingtechniques we "RI'
to finish PI'ojects joined \\;th dovetails \\'ilh a dr8\\-cl~tol.)
.s~lem. 4-\S mentioned
in the anicle, we finally came up with a and why IVolfO oil is >10 helprul.
:1)'st~n'l
u~il\g bullet C8lche:;..
Very (ew woodworkers can cut !,<rJert
ThC;;<!catches are rcl8th'ely eas)' to ob- dovetails ~'~'l!ry
tim~. There are bound to
tain, but we didn't happen to have any in be small "aida no matter how hard we try.
the ShOPlO c~pel;_me.nt\,;th. So \\'e made
Naturally, these void. mw;t be ftlled OUI' own. Ilturned out kind of nice, (I sa)'
hopefully in a w:t~'that dO!!sn'Lscream
that because our \fersion is made of \I.'cod "That joint W8$ tilled!"
instead o( metal, and I have an affinily for
The solution to this problem is right on
anYlhing made OIlL o( wood,)
the back o( the II'atr" can. It says, in part,
A~ ~hown in the dl'awing, thc ca!<!his "APrllya liberal.mount o( lI'alco oil wit h a
ba.;ieally jU$( a little chunk of W dowel brush, roller or dOLh. \''hile the $Unace i.
\\;th 8 round-head ""YeW and a spring (]'om ~till,,'et \\'ith l\'(liro oil. "ret ~d '\'ith 600
a ball.poinl pen. Although we u.'Cd thi,; wet or dry sandpaper. Wipe dl')'. Aller one
catch on dra"cl'S. the most cammon ap.- hour, apply a second application or Walco
oil allowing !5 minutes penetration. 'rhen
plication i. on the doors of a cabinet.
To make iI, I drilled a
<"OunLCrbore
in ,,;pe completely dry,"

V.

12

Not only did Ihey manage to mention the

name lV(II("(} three times in four sentences.
but they offered a nice finishing tip. After
reading this, lcouldn't resist experimenting a little bit.
\\'hat I <nnw up with i. this, AI'"ly 8
liberal amount of oil (jUSI like they say)
then sand \\;th 220 grit (instead of &OJ)
silicon carbide (lI'dorDry) sandpaper
1\$ you sand you'll ereate kind of n g.opy
mess of sawdust and oil. Keep $anding and
adding oil until there's enough nf'this goop
10 fill in lh,' void. in the dovetails,

This su\\'dust/ojl mixture will drv verv

hard, and il almost perf~ctly malches th~
end I!'t'ainof the pins and tail . It take s a
keen eye to Be<' that the joint was fille<!
at 3.11.
I've been using this technique for about
three years 110\\" ~ and it works...bc4tulifull) ..
!t'. es~ially nice On open-grained wood
(like oak 01' walnut) because the 'goop' acts
all a wood fillet to fill the POIC. as well as
voids in the dovetails.
MARKING GAUGE

When l3~;nJ.!atlt. dovetails, there are several way" to mark the b..se line for the pin,
and lalls. Bu; the best way is with a marking !(auge. !t makes a nice crisp tine right
where

i'OU

want it.

~'e havefow' or five marking gauges in

the shop. One is a nice new $.10 rosewood
and bra ss 'store-bought' model. I'm also
Yery fortunate to have the marking l.'tIug~
my grandfather used during his life as "
cabinetmaker. This hand-me-down is not
very janey, but it l:lugbt me a lesson \\ orth
more than the 10 buck. I spent on the
',torebought' one.
The pin on the $.10 mode! is sh"l'JI"ned
ju.,t like the point o( a pencil. \\'hen you
mark " line with iL. the poinl tea,.,; th~
wood producing a rat he,' jaMed line,
t'lll sure my j(randfather's !(auge was
shaped thE' 58.Dll" M \\'hen it \\'a:; l'le\\'. But.
he l-eshllJl<.od
the point of the I>into form a

l
a(FORE ('ENCll POINT)

AnE"lt {~JfE (00]

knife edge (in fact, you can ;till see the file
mar"" on the arm). This shape slices th~
fibers o( the wood, producing a .mooth

cr~ptill".
I may be prejudiood, but I reshaped my
SIO !(auge the <ame way and I'm much
happier with it' penormance,
WOODSMITH

Marking

Gaug_e

A REAL PENNY PINCHER

One of the nicest things about woodworking is having the chance to make your own
tools. Granted, it's a wee bit difficult to
build something like a table saw out of
scrap> laying around the shop, but every
once in a while thert> is a U>'efullit1legadget you ean make.
One of the things I've always wanted to
make was my own marking gauge. 1 kept
LOyingwith the idea, but there were two
problems r couldn't find a solution for.
I knew J could make the arm and th~
body out of wood - that' < common practice and relatively easy to do. Rut r
couldn't figure out a cheap and easy way to
hold the arm securely in place after it was
set, This is usually done with n fancy brass
thumb S<:1'eW that goes through a threaded
hole in the wooden body. (There are tools
for lhreadingwood. but they're not cheap.)
When I discovered rosan inserts 'sometimes called threaded insse rtsl, it solved
the problem, All [ had LOdo was screw the
rosan in.o;ert into the body and use a regular
old thumb screw to hold the arm in "lace.
Rut the thumb screw dented the wood,
leaving little holes along the arm that C3Used problems. So. next I needed a fancy
brass shoe like on the 'stcre-beughi' marking !(auges. Since Ididn't have one of these
either. I had LOimprovise. IdUjr deep in
m)' pocket and came out with. penny. And
that was the answer for my pennypinching marking' gauge. (On Lhe deluxe
model I use a dime.)
Getting this all put together is shown in
the drawings at right. Since r had to eounterbore a hole for the shoe tpenny), I made
the body by cutting a dado in some 'Y.stock
(the one shown is made of cherry).
Arter getting the two halves (Fil!'. I), I
drilled a
hole ~.' deep (for the penny),
and followed "ith a "." hole for the rosan
insert. Then 1 glued the two halves
together so the dadoes formed a mortise.
Next Iripped a piece for the arm so it fit
snugly in the mortise, f'ig. 2. Since I didn't
have a fancy steel pin for the marking
point. [ used an X-ato blade. To mount iL r
had to mortise a hole near the end of the
arm. I just drilled a 'V' hole and squared
it up ";th a chisel.
Pinally, I carved out a small wedge LOlit
the mortise. It', a little hassle getting the
X -<l.ct" blade set to the proper depth with
the wedge, But once it's in the re the blade
does an excellent job of marking n nice
crisp line. (And it'$ easily replaced when it
gets dull.)
So that's iL ~Iy little penny-pincher
marking gaug .

'tGU.'

DADO ~ WIDE.

\VOODSMITH

*I.

DfiP

" .-

...

_.J ,

2ND DRILL ~\1:101,.(

FOJt.OSAN INSt.,

DRllll.~ HOlt ANO SOUAJE UP WITH CHISEl

0/.

.'

FfGURE)

NO ~.
XACtO !lAOE
1.(. I(

I fHUMt SCREw

..... ItOSAN INSEtT

W[DGt ....

\.

