Dovetails

[Rob Holcomb]

I'm hoping one or more of you might have some suggestions on what to do about my problem. I'm making a blanket chest out of Cherry wood with dovetail joinery and I used the Keller jig to make them. Everything seemingly went together fine but I have 4 dovetails where the panels didn't go together quite tight enough. Two on each side of the front panel. Apparently the boards were just bowed ever so slightly. The result is spaces that are not even a knife blade wide but noticable. More like a sliver. They aren't wide enough to put a shim in or at least I can't seem to make shims that are thin enough to slide in. I tried using wood putty but even with a light sanding of 220 grit sandpaper, the putty comes back out. I guess there's not enough room for the putty to get in far enough. I'm stumped about what to do to make all the dovetails look nice and tight. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Leo Graywacz]

Apply glue on the affected areas. Smoosh it in with your finger and quickly take a RO sander with about 120 grit paper and sand the joint. Should come out looking like it was perfect.

[Don Dorn]

I'm personally not a fan of the glue solution because you'll ultimately find some that shows up in finishing and even glue shows a difference - at least in my experience.

My suggestion is to use block or bench plane and make some shavings that are thick enough that you can a couple widths in there. Then a small amount of glue and sand. However, if you are going to stain or use oil, put some mineral spirts on first which will show you if there is any glue left.

[Leo Graywacz]

Never had a problem

[Jeff Mohr]

For the glue method...what type of glue? CA or Titebond or ??

[Leo Graywacz]

Tite Bond II. I have never used this method with staining, only clearcoat using precat lacquer. If this is what youare planning then you should do a test pc with stain.

[Jim Rimmer]

Tite Bond II. I have never used this method with staining, only clearcoat using precat lacquer. If this is what youare planning then you should do a test pc with stain.
I would vote for the TB. I used CA on a practice project of walnut inlay that had a few small gaps and an oopsie or 2. The CA made the walnut dust darker than the walnut. Next practice will be with TB. Saw a video on the woodwhisperer where he did just what was suggested and in the video it looked really good.

[Paul Murphy]

I've read that guys will take a dovetail saw and saw right down the gap, then slip a ready piece of glued veneer into the kerf. They claim properly oriented veneer will be an invisible repair.

Of course all my dovetails fit perfectly, so I can't tell you if this actually works :rolleyes:.

I also hear if you leave the pins proud you can apply glue to the gap and pein the pin to close the gap. I haven't tried this, but it would probably work for smaller gaps.

Finally, sawdust from that particular board and liquid hide glue (or shellac) make pretty good filler, and will stain better than most. Yellow glue can cause more problems at finishing, because it blocks stain.

[Rob Holcomb]

I tried Leo's suggestion today and that didn't work. The same result happened. I sanded and the space was still there. Tomorrow, I'll try one of the other suggestions and see how things work out.

[Leo Graywacz]

How big is the space? When I do it I have covered 1/64".

[Rob Holcomb]

Leo, the spaces are very narrow. 1/64th is about right. They aren't very deep either so that might be my problem. They are where the pins meet the base of the tails right where they meet the rest of the board so I can't try the dovetail saw suggestion but maybe I can get a razor blade in the spaces to slightly increase the depth and try again.

[Leo Graywacz]

Good luck. Hope it works out.

[Dan T Jones]

I would and do use the glue and sawdust routine but I use the Elmers stainable woodglue.