Angled stopped dado advice

[Phil Mueller]

A bit of advice, please. Here's a crude drawing of what I'm trying to do. How would you go about making this angled stopped dado? I was thinking of making a 65 degree chisel guide from scrap and chop away. Is there some other way to do this?

I suppose I could go in with a narrow router plane square to the face even with the leading edge and chisel the angled walls from there...

Just not sure.

By the way, all stock is 3/4"

Thanks!

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[James Pallas]

Phil I think I would do it just like I do sliding dovetails, drill the stopped end and saw it.
Jim

[Jim Koepke]

Is there some other way to do this?

Yes. The easiest way to do it depends on what tools are at your disposal and how many you need to make.

Sawing the sides and then removing the waste with a chisel is the first to come to mind. For a stopped dado it helps to remove the waste at the stopped end, chisel work, first so the saw dust has a place to go. This is likely the easiest and fastest for hand tool work for those who do not have a plow plane that can be adapted to the work.

Using a router plane may not work if the bottom isn't parallel to the surface. Cutting dados with a router plane is a bit time consuming and making angled walls isn't really in their job description.

May I ask how many you have to make and what the project is?

jtk

[Phil Mueller]

Thanks Gentlemen...sounds like the best approach.

Jim, I'm making a backsaw till. This is the piece the saw teeth will go into that runs across the back of the till. I'm angling it to accomodate different length saws. I know i could split the difference and run it straight across, but I like the angled look.

Here's the work in progress. The angled piece is clamped in place to show what I'd like to do.

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[Brian Holcombe]

Phil, that til is looking great! Purple Heart!?! You are a madman :D

IMO I would split the difference and run it straight across, the angled back doesn't look right to my eye.

[Robert Hazelwood]

That's a pretty cool idea.

I think I would approach it much like you're thinking. Remove most of the waste with saw and chisel like a normal stopped dado- make the saw cuts angled using a guide or by eye- but staying a hair off the lines. Since the bottom of the dado will be parallel to the board surface, you can use a router plane to take the bottom to depth. Then you'll need to make a pair of paring blocks at complementary angles to trim the walls.

Perhaps the better way is to saw right to the lines and avoid most of the wall paring- should be achievable with an angled batten. Try a few test runs on some scrap- I'd be aiming for a tight fit that could be eased by taking a few shavings off of the angled crosspiece.

[Luke Dupont]

That's a pretty cool idea.

I think I would approach it much like you're thinking. Remove most of the waste with saw and chisel like a normal stopped dado- make the saw cuts angled using a guide or by eye- but staying a hair off the lines. Since the bottom of the dado will be parallel to the board surface, you can use a router plane to take the bottom to depth. Then you'll need to make a pair of paring blocks at complementary angles to trim the walls.

Perhaps the better way is to saw right to the lines and avoid most of the wall paring- should be achievable with an angled batten. Try a few test runs on some scrap- I'd be aiming for a tight fit that could be eased by taking a few shavings off of the angled crosspiece.

It might just be my lack of experience, but I'd either saw right on the line, or do it all with a chisel and a guide. Paring the walls of dados doesn't usually produce good results for me - though, I suppose if you have a short dado and a really wide chisel that might be a different story.

Actually, I don't much like paring end grain at all when a good fit is necessary. I can chop it just fine, as there is resistance on the bevel side keeping my chisel dead straight and flat against the work, but fine paring cuts are never as accurate as chopping or sawing in my (limited) experience. I just find that the chisel tends to want to stray away from the wall due to lack of resistance/support on the bevel side, and you wind up over correcting and taking too deep of a bite, resulting in an uneven surface. Maybe other people don't have this problem and it's just a result of my skill level, though.

[Jim Koepke]

but fine paring cuts are never as accurate as chopping or sawing in my (limited) experience.

This is why one of the tests of a truly sharp edge is its ability to cut a very thin shaving of end grain.

With gouges and other carving tools it is being able to cut across grain without opening up (tear out) the grain.

For cutting dado walls, a skew chisel is of great help.

jtk

[bill howes]

An alternative method could be to modify the tenon to make it a sliding dovetail joint. That is a nice looking project.
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Best of luck

[Phil Mueller]

Bill, I like that a lot, but you are REALLY taxing my skill level. As it is, the dovetail joinery is a C- at best...but I figure nothing like a shop fixture to put in some learning time. I do believe a sliding dovetail is one of the next things to tackle. Gonna need a lot more scrap for that!

[Phil Mueller]

Ha! It is a bit much for a shop fixture. If truth be told, the wood is a product of my horrible ability to estimate stock needs when I made some obligatory cutting boards for extended family which was requested recently (yes, sweetie, of course I can for your lovely nieces and nephews).

But back to the till. I may just have to continue the madness with an angled piece as I'm throwing everything I can at this; hand flattened stock the David Charlesworth way, spokeshave on the front bullnose, dovetails, dados, rabate on the back for a back panel of maybe Mahogany (?!), a bit of fret saw work and maybe even some inlay. It will either become a shrine to my backsaws, or a family embarrasement hung in the closet.

Stay tuned.

[Joe A Faulkner]

What about making the mortise 90% and cutting the tenon on an angle? https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ7qNlTCMrh6ZVF5eRoFT2QsWR-xBIk1M3_mmXIigLg92akWZwm