13

Three Drawer Coffee Table

DRAWERS WITH NO VISIBLE MEANS OF SUPPORT

I think lhi. b projecl

mighlappeal to a lot of woodworkers. I'll
admil Ih" design is quite simple, But
simpk- d...,.illl1' often require quite a bit of
ingenui; \" Ln Ih. shop, That W8.' d~liniu>ly
true" itb lhi~ c"rree Table.
Th. enure table (lncludinp: the drawersl
i:. ..,*,mbl.d "ith only one basic joint:
through dovetails E"ery one of these
joint. mu,t be cut by hand, and they're
elearly \ "ible once the table is assembled.
If you blo.. a cut, it's going to show.
Anel then th"re', the drawers. If you
were to crawl under this coffee table
(a favorit. pastime of woodworkers),
you'd .cc nOlhing bUI tho boltoms of the
dray, ers, No ruillil, no drawer guides. no
visible means of suppert. Just three
draw.", hnn!!ing in rnid-ai r. But before We
gN to the draWN" the bask table must be
~"'mbled

The rough dim('n.iono for the legs are 21' ...

201, and for th'> top: 21'w x 5...", Fig. l.
To glue UI> the .lal>.,. I started with the
leg. because the pin, of the dovetails
would "" CUtrn IIKmIi....
t. After an-ancring
the section- in the same order for each
slsb, I applied Il'lue to the edge. and
clamped them tog\<lm,r "'th pipe clamps
- no do"ela or -plines were used. \\'hen
the glue ",L' dry, I hand-planed the slabs
.moolh, mnking sure the end of each slab
was a unifonn thiekness from edge to edge.
(See Wood~milhNumber 15 for more on
this method.)

14

TH(

eovrrsus

The top and 1"1:"are JOIIk'<I w,th through

dovetails, 'fIwo
part about cutting
the-e do,.tail. ~ findinl( a "ay to clamp
these rather larg. ..nd heavy slabs in place
to make th. CUb'. I wound up clamping
them to the workbench .. ith pipe clamps.
The actual {'Ultinj(i.jtL:Illike any other
dovetail, except there's a little problem
with vibration beeau se the slnb is so wide.
I might add that it took almost a full day
ju.t to cut and chop them OUI - mostly
because I didn't want to blow cut.
THEPI~~. To ,tart, the pins are marked
out on the Ie)!l'. Each ofth~ pin. ls the same
Lookin)!' al th~ ou...ide f_ of the
1"&",, the narrowest pari of each pin is 11,'
wide. Fig. 2. To rnuklheangl.,.ontheend
grain I used a ""u.nR of 1:5 (10").
Hcwever, the fpa"". between the pins
varies,inc~L~lng(rom. 2~. on the outside
edge< 10 4' in th. center, This spacing
adds a ralher mee eustom-made look to the
finishe..1jomt.
T11F. T\lIo1<. Onc~ th~ pins are CUt and
chopped OUl, Ihey are placed on the end of
the .Iab fur the tOI>,and tho cut lines for the
tails are marked. Then it's just a matter of
cutting' Rnd <hopping OUt the waste sec-

"."'t

me.

TH[ TOP AND lGS

The table cono.. u of three slabs of wood

for the top and t .. o leg:> .. ides). Each slab
is I1lulodup from ~, oak (~, bsrdwoed is
I~.. thIck actual], A, shown in the CUI'
ting Diagram. I started out ,,;th four
boards 5.",' "ide and 11' 10nR.
Befort' CUllingthe board, into the three
section. fur the three .lab.l. I marked each
section 80 1 could keep them in order. Then
I cut off each se-ction to rough length, and
ripped. clean edge on both edges (trimming the wldlh down to aboul5V( wide).

SHOV 1'II)Tt;. To get good clean edge, J

used a ci..cular 0 ... (Ski! saw) with a
hoUow.pound plaJwr blade to make the
CUt.Abo. Ielamped 8 fence to the slab to
guide the shoe of the circular saw.

I
No'" all thret' .Iahtl can be ripped to a
final ..,dlh of 20~". Oneend of each slab
for the leI(\!i. cut off square -leaving the
other end rollgh and ~ little long for now,
Both ~nds of lhe ~Iabfor the lop are cut orr
square, to a finllll('ngth IIf 51'.

\VOODSM1TI1

uons as " th AnJ 00' euW.

IIITI".. Tbe three slab, <an now be
dr~ asse mb .....' (a ",....,what frighteninj(

c\ ent), ,\ the 1&iI' Ill'<! pounded home.

nuh (or any , i:IIll o( .pltun!r in lile lees
or lOp.
If ,,\t'.,lhml( got', ",U you ean go ahcad
and mm th. hot 10m edge of the legs
"quare .n,ll(lue up Ihe table. If there are
mas-ivaproblem s, Iher e shoukl be enoul!h
wood len un thl' It'R" to cut new pins, and
the top \\ iUjU.l haveto be trimmed down 9
bit (0' new tlli!.,

"GU'"

UGS

$,---->G',

THE DRAWERS

1.) ANGll

If I m.~ be permitted a lillie pat on lilt'

back, I think the mounumr sy"lcm for th,'
rlrawe ... l- kind of clever. Actually. the

'Of'VlfW

4---

,) -tem we came up \\ ilh \\'lL, mo,l!) Ih.

"".ull of one problem I.odlnl' to anolher.
",._. finsl llrobl"m we f=od \\a. 00"- to

,ul'l'on th" d.. ".n (romthe lOp (instead

of from th,' bottom. or Ihe middle of lb
..a-It". a.~L~tl pu:aJ). The-:-vlunon was to cut
tho dra" ers' BkJ\,'S extra-wide

tended ~. above what would normally be

Ihe lOp edg." Thi- allowed room fur a
tllonl:Ihl' t .." edge so we could hang
th,' dn,w,'" !'rom overhead guide bars.
Tilt: UKAIH:R~RO''TS, Aile.' coming up
wuh this mounting "yslem, the first step

J:tOO",.

was to cut lhl' ~'lc(''Cii

for till! drawer f-ront~
HIla baek>. The thn-e drawer fronts should
bt-lairl

out OZl P11(' board

!tnd

SIll( ""'"

W tbe) e)l,,-

CUt ~

there's

eonunuous gnun pattern across the three

flUllt., Fig. 3. (The l'8IUe goes for the
drawer bac~ beeause they're visible from
tlw oth~r SIdeo( tbe u.ble.)
Th, drawer fronl' and backs are 3 .",de The final le".,h or \h<-"" piece.... '
taken from Ih, assembled tabl e. fin,1
measure Ill" ,1.. lance bet w een lite k-g>- (it
sheuld be 19') and .ubtracl 1", (Th" I
"lIu", fur til<> 1100 ~" ~'lll'"between the
0111,,,1., dra\\ ",." anti Ih" legs. see Fig. 3).
;';ow divide the remainder by 3 to get the
final IcnKth of each drawer. (I cam.. up
with n length of 16' fur each pieee.)
Tilt:~lIIt:~,
Th,' rlruwer sides are cut .,'
wid .. (I, wid." than the fronts and backs),
The fillllll,'ngth of the .,de. L' 191.' OIes..
than Ih,' w,dth of Ill, table). This mean.
th~ draw"", will t.,. rece-sed lI:' from both
Ihe fmnt .. Ig, an<] back edp:e of Ihe tab!....
TIlt: 1>(1\
t.T'II." :\0\\ the drawers eanbe
"""mbll~1",th through dovetails. U you
manaJ:ed 10 ("Utillcd(l\'ctail" on those.labb
for th .. ""bl.... the dra"" .. are no ".....eat.
all Ibre<.' dra ...... Ill'<! I'lUIrtIy lit..
....m'. and nee I WlIJ\tlod to maintain Ihe
OOlllinuoQ5,:Taln pallern. on lbe drd"er
fronl' &",1b..,k., I d~arly marked e"ery

flOUU 3

WAcr ON &OTHlNDS

It ...
[:

I+

,.

