Best way to make a half blind dovetail

[Steven Bolton]

Does anyone know of a dovetail jig that can make a half blind dovetail like the one shown on the attached box. In particular, the dovetail seems to have a very low degree of angle which makes it appealing.

Any input is appreciated. Angle looks to moderate for a Leigh. I assume the Incra Jig with a 7 degree bit could do this?

Any thoughts

[Martin Shupe]

Buy a handsaw and some chisels. It really isn't that hard. Look at the third post in this thread.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=45436

Or, check out this thread.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=19588

If you must use a jig, I think either an Incra or Leigh could do this with dovetail bits with the correct angle. The limitation of the Leigh jig is the "thinness" of the pins. The pins will have to be at least 1/4" at the smallest part, to allow for the router bit shank. I do not know if this limitation applies to the Incra or not.

[Chris Rosenberger]

It looks like a 14 degree dovetail to me.

[Steven Bolton]

Martin, you make a good point about handmade dovetails. The thread you linked to has wonderful dovetails.

I think the dovetail angle is more like 7 degree but what do I know?

Sbolton

[Chris Rosenberger]

Steve,
With the angle the picture is taken, it is hard to tell the angle of the dovetails. I just cut alot of drawers & have the 14 degree angle on my brain.

[Jason Beam]

Martin makes a good point about the pin thickness. The limitation is with any router-based dovetail, since the bit has to pass through there. The thinner your bit, the thinner your pins can be. The incra gives you a little more flexibility with this spacing, but the bit still ultimately sets your minimum pin size, unfortunately

I'm getting ready to pratice hand-cutting dovetails soon. I plan to do the "One corner per day for a month" process to hope I condition my hands to better cut 'em :)