Dove tails and drawer construction

[Tom McMahon]

When cutting dovetails I start with a 90* cut thru the waste this gives clearance for chopping the waste and a place to start the cuts for the tails.
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If interested there is more here (http://millcrek.wordpress.com/)

[Terry Beadle]

That's a good idea. It should help protect the edges of the tail shoulders and make removal of waste that much more easy.

Regarding your pin design....they are a bit too narrow aren't they? I would think the pins will end up being too narrow for any strength. I guess the miracle of glue and tight fitting makes the joint a solid unit even though the pins are so narrow..?

[Tom McMahon]

Terry you are correct, modern standards say that tails and pins should be approximate the same size for maximum strength. However in period examples many of the pins are this narrow or even narrower. The drawer that these were cut for is so small they are more than strong enough.

[Chris Griggs]

I haven't used this technique for tails before - I do, however, make several similar relief cuts when I do pins in half-blinds - definitely makes chopping/clearing the waste easier. I think I got the idea from Tom Fidgins blog a while back. It's one of those things that is probably old as the hills, but for whatever reason a lot of us don't think of on our own. So it's really helpful when folks bring up little techniques like this periodically.