..

"

,.

_j

AUOW fOl SA.WlI((tfS

flGUltt 4

ftGUlf S

I-

16

e,

DlAwt.

ltONl AltO ~

"

'AClllOf

OIAwtt

J
IStX f'lECES)

> """"

'A(I Slot

saOlS Ut(ND '.. ABOVE

,toNf AHOlAC.

"m

,.

pll'i"t' \1, kt'l,:JIthln ...~ o~ized~

Th,'n I m,...k1and cut lh. pm" on th..

drawer fn,"," and back.!. Fig. 4. \\'hen
markinl( th, tail. (f'i~.5) he.ore to lea\'e
Ih,' ".\lra .. \lulth on the top lodge of the

drawvl' id""'~~~'~K~,~(j~.

"

~=========================:-_-====-=
15

AGI.IU 7

/'#

.-IOTtOM

Of GROOVE
ON THIS UHf

f;l

ROUND.OVE. CORNEl
TO PENCil UNf

DRY.A5SENo8U
AHD #ro\ARK

I).RAW1t SlOE
'

..

TKItOUGH GItOO'IE-

OtAWi"

fJtOKJ

RaUlE 9

-_
COUHTtUOlt $OJ"
sroE'S ON iNOS ONLY

TAILE lOP
v, v,

RAalET

FfGURE 10

aNna Io\IDDtfOIAWER
ON eonOM Of fAilLE

DitAWflt

510(

AUGN GUlDE~5

1"""' .....

ON MARKS

AND Mitt f1Lr1 HOllS

l'LAa GUIDE 8AJt IN-GflOOVE

AND MAIX POstllON

TAIU: rOP

16

ORAwa (ENJERtO
ON toTTOM

After the dovetails are cut. dry-assemble each drawer. Now the position of
the groove for the guide bars can be
marked. \Ve wanted to mount the drawers
side by side with no gap between them. To
accomplish this we had to mount the
drawer guides on the I".idt face of the
drawer's sides, Which. in tum. meant th\!
grooves for the drawer guide. also had to
be CUI on the inside of lhe drawer.
To mark the positioll ofthe groove, mark
the front edge as shown in Fig. 7. Then
disassemble the drawer and use this mark
to cut the Y'wide gt'OO\c. r'inaUy. roundover the corner 011 both ends, Fig. S.
Now the four pieces for the drawers can
be glued up. but they must be square. Icut
n piece of plywood to the inside dimensions
of the drawers and placed it inside the
drawers as they were clamped together to
hold them square.
Normally. the drawer bottom would be
cut and mounted at this point. But. in
order to mount the drawer guide bars you
have to have access through the drawer .s 0
the drawer bottom. are i ns,1.IIl1edlater.
DRAWER GUIDE SYSTEM
The drawers are mounted to lhe table with
rabbeted guide bars. Fig. 9. ~faking these
bars is pretty easy. Mounling them takes
some patience. I cut the six bars from
Maple stock. A rabbet i, cut on one edll" .
leaving a tongue that mates with the
groove in the drawer sides. Thitl tongue
should be just a hair smaller (both in thickness and length) than the grooves in the
drawers.
Since the bars are mounted across the
grain of the top. there will be problems as
the top expand. anr! contracts with
seasonal changes in humidity. To allow for
this movement. counterbore a pilot hole on
one side oi the bars LOaccept the screws.
Then. anothercounterboreis drilled on the
other side to allow the screw to move
(bend) as the LOpmoves. (See Pig. 9.)
To mark the position of the bars, it's
easier to work upside down (the table. not
you). Flip the table over lind mark both
center lines on the bottom ofthe table, f'ig.
10. Also mark the four center points on the
middle drawer.
Now slide one of the guide bars into the
groove. and mark its position, fig. II.
Remove the drawer and hold tho guide bar
illpositlcn to drill pilot hole. into the table.
rlg. 12. Go ahead and screw this bar ill
place (screw only. no glue). Reposition the
drawer on this guide bar and insert the
second bar. Once again, mark its position.
remove the drawer, and screw this bar in
place (allowing a tittle bit of clearance .0
the drawer slides easily),
\Vlth the middle drawer in position.
place the Other two drawers tight against
it. (They should be tight for now. clearance
will be taken care of laier.) Mark the posiWOODSMITH

ticn of thl' l.'lIidebars {or these two drawers, and screw them in place, ~'ig. 13.
Eacll drnwer should move easily along
the f(Uidebars, but they will probably rub
again>l each other. [( the drawers bind on
the f(Uid" bars, plane or sand down the
tongue a little bit. If they still bind, you
may have to realign the guide bars.
'fo allow clearance between the middle
drawer and the two outside drawe rs, plane
or sand a slight hollow on the sides of each
drawer. As shown in Fig. 14. The hollow
allows the drawers to move freely as
they're opened. but leaves the front and
back fairly tight when they're closed.
DRAWERS,

ffGVIl 13

CROSS SlenOH

Now the drawer bottoms can be installed.

To mount the bottom s, a rabbet is routed
en the bottom four edges of the drawer,
This rabbet is
deep to allow for the
plywood bottom. plus Vi' as a lip to pull the
drawer open, (Drawer pulls on the drawer
fronts would look kind of clumsy. and
would destroy the niee flow of the grain
pattern from drawer to drawer.)
1 CUtthis rabbet on a router table with a
rabbet bit and pilot, Fig. 15. After routing
the rabbet, the corners must be chopped
square \lith a chisel.
The drawer bottom is cut from y,. oak
plywood and glued into the rabbet. (Triangular glue blocks can be added for more
support.)
THES1'OI'S. We thought it would bea nice
touch if the drawers opened from the front
or the back of the coffee table. Getting
them to open from either direction was no
problem. But as they were closed. getting
them to stop so tbey lined up (without a lot
of fumbling around each time) meant there
had to be stops of some soot. This was a
problem.
\Ve finally figured out a way to use bullet
catches. Asshown in Fig. 16,these catches
look just like buDets with a hollow 'shell'
and a spring-loaded 'bullet', These catches
usually come with a one-way striker plate
(3 dish-like plate with a channel for the
bullet). Since the striker plates only work
one way (and we needed two-way action),
we had to improvise.
A small hole was drilled on the top
center o(ane side of each drawer. This was
done with a 0/,." twist bit to get a slight
inverse-cone shape. Then, the bullet
catches were mounted in holes drilled
along the center line of the bottom of the
table, Fig. 17.
As the drawer is opened. 8 slight tug is
required to gel the spring-loaded bullet
OUtof the hole. Then the bullet ride. along
the top edge of the drawer side. Wben
Lhedrawer ts closed. the bullet pops into
the hole. Thi is DOta sure catch (you hear
it more than reel itl. but it works ,!tty
niccl~1.
Bullet catches should be available at betWOODSMtTH

V'

Of DIlAW(1S

I
I

'.., SPACE 80TH ENl>S

I i~

_,

-OUWEJtS
ftGUR.E 1.

