I’ve never really gotten serious about cutting a dovetail joint before, as I don’t tend to make many drawers, small trunks or other types of things where you tend to see these types of joints. Also, I didn’t find them easy to make and I guess I’ve always avoided this type of joint in part. The problem is that not dealing with the subject in a carpentry blog is a bit embarrassing not to try personally one of the joints that most attracts our attention due to its “complexity” and appearance, so it’s time to start with this type of wood joints.
The idea was to cut the tails using the sliding guide and the milling table so that only the teeth would have to be cut by hand. I thought it would be a simple task and video, but even before I started I encountered some problems that I will discuss in the next post of this blog. I still decided to stick with the “already laid out plan”, prepare a couple of slats with the homemade thicknesser and go ahead with my dovetail joint cutting practice, while thinking about how to solve problems and how to explain things. Until the culminating moment of the whole process arrived, joining both boards, checking the result and making an estimate of my own expertise … and the surprise … well, for being absent-minded and cutting where I shouldn’t have, luckily I didn’t cut a finger.
At least I got a couple of things out of it:
– With this soft wood it is not at all easy to make clean cuts with the router table, nor straight cuts with the scroll saw, to try to get a moderately decent dovetail joint.
– I don’t think it’s worth the trouble of cutting this type of joint in poor quality woods that even add more difficulty to the process of making these woodworking joints.
