Soft maple, or red maple, can be a great wood to practice dovetails on. It has very tight and closed grain making it a joy to saw, chisel, and pare. The fact that it isn’t as heavy, expensive, or tough on tools like its cousin hard maple is a big plus.
Is Pine good for dovetail joints?
Pine could work. I made some practice dovetails with pine. The nice part was that when they fit too tightly, I just assembled/disassembled the joint a few times, and it was perfect. The pine was so soft that it smushed in just enough for a perfect fit.
What is the best wood for dovetail boxes?
If the box is more decorative I usually use red oak as there always seems to be some good left-over stock from my other projects. Other good choices include white oak, walnut, cherry, vertical grain Douglas fir and hickory. Knotty or figured woods can make a statement but can also overpower a piece.
Which of the following is the most basic dovetail joint?
The through dovetail joint, alternately called the plain dovetail, is the most basic of its kind. This type of dovetail uses a method that resembles interlocking fingers. Crafters achieve this look by joining join two pieces of wood together by interlocking the pins and the tails.
What is the weakness of dovetail joint?
The disadvantages of dovetail joints are that they can be fairly difficult to mark out and cut, and if they are made badly these joints lose the advantages listed above. Depending on the project, function, and design, there are a number of different types of dovetail joints to choose from.
Are dovetail joints easy to make?
Hand-cutting a dovetail joint is kind of a woodworking high-wire act; one slip of the saw or chisel and the joint either won’t fit together or will look sloppy. It takes a lot of time to master the ability to cut dovetails quickly and well (by hand or machine), without a lot of fussing around.
Can you put dovetails in plywood?
A wide variety of methods can be used to make dovetail plywood drawer boxes. They are generally considered by the woodworking industry as time-consuming and difficult to make. The dovetails can be cut by hand with a dovetailing saw and chisel or you can use a dovetail jig and router.
What is the strongest dovetail joint?
The ‘secret mitred dovetail’ joint (also called a ‘mitred blind dovetail’, ‘full-blind dovetail’, or ‘full-blind mitred dovetail’) is used in the highest class of cabinet and box work.
How deep should a dovetail joint be?
Try to keep the depth of the dovetail groove between 1/3 and 1/2 the thickness of the part. For example, if the gable of a chest of drawers is 3/4″ thick, machine the dovetail groove between 1/4″ and 3/8″ deep. Any deeper and you will weaken the gable too much.
What saw is best for dovetail joints?
You need a saw with rip teeth for dovetail work. This means the cutting edges of the teeth are approximately perpendicular to the length of the saw. Two saws that do the trick are a Japanese dozuki (top) and a Western backsaw.
What is the minimum thickness for a dovetail board?
We suggest using a piece of 1⁄4″ to 3⁄8″[6 to 9mm] plywood for this purpose ➁.
What are the 2 types of dovetail joints?
The different types and variations of dovetail joints include: Dovetail lap joints: A half-lap joint cut in the shape of a dovetail. Half-Blind dovetails: In these, the pins and tails are hidden. Half-blind dovetails are only revealed when moved, opened or seen from a certain angle, like behind a drawer face.
What is the best material for dovetail joints?
If it wasn’t for the overwhelming majority of woodworkers agreeing that poplar is the best wood for dovetail practice I probably would have listed beech as the #1. It’s cheap for a hardwood, soft enough not to ruin hand tools, hard enough for use in fine furniture, and has a beautiful creamy look and feel to it.
What is the strongest wood joint?
Mortise and tenon joints are widely regarded as one of the strongest and most reliable woodworking joints.
Should you glue dovetail joints?
Michael Dresdner: The only areas that require glue on dovetails are the diagonal faces. All the diagonal faces are long grain, all the square faces are end grain, and all the flat faces abut end grain. Therefore, you need only apply glue to the diagonal faces on the tails or pins, or both.
What is the difference between a 6 to 1 and 8 to 1 dovetail jig?
Steeper angles like 1:6 give more strength to a joint in softwoods (in theory). The 1:8 angle gives a slimmer look, and because hardwoods are much stronger, it has plenty of hold. 1:8 is my favorite. Here’s how to set a sliding bevel or protractor to the correct dovetail angle (if you don’t have a jig or guide).
What is the best angle for dovetails?
Answer from the experts: Clearly, there’s no shortage of advice about the “best” dovetail angle: Some woodworkers recommend using 12° for “coarse work” and 7° to 10° for decorative joints.
Is a finger joint stronger than a dovetail joint?
For box joint, some people put a lot more fingers than it is possible to do with Dovetail. In this case, the gluing surface is larger, and the joint is likely stronger. Also, some find a way to hide a finish nail in the joint. Dovetail has the advantage of a mechanical lock independent of the glue.
Which wood joint is the easiest to make?
The butt joint is the easiest type to make, but it’s also one of the weakest. It’s a simple wood joint that anyone can use, and you’ll find it in a variety of woodworking projects including furniture and raised garden beds.
What is the easiest joint in carpentry?
A butt joint is the easiest of all simple wood joints, but also is the weakest. The cut end of one board butts up against the edge of another piece at a right angle. The key to every type of wood joint is having smooth, square cuts on the boards, and the butt joint is no exception.
Can you dovetail 2×4?
This year, on a lakeshore in Maine, Maine Passive House is building a set of rustic cabins that combine typical 2×4 framing with dovetail joinery, for a unique result.
Is it OK to screw into the side of plywood?
Thankfully, we have a few handy tips that make sure you don’t end up wasting any of those precious sheets. Our first recommendation is to pre-drill if you are going to be screwing something into the edge of the plywood. The sheets of ply have a habit of separating when screws are inserted or even large nails.
What is an alternative to a dovetail joint?
Is there another option other than dovetails to use in your woodworking projects? Absolutely. A very simple alternative to the dovetail is called the box joint.
Which is better English or French dovetail?
While both English and French dovetail construction are very sturdy and high quality, English dovetail construction is slightly sturdier with the trade-off of being more expensive and time-consuming to produce.
What are the rules for dovetail joints?
The general rule is that they measure half the thickness of timber plus around 1 mm along the shoulder line. So these two awl dots are 7 mm in from each edge. These two dots, which mark the corners of the half pins, are now converted into a 1:8 slope at each side.
What size is a standard dovetail?
Typically we use 1 ½” – 2” deep dovetails that are about 2” less deep than the joist, and 4” less deep than the girt – but that is just a starting point – the loads and reactions have to be calculated from there.