SHOUlO It TIGHT AGIJNST A.CH OTHEI

SAND OR PLANf SlIGHT HOllOW
ON ""WIlt SlOtS

_
"C:~t"OS
nGHl

BOTTOMS AND CATCHES

*'

II

""t-_

DRA wt. 'SlOE

DAAWU FRONT

WITH"lor

...

IUUU

CATCH

CUT RAISin ON
OiV<WU10lTOM

SOUAllUP

CORN S -

"Gulf ,.

15

, . IASln Irr

DlAWER lACK

JABtf tOP

~k
!):RUl ';;\. Hotf

GU'Dl BAit

C ~~

AllOW

ClEAItANC

DaAWU SIDE
~

~
RGUItE 17

-q ,/

ClOss StencH OF"AWl.

aUUEJ CArCH (tNTE.EO ON BOTTOMOf TAIlI

l\\,\\\" ,$7.7. TI/~i/ ~\\ \ \ \ \\.':::!~;:. >'/. r

....... ", ". GtOOVE

HOtt

\.- PlYWOOD e.dTIOM

DRAWlt

f~
,',

fOlt CATCH CENTERED

ON i)tAwtll $.IOE

~,

.
Otms BOTHWAYS

ter hardware

stores. One mail-order

source for bullet catches is: Th. Woodu'Orker's SIoI'I' Catalog, 21801 Industrial
Blvd.. Rogers MN 55374.
FINISHING

This table was lini.<hedwith II'atco oil. The

technique Iused is to apply a liberal coat of
oil and, while the oil i. ,till wet, sand the
surface of the table wilh 22O-gril slliconcarbide pap.". Thill creates a goopy mess
ofoil and sawdust that fills the pores of the
oak (and any voids in the dovetails).
Keep adding oil and sanding until all tbe
pores are ruled. \Vipe off the excess and
let the oil dry for n day or so. Then add
another coat or oil (this time without sanding). The result is. smooth, natural fillish
that feel. as soft. as a baby's bouom,
Finally, apply a coal of furniture wax (I
used WairO Satin liquid wax) to the table.
Also, PUt a coat of wax (I used car paste
wax) on the drawer guides so the drawers
slide easily.

MATERIALS LIST
()yeraU Dimensionl': 11"h x 20t),w. 51".
A Top (4 pn)

1 VIA" 5V 52
1'.1.... 51/ 16
8 ~. (8 p<o1
c Drawer Fron's (6 pes) IVI." 3~- 16
'S.)I 4 - 19',1,
0 Orowot' Side, (6 pal
Orow.r 8,,,". (10" to fit from 2 48 plywood

CUTTING DIAGRAM

1''''' x

I
I

_A

IE

:Jf."

sy," -

I
I
I
I

9'8

8:
8

9
8

itiI

B ,

I 8 I!a

91,~ .0

H I l-f-g3

I :' ~ I

D
D

17

Dovetail Drawers

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
III limes past craftsmen demonstrated
their skill by conceaJinl(all signs ofjoinery.
Drawer Jrcnts, for example, were joined
wuh half-blind dovetails $0 the joint could
not be seen (when the drawer W8:< closed).
Tnrougll dovetails were only \1I'Cd u> join
the drawer back to the sides.
But times have changed .. )oinelY has
come out in th~ open. Today. through
dovetails are used on drawer fronts to
show off this handsome joint. llnd add a
SPOl of subtle decoration. However, "hen
through dovetails arc used on drawer.
there arc some spectal coru;ideration~ ...
and some problems.
LAYOrT. The layout (size and spacing of
the pin. and tails) should be done with
care. If the pins and tails are equal width.
the dovptail joint "ill look just Uke a box
joint (from the front of the drawer), see
Fig. I. HOWever, if the joint is laid out $0
the relationship between the pins and tail.
i. about 1:4 Or 1:5. lhejoint takes on much
more of a custom look.

SIDE

"A.bET WITH

ttYWOOO

lonOM

18

WITH

GROOV1! wnM

soue WOOD
aorrOM

SU>

THROUGH0200"*

ON Flom
flGUR ..
STonED

DRAWER BOTTOM

So now the joint is nicely proportioned, but

you still have to get the drawer bottom in
there some way. There are twe basic options for mounting the drawer bottom. see
Fig. 2. The easiest way is to go ahead and
cut the dovetails on all four pieces and
assemble them. 'I'hen to insert, the bottom.
a rabbet is cut around the perimeter of the
bottom r,dge of the drawer and the bottom
is glued inlo the rabbet, (A plywood bot10m must be used with this method.)
On large drawers that \\1Uhave to bear 8
lot of weight, it' helpful to CUtthe rabbet
about 1'<- deeper than th~ thickness of tile
bottom. Then triangular glue blocks can be
cut and glued to the plywood bottom and
the drawer sid es.
STOPPEl) GROOVt~~.Another option is to
cut groo\'es in the front and the two sides
for a I>lywoodbottom. The groove on the
drawer front can be cut from one end to the
01 her providing it doesn't slice Ihrough the
half-pin. Fig. 3.
The groo'. on the sides must be
stopped. Ifthe groove were cut all the way
through, it would slice off part of the tail
and there would be an unsightly gap showing right on the front of the drawer.
The easiest way 10 cut a stopped groove
is on a router table (see Il'wdsmilh No.5).
Although cutting a SIOP~ groove is kind
of a hassle, there is an advantage to this
method. The plywood bottom can be inserted as the drawer is glued together to
help pull the drawer square.

UlaEl

GWIN,G 'lOCI(

THROUGH GROOVE

GROOVE

ON S10fS

lACk 1.0wtR

ON FRONT

tHAN SIDS

GUSH PARALLELwnH
FRONT AND tACK

SlOE

<, lAC)( 'l_IMMEO TO

Itl$1 ON 80"OM
G4Uf 1I0"OM lNIO HlONl ONLY
DO NOT aWE

INTO SLOES

SOLID WOOD BOTTOM

Since dovetails are usually reserved for

drawer. (and fumitu re) of ra ther high
quality, you may Want to make a solid
wood bottom (instead of USing plywood).
The problem with solid wood is that it's
going to move (expand/contract
with
seasonal changes in humidity). If a solid
wood bottom were glued into a rabbet, it
wouldn't be free to move. and sooner or
later it would split. So, it must be mounted
with the stopped groove method.
The solid wood bottom can be !!,lued"I' of
slightly thicker wood lhan the groove.

ItAllln sono,,",
fOR GIOOVES

Then the edges are chamfered (jUSt like a

raised-panel in a door), or rabbeted to form
a tongue to lit the groove.
The primary considerution, however, is
lhe direeucn oflhe grain, Fig. 4. TIle grain
must run across the width of the drawer.
That is. so the end grain it; mounted in the
drawer sides.
The front edge of the bottom can be
glued into tbe groove in the drawer front to
hold it in place. However. the edges in the
drawer sides must be free to move (no glue
is used). Also, the back sbould be trimmed
SO it rests on top of the solid wood boUom.
This allows the wood to move freely.

