{"id":458,"date":"2012-08-11T03:04:07","date_gmt":"2012-08-11T03:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/?p=458"},"modified":"2012-08-11T03:05:55","modified_gmt":"2012-08-11T03:05:55","slug":"a-barn-beam-a-sofa-table-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/11\/a-barn-beam-a-sofa-table-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"A Barn Beam, A Sofa Table: Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have to admit, the last time I tried cutting dovetails in thick stock the results were not what I had wished for.\u00a0 If you ever stop by my shop you can see them, like I get to nearly\u00a0everyday. They are on the tail-vise assembly on my workbench.\u00a0 A constant reminder of the need for humility! I like to think I’ve learned a thing or two in the past 25 years so I took a different approach this time.\u00a0 The trouble was, back then, I didn’t have a handsaw that was up to the task of sawing dovetails in 3″ thick hard maple with any degree of real accuracy — I still don’t! So, I decided to put my band-saw to work this time.\u00a0 I did not want to handle the whole glued up table top, so I am cutting the joints in the table top halves before gluing it up.\u00a0 After sketching out the dovetails I put together this little auxilliary\u00a0table that I clamp to the bandsaw table (at the correct “drift-angle”)\u00a0to reproduce the desired dovetail angle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is a common approach to “band-saw dovetailing”- nothing that I dreamed up, but here are a few details.\u00a0 The table can be mounted to either side of the blade to reverse the angle as needed.\u00a0 The fence is integral to the slanted table, sliding on dovetailed ways to maintain parallel and is clamped in position as needed (with the C-clamps pictured).\u00a0 There are two slotted,\u00a0removeable blocks — one is in position and held in place with a wedge —\u00a0which serve to channel the sawdust below the table to the dust collection port.\u00a0 The other block is used when the table is reversed.\u00a0 I scribed the shoulder of the dovetails as is usual, with a marking gauge and simply saw down to that line once the saw fence is set. I am starting with the pins. I cleared out most of the waste, making use of\u00a0a Grammercy turning saw, which works beautifully for this task:<\/p>\n

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I follow up with a guide-block clamped in place,\u00a0smack on the scribe-line, and pare down with a chisel, coming in from both sides, to the middle:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I missed a photo here, but the outline of the \u00a0pins are transferred directly to the legs by simply placing then in position on the legs\u00a0and then tracing around the pins\u00a0with a sharp drafting pencil. If\u00a0I then\u00a0saw right to that line on the waste side and just barely skim the line, to make the “dovetails”\u00a0 I should end up with a nice fitting joint. I decided to use the bandsaw for this as well, making use of a long wedge with the correct angle, and a\u00a0bandsaw fence:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I set the fence, then\u00a0slide the wedge to place the blade where I want it.\u00a0 Then the wedge and leg are moved as a unit to make the cut.\u00a0 My dad made this nifty\u00a0fence using heavy duty magnets that are activated by rotating the knob — there’s one at each end:\u00a0 two twists and the fence is locked, two twists and it’s loosened.\u00a0 Very nice.<\/p>\n

Again, I used the turning saw, guide block, and chisels to clear out the waste.\u00a0 Nothing wrong with the results this time!<\/p>\n

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Until next time!<\/em><\/p>\n

df<\/em><\/p>\n

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I have to admit, the last time I tried cutting dovetails in thick stock the results were not what I had wished for.\u00a0 If you ever stop by my shop you can see them, like I get to nearly\u00a0everyday. They … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wormy-chestnut-sofa-table"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":472,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions\/472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfinck.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}