Angled front dovetail drawer

[Ethan Melad]

Hi all,

Does anyone have good method for cutting - with a jig (in my case, a Leigh Superjig) - half blind dovetails for an angled front? I have some ideas, but wondered if there's some foolproof way I'm not thinking of. The front is angled 7º, with the left side being shorter than the right.

I'm not really interested in hand cutting. outsourcing is a possibility, but prices I've gotten so far are pretty steep. might still be worth it, but if i can do it, id rather do it myself.

Thanks

[Charles Lent]

If I'm understanding you correctly this is going to require dovetails that are cut at an angle. You might be able to make some wedges of the correct angle to temporarily attach to both sides of your work so the clamp bar of your Leigh jig would hold the board at the needed angle for cutting. I would use double sided tape to attach the wedges. Your goal should be to present the work to the jig so that the end of the work appears to the jig to be a normal dovetail cut even though the work is actually angled. You should also trim the end of the work to the desired angle before attempting the dovetail cuts. Leigh Technical help might have a better idea, but this is what I would try.

Charley

[Shawn Pixley]

I can't see how you would do it on a leigh jig. The fundamental assumption of that and similar jigs is that the two pieces are 90 degrees between the jointed planes. I can see how it coulld be done using the Incra system. I wouldn't buy it just for one project.

I am going to dovetail a curved piece to a 90 degree piece (imagine a segmented barrel arch with the apparent angle is about 100 degrees), but I think I will hand cut them. I know you didn't want to hand cut them, but as you get away from 90 degree joinery the pre-packaged jigs become less and less useful.

[Ethan Melad]

this is just what i was thinking, too. the question is whether the workpiece with wedges will fit in the jig's clamp - i think the maximum stock thickness is 1". i haven't done any measurements yet, though.

this job is nothing particularly fancy, so i may just end up rabbeting/doweling these drawers.

thanks

[Shawn Pixley]

this is just what i was thinking, too. the question is whether the workpiece with wedges will fit in the jig's clamp - i think the maximum stock thickness is 1". i haven't done any measurements yet, though.

this job is nothing particularly fancy, so i may just end up rabbeting/doweling these drawers.

thanks

I suppose you could try and glue two 7 degree clamping wedges to the pieces - thin so they fit in the clamps. It seems dicey that you would get acceptable results.

[Sam Murdoch]

Try a sliding dovetail from top to bottom. You will see the dovetail when you open the drawer and if fitted accurately is a very rugged drawer front to side connection. The back can be attached to the sides the same way - only fit the back between the sides. You can do this with 5/8" parts. The drawer front can be thicker of course.

[Shawn Pixley]

Try a sliding dovetail from top to bottom. You will see the dovetail when you open the drawer and if fitted accurately is a very rugged drawer front to side connection. The back can be attached to the sides the same way - only fit the back between the sides. You can do this with 5/8" parts. The drawer front can be thicker of course.

I can see that working. Cut the female portion in the drwaer face. Cut the end of the sides to match the angle of the fronts. Make a jig to hold the side to the proper angle and run in the router table for the male portion.

[Ethan Melad]

Try a sliding dovetail from top to bottom. You will see the dovetail when you open the drawer and if fitted accurately is a very rugged drawer front to side connection. The back can be attached to the sides the same way - only fit the back between the sides. You can do this with 5/8" parts. The drawer front can be thicker of course.

maybe i should have given a little more info from the start: these drawers are for a vanity, have applied fronts, and should match other drawers in an adjacent bathroom (the second bath has standard rectangular drawer boxes). thus i'd like to have a consistent construction type for the whole job.
while i could see this as a good option for another piece, i don't particularly feel the need to do a sliding dovetail throughout for both bathrooms; if i can't figure out a half-blind method i'd lean toward something a little more utilitarian like rabbets/dowels.

thanks!

[Loren Woirhaye]

Band saw. Marc Duginske's method in "Bandsaw Handbook" + an extra wedge. Fiddle the details with chisels.

I seldom do dovetails for practical drawers as modern steel slides lessen drawer stresses enormously... and most of my clients have neither wanted them nor wanted to pay for them.

[Ethan Melad]

an update:
I cut 7º wedges and use tape to affix them to the Superjig (vertical clamp) and it worked perfectly on a baltic birch sample. it just required the same tweaking that a regular 90º joint would need. i'll post a picture of the setup for future reference later.

[Charles Lent]

I'm glad that it worked well for you. I was convinced that the wedges were the best way.

Charley