WOODSMITH

S_e_rv_in_g Tray __

el

IT'S REALLYA DRAWER WITHOUT A HOME

This project was designed to incorporate

all I hr problems of building a drawer
joined with through dovetails. But instead
of ha\i~ 3 drawer with nowhere to put
it, you have a h.mdy little serving tra~'.
IAnother option is to leave off th~ handles
for an in/oul box.)
The fOUT sides of the tray are made of II,
solid oak. and the bonum is 11,- oak ply.
wood. The nice thing about this tray is thlll
it doesn't have to be any particular size.
(Translated, that means if )'011 blow a cut.
you can alWR)'Strim it off and .tart again.)
To make the tray. rip the Iwo pieces for
th(' ends to a width of 311.
... and the two
long sides arc ripped to a width of 2V,.
Then leave the saw at the z.y," setting and
make a partial rip cut (about I" long) into
the top edge of the end pieces. set' Fig. 1Clip off this littIc piece of waste so the end.
of the boar<L; are the same width.
T1tl: IlO\ t:1'_"!.S. The size and spacing of
the pins and tails for the dovetails is. shown
in Fig. 1. If you choose a different spacing.
be >UTe the half-pin on the bottom is frurly
small so the groove for the bottom clears
this half-pin.
To cut the dovetails. I started with the
pin!' on the lunl( sideJ;. Once th...... were
cut. I used them as a template to layout
Ihe cuts for the tails,
CRooVES FOR BO'TTO)I.AfWl' the dovetails were cut. I cut the grooves for the 11."
plywood bottom. The groove~ on the lonll
sidescan goalliheway from one end to the
other. However. lh. grooves on lhe end
pieces must.be stopped. ~ill.2.1 cut these
groo\t'S on a router table.
After the grooV'lS are cut, dry-assemble
the four sides and get the measurements
for the plywood bouom, Cut the bottom to
size and check its fit in the tray.
UANIlLES. To cut out too handles. 1used
a ~'orstner bit to "rill two I" holes, and
clean"" out the waste between the holes
with a sabre saw. The edges h1>ide the
handle are rounded over with a y,. corner
round bit on a router. (If YOU want to mak...
an iniout box instead of a tray, leave offthe
handles and cut S-curve recesses 8S on the
Inng "ide s. )
The Scurve recesses on the long sides
arc made by first drilling 0/, holes,
centered on the lOPedge. Then the waste
betwe('n the h,)]es is removed \\~th a sabre
saw and the top comer> nrc rounded over
to 6n;"h out the S-curve.
rl"I~IIISC;. l glued and clamped the tray
tog~ther and ~ed the corners smooth.
Then I finished it \lith 1I'(I(cooil. as described in Shop NCIteS.page 12.

\VOOOSM1TH

RGUU 1

RAOtUS-

I .....
t lONG SAW KERf

....

11

'. lADtUS

... 0
j_

.....
s

,\J'j

i/

!
1

~
STOOC

l,"f

'=

.7

OOVETAll lAYOUt

nou.,

lONG stDE

CUT HANDlE OFf HEItE

FOR tNJOUl lOX
.-NO'" SltG>fT
f
INSIDI Cu.vt

SHotf SlOE

1 RAlMUS

GROO"--""'-...
PlACE AIOVE PiN

19

Shaker Step- Stand

GETIING TWO STEPSAHEAD WITH DOVETAILS
'TIfF. CV'M'L'IG DIAGRA~1. The Culling
Diagram shows how to layout the cut. on
5~-wide boards. Basically, I cut two
pieces for each leg: one piece 5" wide and
another 2Y, wide. These two piece. are
edge-glued together (no dowels or splines)
to get the 71'. rough width, Fig. 1.
~r
the glue was dry, I planed these
boards smooth. The hard part is making
sure the boards 3l't! planed to an even
thickness, especially at the ends of the
boards (where the dovetails "ill be eut.)
AfLer the boards are planed to final
thickness.J cutoffonecnd square with the
edges (lea\ing the other end rough. and a
little long for now), Then I ripped them
down to the final width of 7",

THE LEGS

The next step is to layout the cuts (or the

dovetails in the legs and steps, To determine which piece gets the tails and which
gets the pins, two thin!!S must be taken
into consideration,
The joint should be laid out so the tails
are on the steps. Since the tails can be
made fairly wide, the)' will be strong
enough to support the weight of anyone
stepping (In the Stand,
This means, of course, the pins must be
on the legs, which works out just fine because the locking characteristics of the
pius will prevent the Step Stand from

'racking.'

Shaker furniture is famous for il~

I
basic, uncluttered style, as well as
its unquestioned utility, The Step Stand
shown here is a classic example of Shaker
design at its best, It's simple furniture that
works. The only decoratien (if it can be
eaIIed that) is the beauty of the \<6od and
the dovetail joints,
If I werejustlearning to Quidovetails. I
think this is a project I'd want to tackle.
However, there's a lot of preparatory
work involved before you get to the fun
part. One ofthe biggest headaches b thinking through the sequence of work,
GETTING STARTED

This first step is to select the wood to be

used, Although this sounds trivial, the
grain patterns of the wood play an importam role in both the ease of gettinl! the
work done, and the final appearance of the
Step Stand, I chose cherry for this project
mostly because it'. an excellent wood to

zo

work with hand tools.

If you can get nice straight boards that
srel" wide (and nor cupped), thejob will be
somewhat easier. However, we're showing narrower board. in the Cutling Diagram to give an idea of how to layout the
cuts if you must glue-up boards to get the
7" width necessary.
Since cherry can vary so much in color
(from dark blood red to a very light pink),
matching the pieces to be glued up should
be done with care. (As you can see in the
phOLo,my ability to match boards leaves
something to be desired.)
THI ,CUTTING DIAGRAM

I started by laying out the euts to make

two steps and four legs. For the lime being, I considered the legs four separate
pieces (two short tegs for the front and two
long legs for the back). Late." one short.
and One long leg would be joined together
later to form the fmal 'Stair-step' legs,

The layout I finally settled on fw' the size

and placement of the pins and tails is
shown inF~. 2. There are enough tails and
pins to make a fairly sturdy joint, Also the
tails are about 5 times wider than the pin.
to provide the strength needed on the
steps.
However, there is one more thing to
allow for. Even though the total width of
each board isl" to start, the dovetails are
laid out across a width
only 6V.... The
extra :y.. on the front edge of each board
allows for the thickness of the brace (which
is added later).
Till> "L''S. The pins are laid out $0 the
narrow esst part of each pin is on the OUT
side ofeach leg. Then the bevel gnuge is set
to a 1:5 angle to mark the angles Onthe end
of the board.
We've shown the width of each pin as
exactly \4", and the spaces between the
pins as exactly 1Y" (see Fig, 2), When you
add up these figures you get the 6Y.
needed. However, slight alteration.
should be made. If the narrowest part of
the pins is just a smidgen over
it's
much easier to get a v... chisel in Ihere to

