Dovetail Advice

[Alex Carrera]

I'm making a box similar to the "Elegant Jewlery Box" that I found on the Fine Woodworking site, and I'm having trouble with two items: First, the pins are very small, and I'm having trouble cleaning up the tail boards. I've tried needle files, but they're tedious and generally unsatisfactory. I tried a backsaw like the article said, but it too didn't work that well.

Second, the dovtails have mitered ends, and there is a center section where the box is to be cut that is mitered. I can cut the outside portions with no problem, but I'm having a real problem paring a perfect miter with a chisel on the inside portion - I can't get a straight line. Any suggestions?

[Sam Yerardi]

Alex,

There are as many ways to do dovetails as Carter has little liver pills. I'll relate one the methods I use. I use a dovetail saw that I have remove the 'set' from. A ripping saw works better than a crosscut saw when using it for dovetails but I was reading an article the other day in Fine Woodworking and the author suggested removing the set so I tried it and amazingly it will cut much straighter. It will tend to bind so go slow.

Your chisels need to be EXTREMELY sharp, especially if it is softwoods you are working with. I haven't had much luck with files because they tend to open the joints up for me and I lose the accuracy of a sawn line or chiseled path.

[Alex Carrera]

I appologize, I should have been clearer as the where I'm at. I've got the sawing part done, I just need to clean them out. I used a coping saw to cut out most of the waste, I just need to get the final paring to the line done across the bottom.

[Sam Yerardi]

At this point in your work the best suggestion for recovering is to try to sharpen your chisels as good as you can. I modified a chisel to an elongated diamond point for doing dovetails and that helped me. It's still got to be extremely sharp.

[Alex Carrera]

I like the diamond point idea. The problem is that my pins are about 1/8 of an inch at the widest point.

[Sam Yerardi]

Is there enough material left to make the 1/8" pins work? I guess I'm having a bit of trouble following where you're having trouble.

[Don Edbru]

You can use other types of blades to clean up pins or tails besides chisels and files. I have used x-acto knives and even a big clumsy shop knife (in a pinch) to clean up corners and get in places my smallest chisel (1/4") can't reach.

[Steve Marcq]

Can't you just pare to the line with a a 1/8th " chisel?

[Phillip Pattee]

Alex,
If I am understanding your problem correctly you have a maximum width of 1/8" between your tails because that is the size of the wide side of your pin. Bottom line: you will need a sharp chisel 1/8" or smaller. You may not have one, and so you will need to buy or borrow one. That is why you accumulate tools--over time you get what you need for each project.