Improvement to Auxiliary Dovetailing Bench

[Phil Gaudio]

When I built the auxiliary dovetailing bench, there was one aspect of it that I thought could be improved. Correct alignment of the tail and pin boards is critical when marking out the pins from the tails. I think most craftsman will hold the tail board in alignment by hand on top of the pin board which is held in the front vise. This approach certainly works, but with a dedicated dovetailing bench, I saw an opportunity to add something to aid in this alignment task. What I ended up with is two adjustable fences: one to set the pin board in vertical alignment and one to set the tail board in alignment with the pin board. I tried this arrangement out last week and it does the trick. And the hold down allows me to keep the parts aligned with ease as I mark the pins. It all worked beautifully as I dovetailed a drawer box for my current project. Side note: with the height of this bench, absolutely no strain on my back!

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[Cameron Wood]

Good idea and well done. It's so easy to mess up when marking out.

[Jim Koepke]

Great set up Phil.

Getting the marking right is an important step to getting a good joint.

jtk

[Kent A Bathurst]

Elegant in it's simplicity, Phil. Very cool.


Plus - I did not know we were permitted to mark out pins without using blue tape. Learn something new every day, eh?

[Patrick Baney]

You’re not, actually. Authorities are on their way.

[Kent A Bathurst]

But if, as I suspect, that rule was promulgated in Australia, to them it’s yesterday here. So they’ve already arrived and taken Phil away.

Has anyone heard from him lately?

[Derek Cohen]

Nah .. I did not abduct Phil. He does excellent work - clean and tidy. And I do not automatically arrange for a hit on those failing to use blue tape on their dovetails .. I wait a day or two to see if they have repented.

I like the idea. A combination of David Barron’s dovetail square and the Moxon. In fact, I made the same (just not as neatly as Phil) several years ago …



For myself the guide had limited use (I emphasise, for myself). Many of the drawers I build have bow fronts and required compound dovetails. These cannot be marked on the square …



That was when I came up with idea for the other blue tape technique, using it as a fence to support the tail board (then some f##kwit plagerised it from my website and sent it to FWW as a shop tip) …



The other issue with the Barron board/side fence is that drawer parts are aligned from the underside, and the drawer back is aligned from the side grooves, which lie higher than the sides …



Still, I think that it is a good addition to have when building cases and boxes. Just make it removable (as Phil has) otherwise it reduces the useable size of the vise.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Kent A Bathurst]

Derek - thanks for taking part in the good-natured ribbing.

[Phil Gaudio]

Update: the authorities did catch up with me. Luckily, I had Dire Straits playing on the stereo when they made the raid. My lawyer tells me that since I had a couple of nearly blue rolls of masking tape hanging on a hook on the pegboard in the corner, I stood a chance of beating the wrap. Updates to follow........

[Derek Cohen]

Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler always gets you a "get out of gaol free" card.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Phil Gaudio]

I wanted to add that these fences also lend themselves to the Glen-Drake/Cosman/Others offset marking technique. A shim of appropriate size between the upper or lower fence offsets in either direction. Have not tried this yet, but I am planning on it.