or

v..",

WOODSMITH

cIean out th, waste on the tails. This, of

eourse. n-duC<.>i!
lh~ width of the spaces
between Ih" pinAlojust under IV.". This is
no bill deal, il JUSI helps when the actual
euuing twgirL'"
Ait~r marking lhe eut lines. the pins are
cut and <hopped out as with any other
dovetail joint .. except, the half pin on
the front edge of each piece is lell extrawide to allow Cor the notch for the brace.
see Fig.-.?
GLt:.t;P cscs, Before marking the cut
lineslor the tails, 1glued one short and one
long leg together to rom the final version
oflhe stair-step legs, Fig. 3. Then I planed
this assembly smooth, making sure all of
the pins were still an even thickness.
Although this makes marking the cut
line Corthe tails a rather awkward procedure (as shown in Fig. 4). there is a
reason, If you glue the longand short legs
together first, you can plane this leg assembly smooth - e"ening out any varialion at the glue-joint line. Since you'll
have to plane the wholesurface. the thickness ofthe pins "in bealtercd. This is okay
because now the tails can now be marked
to final (aelUllllthickness or the pins.
On the other hand. if you mark the cut
lines for the tails before gluing up the two
legs, you could run into problems. You
would have to be very accurate when the
two leg sections are glued together. (fthe
join; line is off and you try to plane it
smooth. the pins "ill be shaved down and
the dovetails won't fit properly,

was done in two stages. First I trimmed

them to a 'i" width to match the width ofthe
legs. But r waited for final trimming until
the notches Cor the braces were CUl. so I
could gel an exact fit.
The cut lines Cor th~ tails can now be
marked on the steps using the pins on the
legs, Fig. 4. When marking. make sure the
steps are linedup whh the back edge oflhe
leg!'(anyextra width should hang over the
front edgt!where it's eMYto trim off).
r~"A1."I1TING. Once the pins and tails
are cut. go ahead and tap the joints
together (the momentof truth). The joints
should be tight. and the assembled Step
Stand should be square. If there are massive problems. dean up the pins as best
youcan and you'llprobably have to cut new
board. for the steps.
Once e\'~'1.hlng fits. the bottom of the
legs can be cut 01Tsquare (l did this on a
table saw with the panel cutting jig shown
in IVood/fmilhNo. is.) Finally. the 4'1!"
radius halr-clt-clecan be cut on the bottom
of each leg.
"GUlE 2

MU.f 1

, l

TlioM SlIIlOHGUG T .21

SHOll lEG r: .. IO!"!'
ST"
7 x'S

-'~.

'-

..

-ROHT (DC!

'1'

,__s

2'-:?_
10>',

lWO

twO

$><0.,

tONG
lEGS

tEGS

i
1..I

fRoN'lOGE-

IS'

s
two

SID'S

TO' V1lW

!--"

6\.

-j-

~:~~
\.','.

"

'.

fAU S'Df

7 l"~/i-.,...--tr.r--"~--f/.f-'v.'

-I

.J" .,..

\1

THE STEPS

~
~

SIOfV1EW

/\t

Aller the legs are glued up. the boards for

the steps can be cut 10 the 10" final length,
making sure the ends are square with the
edges. The final width of the steps is GV....
However, Lgluedthem up to width of71'""
to start. Then. trimming them down to size

OOVtTAll LA'tOUT
FlGUIE J

MATERIALS LIST

AUOW SPACf fOI, NOTOt

ro alCutWfJt

,.

...., n n n
I

Overall Dimensiom. 21"

A Shott t.g (2)
a long lAg (2)
C Slep (2)
0 8...., .. (3)

CUnlNG

7',r.

A
A
A

r"'t[ ..

lSw x 14"d

% x 7 . lOY,
Y 7 21
~,,7.1$
:1/ 215

FiSilutH in pa,..nthe.us

SHOll LfG

II:

0'"

(71/1:" 1~)
(7'h.2IV.)
(7t1a" lSV.)
(2'1. Jt 15V..)

:J' ....

..,
st..

I
4'~

c.

'=

\VOODSMITII

n n n

.L

fOW<CH,\

--

~~

NCH

_~Ul'ues
TOOat40

I.AYQUff~
ON Sf!P
.. .. $ AS

..,_

E'IIi!"i"7~I'i(lZ5 "":i{I2:e:i'-]

ClAMI'STfP

1EG0N ...... (

'r

.,i)
f

DIAGRAM

.UGHfO...

......

tD\lgh cfim.nsions.

~ $\0\- ....
lONG lEG

MAb: DOWN 1C)1,h- _

F.~TOI' 0' lONG LfG

lPl._

~"

!>

,I

'-TRIM IOn~lATE.

21

FtGURf S

THE BRACES

T
IRACH (THan "ECU)

.IiALI rAtI.$
ON IO'rH (NOS

llP TO"'SlZ.f
~TE.

.r-

-I

IS

__~ n I'.

""~
~l)'

r <..!-.
~.;,

'<,
alAC.

.~ . '/t'.. _
MARK ANGLE

ON fRONT EOGfOf uc

mz

~tK

SOUIlI!(

_CH

~-

MURC'

---

WAlI-lAIt. AND

~AA(.CtOS$

.!f

_,.>II

r...,_

CUTSIlOUlD'.

FlRSI

WITH COPtNG SAW

..

\~

OfBRACE

,t

JLf{jl:@i

I:t.;.

..L ~

lV.
',5 ANGlf

_,

....

'<"')

~I(NE!iS

10!))

10',>

+t-

-.

6V

lV,1t /,

1\.'.

,-+'1

~r
I

p.

j_

j_~

ID~

10""

V
I

.. IADIUS

_j_

f='
22

GLUE-UP AND FINISHING

OF LEG

IT

_.-.

