Big Dovetail Help

[Josh Bowman]

I'm in the process of building a Roubo bench and need some help. How would you cut a big dovetail on the end of the bench? I'm just a novice with handtools and this may be beyond my abilities, but if someone has a way it would be nice. I need the one end to hold the wagon vise.

[Rick Erickson]

Check out this video. He does the same thing you are looking to do.

http://rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog/2009/11/09/rww-70-the-roubo-returns/#more-295

Of course, having 15' ceilings helps :eek:

[David Gendron]

For the end cap, you don't need to DT the entire width. Usualy, you do DT at each ends of your end cap( think breadboards end), to accept the the last long peices(front and back) of the top(like an apron) Is that make sense!

[Josh Bowman]

Check out this video. He does the same thing you are looking to do.

http://rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog/2009/11/09/rww-70-the-roubo-returns/#more-295

Of course, having 15' ceilings helps :eek:
Rick,
Thanks, excellant video and web site. Looks like unless I want the bench wider, I'm too late to do an end cap dovetail. Also since it's not what I envisioned, going all the way across, I will still have to bolt the end cap for the wagon vise, which is what I wanted to avoid. Oh well, bolting is easier anyway.:)

[David Gendron]

I guss you could do a full lenght sliding DT, but you would ned to be quite accurat! Keep us updated on your progress!

[Jim Koepke]

You could also do a partial dovetail just on the side by the wagon vice.

Make a wide breadboard tenon on the end so the mortise in the end piece could slip over the dovetail on the wagon vise side. Then just put tails on either side of the wagon vise. You could even make a slightly larger dove tail on the far side away from the wagon vise.

What you can do depends on the tools and confidence you have.

Not sure if that makes sense, but if needed, maybe I can draw a picture. Of course, that might take forever.

jim

[Rick Erickson]

I think the tail needs to be on the face side of the bench. The pin or tale socket if half-blind should be on the side face (wagon side). This is where the possible separation would take place