dovetail duh

[Bruce Mack]

Tail A and tail B can be on the same board; matching pin A and pin B cannot :(

[Winton Applegate]

OK
Glad we got that cleared up !

But what about Naomi ?

[Eric Schubert]

DOH! Umm.... pics?

[Bill Houghton]

Unless Escher is making the furniture.

[Don Orr]

NOW you tell me ! :p

[Sam Stephens]

I thought I was the only one who does that. It's usually when they fit so well together that I try for an assembly and realize this.


Tail A and tail B can be on the same board; matching pin A and pin B cannot :(

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Another reason for tails first! I did this on a box once. I gang cut my tails on that one however, and things were close enough that I just did up the second board proper like, and it came together. I've made other dumb marking screw-ups before, though. I have one drawer a half inch shorter than the rest in the my tool cabinet to attest to this . . .

[Paolo Trevisan]

wish I found this sooner, as I did the exact same thing!!!!!

DOOOOOOOHH

[Sean Hughto]

I must be slow cause I don't understand this. How would you have marked the pins at the other end of the board already having the tails on the other?

[Jim Koepke]

I must be slow cause I don't understand this. How would you have marked the pins at the other end of the board already having the tails on the other?

It usually happens to me on those 3:00 am sojourns into the shop.

jtk

[Sean Hughto]

No, I mean, physically, how?

[Daniel Rode]

No, I mean, physically, how?

Imagine 2 tail boards labeled A&B and C&D. Now, mark 2 pin boards the same way. A&B, C&D. It's wrong but not hard to do it you're not familiar with laying out dovetails.

The correct layout become intuitive pretty quickly but I can remember doing similar things not too long ago :(

[Sean Hughto]

So they are just labeled wrong, but the joints were all cut as required (marked from their mate), so they will fit together? Seems like a harmless goof.

[Jim Matthews]

I must be slow cause I don't understand this. How would you have marked the pins at the other end of the board already having the tails on the other?

Me, three.

This doesn't sound like a problem that comes from cutting one end, and marking it's mate from the result.
It sounds like the sort of thing that comes from using a template and a machine.

I can't visualize the mixup.
(And I can bollix most any joint.)

[Daniel Rode]

So they are just labeled wrong, but the joints were all cut as required (marked from their mate), so they will fit together? Seems like a harmless goof.

If you mark and cut A from A and B from B, you get a pair of joints that can never be put together at the same time. The "mate" is wrong.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Took me a minute the first time I read it to figure out what the original post was saying - sounds like one piece was made to match both ends of another single board, as opposed to matching one end from each of two boards. It's why I use triangles to mark everything.

I'm imagining the sequence some variation of this:

A) a tail board or two were completed successfully.
B)Then a pin board was shown to one end of a tail board, marked and cut. One joint of four in a box complete. So far so good.
C)That pin board was flipped around, to tackle the other end. That other end was marked off the opposite end of the same board used in B), rather than the second board. Unless your tail boards are close, you've now got joint that won't go together.

[Bruce Mack]

Exactly. Funny after the initial chagrin.

[Daniel Rode]

I've done it. It's funny, but not at the time :)

Exactly. Funny after the initial chagrin.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Me, three.

This doesn't sound like a problem that comes from cutting one end, and marking it's mate from the result.
It sounds like the sort of thing that comes from using a template and a machine.

I can't visualize the mixup.
(And I can bollix most any joint.)

I agree. I started with a Porter Cable Omnijig (the original cast iron beast - still have it). A problem as described seemed to happen to me on more than one occasion. I soon learned to explicitly follow the PC instructions of laying out & marking all four sides of the drawer before using the jig. This habit of identifying all sides followed me more than a decade ago when I began handcutting my DT's.

Take your time to mark all sides, marking tops, marking the outside and marking corner(s) A,B,C & D. Then gage the thickness and layout the tails (or the pins, depending upon what trips your trigger).

[Jim Koepke]

If you mark and cut A from A and B from B, you get a pair of joints that can never be put together at the same time. The "mate" is wrong.

What seems to work for me is having a consistent marking system. It can be triangles with extra lines on one or two sides and always pointing toward a baseline.

I tend to use the Greek alphabet and try to mark one tail board io-omega and the other side pi-psi.

288587

I will usually draw an arrow next to the symbol pointing to the top of the piece. Also the letter F is often placed at the front and B at the back.

So there would be the symbol an arrow and either and F or B.

Believe it or not, errors still can happen when the best laid plans of mice and neanderthal woodworkers go agackly.

jtk

[Daniel Rode]

I'm typically focused orienting the pieces before I start marking and cutting the dovetails. I want this face on the front with this edge up. This piece on the left side with this face out, etc. Once I get all that set, then I mark the mating edges. I usually use 1, 2, 3, 4 but any numbers, letters or marks work. I use triangles a lot as well to help track orientation and reference edges/faces. Like Jim, I also use arrows to designate the top or front.

I can't count the number of times I've come back to something and had to reference those marks to figure out how it goes together.