C\1AN OUT WA.ST

ffGua 10
rAJl

UG

,_

'/oRE DOWN' ~,

".I A

>

NOICH

C f-

wmt "'{I't<

"'C!<llACE
T

?,~

I""I:/~I

~~

MAU .,GtE Of

~-<

,I

fftOHl alACE

<l

~~~

Ii' Off WA$Tt

POSITION lACK
aRACt LEVt~WI~

. - "J-

MAar OUT

AClOSS

Of !.EO

,mf

OF.RAct

f 'It. ,.0'"l_

IAQ( 0Gt. Of UO

.,~

lHKKHU,

<. I.EG

~URfl

'I.
~A

r:'<

'Il> ~

&1

J~A

AGUtE 1
MAIl( IIO$OlOl'f OF
NOTCH ON SlE'

Before gluing the legs and steps together

the braces must be cut. There are three
braces: one on the back to help keep the
Stand sturdy (prevent l'lIcking), and two
braces on the front to reinforce the
strength of the steps themselves (to take
the brunt of the weight when tlQmoone
steps on them),
All three braces are joined to the legs
with. half-dovetail joint. This amounts to
a large halfpin notch in the lellb. and a
matching half-tail on the end, of the
braces. I found it essiest to cut the half-tail
on the brace fu"t. and US(!(! it to mark the
cut line. fQr the notch"s.
JIAU'.TAlL. To cut the half-tail. use a
sliding bevel to mark a 1:5 angle on only
one end of each brace. This line starts Yo"
up the bottom edge (see Detail in Fig. 10.).
Then mark a shoulder line equal to the
thickness of the leg. Saw down the shoulder line "ith a dovetail ssw. and pare out
the \' -shaped noteb with a wide chisel.
Before marking the shoulder line on the
other end of each brace. make sure the
.houlder to shoulder distance i" equal to
the measurement between the Ie!!", Fig. 5.
Then mark the angle and pare out the
V-noteh.
TilE IUI.rI'ISs.
Once the half-tail, are
cut on the braces, hold the end of the brace
on the front legs to mark the cut line for the
half-pin notches. Fig. 6. I used a dovetail
saw to saw down both cut line. Then I
cleaned up the saw marks "ith a paring
chisel (u.ingitjust like a hand-held plane).
The half-pin notch on the back is more of
a problem. After marking the cut lines (>0
they're even with the front brace. ~'16'8). I
mad. the two shoulder CII\.' to the depth of
the notch. Then I removed most of the
waste \\~th coping saw. and cleaned up
the CUl with a chisel. Fig. 9.

I,

14

I,.

-'-=1

I I

The front edges of the step. can be

trimmed to final width. ~'ig. 7. Then dryassemble the Stand to make sure everything fits. Clamping these pieces together
is kind of a hassle because of the half-circle
at the bottom of the legs. I applied some
glue to the joint. and tapped them
together. Then I pulled the lai'" in place
with pipe clamps. (Use a piece of strap
under the legs to support the clamps across
the half-ci...,le CUI-OUt.)
No" it'~ just a matter of filing the ends
of the dovetails flush with the surface.
(Although it was nice to use hand tools for
mOSI of this project. I cheated and US(!(! a
belt sander to smooth OUItbe end grain.)
nStSHtNC. I wanted to go with an oil
finish mostly because scuff marks would
present a real problem on this kind of projCCI. I finished the Step Stand with IVatco
oil. as described in Shop Notes. pags 12.

WOODS~nTH

.1

TalkingSho~__
AN OPEN FORUM
SCOTCH GLUE

I've hoard people mention IImng Scotch

glue. but 1 haven't used it ami really don't
even know what It is. Do :\,OU know what
Scotch glue is and where it can be

purchased?
R, C. Skid,l/qre
flaltie.burg, .If;s,.i, ippi
Srold, glue is al/otller name for /tide glut
Or a"imal gille, //'8 mad, from al/imell
parn, IlIllUllly lite hides and bemts,
Althol<lIlt1lid~gl,,,, ,8 still a"ailable, it is
IIDt used t'(TI) often any mo"" since the
illlrrlllllrtioll oj Iht alip/tOlir r~.i!ll/ (ytl.
luw glut) and. poIY"illyl arelat. glfle3
("hilt gIll.).
I~iqll;dhidt gl14f i IlIVlilabl, as. boll, (I
liqlli,l Ill/d a .. ,lid. Tlte liqllidjo"l11 ,. ,,'Cd)!
to ',8t from thr 00111, TJ" solid.forllt " IIRf
be soak.ec/Ol"1 nliahl in 1(!Qiera'ld hta-l''Ii'lj
t

a glll< pl)1 dlf,uig

II.".

Bull, liquid IIml solid hidr gl", call be

purrhasedfrolll' Ga"..,u \Vade. 161 .1,,,,.
of lite AlIll'rira$, Neu' Y(n'k, .\'1'11' l'ork
1()()IJ, (Calal"'): ~'/.(IO.)
STORING HARDWOODS

J've recentl" started working \\~th bard

woods ami have built up a 6upply of about
100 board feet, My question is whelber or
nOI I'm storing it properly.
The boards are kept in my basement
work>!hop laid on LOpof three concrete
blocks with sLitks bet ween each layer of
board~, J've been careful to as.<ure that the
tops of the concrete blacks all tie in the
same plane. I am stil! col,cerned thaL thi.
may not be the best method of storage,
If you have Ilny suggestions, 1 would
appreciate them.

William D. r"""er
Brookfitld, ~Vi.con..ill
Stirl.;lIg I"",bm' (plad"lJ ,.tick. bell''eell
lagers) it a comnum prudice l<sed by the
II{lrcil(YJOd j1td'<4lr!f before kiln drlli?!9, To
t1fitiQlllllOII'l'r OICpt'rc~IIWge of ",oisture,
til, IlIlIIbtor.8 slidd .IId left (0 partial/y
air<iry, IVI,cn t}r, IU'lfbtor is litrn pl{lctd ill
01_ killl for drym9, .t , .tick"l agoi" 10

),rlp rlt"U~ ,'tV'" dry'"y. Aft",. lllt' IU"lbtrr

I,lig Ix~II d'l1cd. 1/'.sIJ't"1 slol:('td lIt U Iblid
bl<ndl~(wl/h,ml sl,tk.).
IJ Y'III
III,III1<'r tlral
alrrady
be.II k,l" dri,d, Ih, lum/}.rlCi/l tlm.lallily
IN- lryi il!l It. 9'" ;1# '~'Oi$tI/J"tl co"lrnl i"
eqltaliltriu,,, ,f'ilh tJl(' air it' tile rooI, B~

.".Ic

\\10< ll)~~nTII

"1M

callSr.most ofll~.(m"tr!! Ita.mul'( humidity than 19%(lit. mai8lu""cemlcllt afkil"

dritd lumber), thcL ."lbtor will be tryiug 10
absorb 1Itoi$ture.
If YOllr lumber II kiln dried, I would
"lack il in a /IOlid b:",dl~ with a piece
~( plywood under fll~ bott,ml layer a>ld
a"o/hn piece 011lop of tne b.wdlf. The
Illywood 'fill helll prevent maisture fmm
entering the lop alld balta", layers.
Sine<- ttie ('''fL. (){ lite boards tcillabsorb

with than short leaf yelloff' p;'le. it 81i(/

pre..rnl, problelll$ ;11 fillilll.III!1 lesprC'ially
staiuitlgJ

1~'lIt'it(,(J)tlpared 10 horduood.

['1I[oltlwatell/, fhe

1l01'()um/

.!'flite pin.

(.'Omc(i""$ called ca$t~I ,chilt'/,ille) IlIa(

It'(l~llltcd ;" Early i1'I!t'MClr,,/urlliturt 1$

""ly o('oilablt ;)! /imittd supply Once

rOllsistiltg of .I,utd. <4111tv severnl hundrrd billiolt board [t~/."'()$/ uf tht tree
that (lytt tdntldi)'g "'nil' (1ft $t'cm~dgrou'/il

Ii-"tbn' "'Id eqll.ol (~'lly (I fraction (If Iht'

and: releQsr Ute IIIMI (,foist" rt, thaJl~/Wti,ld origillal board foo/(lge. WI,ell il ro" be
be protecttd with u product l/rat .",,(aills 0 oblai,u,I, il'. IIIt"aUy hlll/t// Gild s",all,
