dovetail woes

[Jim Andrew]

I bought a new 4210 PC jig, and today was starting to use it. Already built the Woodsmith magazine holder box, and started with some scraps and pretty soon had it adjusted and made a pretty good joint, so tried making a drawer. The practice cuts were better than the drawer, so tried a few more practice cuts. My problem is that the directions say to raise the cutter if you want to make the joint looser, but does not have any effect when I do so. Started with the cutter about 1/8" from the lower side of the front & back, and now I have raised it to 1/4", but the joints are still very tight. They will work, but I will have to tap them together, and there's not much room for glue. Any suggestions?

[Richard Coers]

Usually a 1/64 will make a ton of difference with the fit. Don't they tell you the height of the bit to start with? These fixtures require impeccably prepared stock. Bowed, twisted, or even stock with snipe from the thickness planer can change the fit. How good is your stock? A jointer and thickness planer are a necessity to make good solid stock for drawers made with these fixtures.

[Mike Henderson]

Dovetail jigs are great when you have to make a lot of dovetails in the same size pieces of wood. For example, if you're doing drawers for kitchen cabinets - they're all the same size. If you're doing furniture, it's often quicker to do the dovetails by hand because of the setup time on the jig. Additionally, you can use hand cut dovetails to demonstrate your mastery of joinery by making the dovetails in ways that can only be done by hand.

Mike

[Also, many dovetail jigs are fixed spacing so you really have to make the drawers to match the jig or the dovetail spacing looks strange.]

[Jim Andrew]

Yes I have a jointer and planer, ran the stock yesterday before trying to dovetail. If this doesn't work I'll have to go back to my old style, the old tiny rabbet.

[Brian Kincaid]

Jim,
Are you cutting half blinds or full-through DTs?
-Brian

[Rick Alexander]

I've got an old 24 inch Omni jig that I keep a dedicated router set aside to use with it. At least then you only have to go through the pain one time.

One thing to keep in mind that you just have to use the router oriented the same direction into the jig on all cuts. If your base is off center to the bit by even the tinyest bit the joints will not be tight. Keeping the router oriented consistent for all cuts will avoid the great majority of this sort of problem. Also the router has to be a decent router without any sort of runout or deflexion while making the cut. Make sure the collet is good and tight. That angled bit has a tendence to pull that bit out of the collet slightly if you push on it a little too hard or if the collet wants to slip - then you've just got a giant mess trying to get it adjusted.

I keep mine set up for 1/2 inch sides and 3/4 inch front so I don't have to readjust every time I make drawers. I put a digital readout on my planer so I can get right on those measurements when I prepare the stock for the drawers mainly just for this purpose. As was mentioned earlier - definitely have to have flat and straight stock to begin with to have any hope of a decent fit. I haven't adjusted my dovetail jig one bit in better than 4 years now and making a drawer is really quick. Of course - these are all blind dovetail and almost exclusively for kitchen cabs. Works for me. If you've just got to make through DT's and using different thickness stock - you'll have to readjust every time.

[Jim Andrew]

This is my first serious attempt at blind dovetails. I tried some samples this morning, and noticed in the book that the joint goes only half way through the front, so tried it at half way, and found it was about right. Went a little shorter and they got too loose, so finally getting close. Went back the other way, as it seems that a slightly loose joint is too loose. So settled on just getting them tight enough to push together without a hammer. Think I have it down.