Sliding dovetails

[Tom Hammond]

I taken to using sliding dovetails for mounting aprons on table legs, and have gotten away from pocket screws for this particular joint. I have a knockoff dovetail jig that I've used in the past... what I do is mount the jig backward on the top of the unit and use the straight edge instead of the dovetail slots to run my router along. With 20-thread per inch (50 1000ths per rotation) screws for the positioning of the jig in relation to the edge of the board, I'm able to guage the adjustment of the jig fairly accurately by adjusting the screws by controlled angles. But, it's just so much easier to use my Kreg tabletop router table. However, I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on how to get equally accurate adjustments of the router table fence as I can on the dovetail jig. Actually... I'd like even more accuracy. I've found that tight joints, a touch of sandpaper and dryfitting the joints a number of times using an ol' rubber mallet makes great joints... but if I could get a bit more accuracy on the routing I could get away with doing a less handwork on each joint. THANKS.

[frank shic]

use an incra? i haven't used sliding dovetails yet but thanks for the tip!

[Frank Drew]

I think that's a good joint for the purpose; I'd cut the dovetail slots in the legs then fine tune the fit of the tails on the aprons. I've only done it low-tech method, loosening the clamps a bit and giving the router table fence a gentle bump for adjustment. As I said, low-tech, but it worked.

Frank's probably right that the Incra fence or equivalent might be the way to go.

[glenn bradley]

I love these joints for aprons and also for thinner stock right angle joints. Like a small wall cabinet sides to top and bottom connection for example. I do them on the router table. I make "rough" adjustments using pieces of tape to alter the angle of approach. Be careful not to go too far in your quest for an air tight joint. To quote the late Sam Maloof "Leave room for the glue!"