high solid cOllle"t, lik polYltretha".,
LOCATING SHEET ROCK SCREWS
IVI"", 1/<111
lire ready to se tiu! lumber,
I'd suggest YOilset it out 0/1 blocks like yolt
In your Is..-t issue, Roger Uree "TOte a
8f1ggtJlled.forall<'08t (>lIe It'uk. Titi. "'ill letter in the tips and techniques p.~ge
allow the lumber to btoco",,' somewital ad recommending lh~ use of sheet rock
justed to th 1111 midil?! of 'he room will,(Jul screws, I'd sure like to know where he
rfll.Bi.ltg tlt(' nioisittTf" content (0 tJr,. po'J,t
buy. them because they seem IJI be un111,
.....' tllt .Iability i8 ,'t'd"r.I'd.
obtainable in our area.
BALL BEARING SHAPR GUIDES

Ttd Fr"lk<Jff

BI,,, RIdge, Georgia

\\'hen cutting lh!chand with tho shaper, I

have the problem of the wood bunting on
the guide. Do you know of any place they
sell bearings to replace J,lUidcs?

We a"sullled fha' most IU1Itbfr varcia IIlal

BtlX'krd $I1,el rodI (dry mil) ~"'tlld0180
CIImJ shee: t'OCk lk'mC. Bitt oft.....clIb/11
J(lh'J DItr1)'Il(II.~ IMtreral 'Ianis i" (JIlt rea. tI..'e jOtl.}td Ulat

StocktvlI, Jllinoi.
f'reud U,S.A. offel'3 ball beanllg gllide.
for .1tOJN"f bil8. I" Iheir catal"') Ihey IUtt
tll~ ball bearing gllidts as ball bearillg
rub colla1'S. They come i1l .'OrioIl8 $iz~
for both the illsid. ,/lui thl! o"tsUk dia",
,Wnl. Unfo,tullaJely, tJ,cy are 1I0t cJICap,
costing froTII $iI. ()() to S~o.()() eaclt Fur
m(n'ei,!(ormali<1h, coulact Freud U.S.A ..
218 reid AL'e.. llig/r Poillt. .VC J711i4.
Tallfree pllone: 1-8()()-3$$2.50.;.
EARLY AMERICAN PIN

I am in coml,lete .gl'~ment with you that

the pine you used (l1'"oosmifh .'V". I>igl'.
feen), short leuf yellow, is not. ""bin,,!
wood, It hru; IlIIlhe f'aulu. you mentioned
plus the fuct that no matter how much you
work on finishing it, you still end up with a
wild pine grain. About the only thing you
can do with it is to paint it
Howe\'er, most Early American fur
niture \\--as made of eastel-n \\hite pine or
"punkin pine". It is easy to work with, has
little grain, and is easily finished.
.'loYlle Itriflrludd by requesl

For Ih('projrcts that 1(', build lI'il/, pint. It",

rI,'C pl)lIdljJ'()8Q
piJw fi'Om tI,e weaterl' U.S.
Although pl)ndel'()sa pine;s OO8i",. to work

011111a flnt' Uard$ .tocked tllC sr""'"8. lI'.

1''''''< told lltOt 1Iu: disfributors o[shert NXk
art 1I$I<alllll/rpollly fin,," thai stork .lIeut

hJtk S('1"t'1t'S. III O,er OTtO, tlw di.~lriblltor,'f

of alreet rock wert li>und by lOOking ill tJ.~

Yellow Pa1!e, oflhe pho". boak ,,~d~r Dry
\\'aU Contr.etor$

Equipment

and

SUpplies.
NONTOXIC

FINISH

I'm hanOI(" hard time finding an appropri

at' finish for beer steins turned on
lhe lathe. Do you know of any nontoxic
finish that are safe to w;e on turned
.tein~ that at'<' going to a~ruaJly be used?

Jolm P. Schalltz
Allell(olulI, P",,,,sylvl1,,;a
Salad Bowl Finish. ",ad.by H. Behlen &

that ,eill be;"

cOlltact wilh/ooti ordrink. /I conlai"s only
material., tI,o,t hal" beet! appro.'cdfor COil'
lad It'il/'food by I/re 1./, S, Food and Drug
Bra .. rem be used

011 projects

CO)/11)li88io,t.

Se.',mtytlOO holtrs drying time is re

quired before theji>liIlh is safefortlse with
food. Salad Bowl Finish call be padded 011
",hich 111W<6$ it'specially useful fOT lallte
projecls It call be pllrt/lased throllgh
\\'oodcraft Supply Corp" 313 Montvale
A\'e .. 'Voburn MA 01888,

23

Tissue Box

NOTHING TO SNEEZEAT
It looks pretty easy. There are only a few
dovetails on each comer and they're cut in
stock that's only ~" thick. But this tissue
box is nothing (0 sneeze at. Jr you want to
te~t out your skill at cutting dovetails, this
project might be a good place to .tart.
The thing that makes Ihig little box difficult is that there's no room for error.
Every dovetail is in plain .ight and mILStbe
cut right on the money. AIlSO,the basie box
must be CUI to a specific size.
THt; BASIC eox, To build the box. Ii....
t
cut the four sides to width and length as
shown in t'ig. 1. These pieces must be cut
SO the inside dimensions of the completed
box accept the tissue box. (I buill W. box
around a small box of KUl!1!er brand tissues. If you choose another brand. check
the box size before making the cuts.)
I chose \Ii" hard maple for the four sides
of the box. (Hard maple makes CUttingthe
dovetails a bit more of a ehallenge.)
The dovetails are laid out as shown in
Fig. I. When marking the base lines for the
pin. and tails, the key thing is to make sure
the distance between the base lines is large
enough to accept the dimensions of the
tissue box.
THE BASJ-:. Once the basie box is glued
up, I cut four pieces of cherry 1Y' "ide for
the mitered base frame. (Note: the base
must be a frame as shown. One piece of
solid wood cannot be used because of
expansion/contraeticn problems.)
To mnke the base frame, 1 cut an Ogee
molding edge on the four pieces first. Then
each piece is mitered and glued up to form
the frame.
OPTlON. This project could be Q jewelry
box b)' adding a plywood bottom. Rabbet
the inside edge of each of the four pieces for
the base (before they're glued up). and
glue in a Baltic birch plywood bottom.
TIlE LID.Alter gluing the dovetailed box
to the frame. I made the lid. The lid is a
solid piece of cherry cut Yz' smaller (in both
dimensions) than the base. Once 8~in I
used an Ogee bit on the edge.
To mount the lid. I drilled two Y' holes
centered on the top edge oflhc short sides.
and corresponding holes in the lid. Then
Y' dowels are cut to fit the holes.
If the box is to be used for jewelry, out
mortises on one of the long sides tor small
hinges. The onl~' problem here is that we
couldn't come up with a good way to mount
clasp on the lid.
I'INISHJNC. The box was finished with
three coats of Ilb.-(:ut white shellac, (Vou
eaagec Llb-eu; sheUaebythinning3Ib.cut
1:3 with denatured aleohol.)

24

..,

'IGU.~

11

1~-

~'.

SlOE

(TWO I'!!C!S)

""'--1"'
_,.-+)
,0'
Sl'OCJC

.ov.

I'

I'_,,.,u

6\,-

Dlll1 I HCM.i

,i, E

>"-.

STOCk

",CiS),'4

!I<I>

[JWO

11'h'----

5~,.

_,

...,..1. ...
I

""

SHOUlDt~

OGfE err

:.i"------~-~---/-,,;T

~"

h tA....

CAOSS SKlION

"'i========="1'(
I
:1

o. &QnOM fRAMO

J.

'CORNERS MITI.EDANDGlUEO/

1"..

lAS<

'. STOCI<

.:

IT

mUR! 2

----11--

101 HINOES

.}-,1'._
',' SlOCK
GWI SSO! SlCT10H

...fO aOJTOM FlAME-

{..aT NK~Y-

',. Pi'tWOOO

Fa. nSSUEBOX)

Ill'

WOODSMITH