J Hiltz, Chris, Lawrence, Miles, Paul
Side Table Project

(For the salad bowl finish project, get a 3/8 nipple and a 4 inch web clamp)

Dovetail joinery:

Cut stock absolutely square

Align the mating pieces and mark the tops with an arrow for orientation on assembly.

For regular dovetails, cut pins first and space them evenly.

Make the end one large because a groove will be cut for the drawer bottom.

Use a sharp pencil.

Use the mating piece to scribe the pencil line along the bottom end of the pieces.

The pencil line is a guide. Later the exact width will be scribed with the marking guage.

Bring the pencil lines down along the sides perpendicular.

Cut down on the pencil lines with a saw.

Now use the marking gauge to scribe a groove along the bottom of the pieces that will be cut away (the waste) only. Don’t scribe along the part that is to be left in.

This way the finished project will look better..more professional.

Chop out the waste, using sharp chisels.

Chop out half the depth and then turn the board over to get at he rest.

Clean out the spaces with a sharp chisel making sure that the bottom of the slots are square.

Next cut the mating tails by first aligning the pieces and using a very sharp pencil to scribe the cut lines.

Cut down along the mark, leaving the line visible.

This makes for a tight fit.

The use the marking gauge to scribe the sharp groove on the bottom of the pieces to be chopped away.

Cut off the end segments and the waste pieces in the center and do a practice fit.

Clean up as necessary.

Don’t keep reassembling the joint as this will make it loose.

Table project