I am in the planing stage of making a small letter box. I want to use through dovetails(something I have not done before, always half-blind), and I am wondering how one attaches a bottom the the box. In half-blind dovetails I always just ran a groove through the pins and it did not show but on through dovetails I am thinking it will. Any ideas?
You have to use stopped dados for box joints and through DT's. Alternatively you cut a small piece to glue and insert in the resulting hole. Or you make the bottom bigger than the box and let it be exposed then glue it directly to the bottom.
What about making the box carcase first, then using a bearing-guided bit in a router for the groove?
Something like this:
Only on two sides, it gets covered on the other two same as with the half-blind.
Or assemble, rabbet the inside bottom, square off the corners then glue in the bottom. But stopped grooves are easier.
-Leuf
I don't know what a letter box is but I understand the problem. The elegant solutuion might be to start the dovetails above the level of the base, and have a simple step or rebate joint or mitre at the level of the base.
Tim w
I make small boxes for all my cutters, bits etc so I make them from time-to-time. I use Chris' method. But I don't understand why you don't see the same groove on half blinds. If you Dado all the way to the edge I believe you will see it on two sides....??
If the groove is situated to fall in the location of a tail on the side the groove will not show. The end of that tail is buried in the front or back pieces and the front and back pieces are covered by the side tails.
If the groves happen to be located where the front and back piece pins are located, "between the side tails", the grove will show as it is not covered by a side piece tail.
Let me see if I can describe this correctly. The groove on the half-blind runs through tail socket and on the tail board it runs through the tail. In the first case the tail cover the groove made into the socket, nothing showing there. In the second case the groove shows only on the end of the pin. This being a half blind the pin does not run all the way through and the groove is covered by the material left in the pin socket. The problem with the through dovetail is that there is that the pin runs all the way through and does not have any material left to cover the end. Here is a cute illustration if you cannot visualize the joints.
With thru dovetails the slot is generally located so it is centered at the level of a tail. You can run the slot the full length of the pin board as the slot runs between pins and will be covered by the tail. On the tail board you have to stop the slot short of the end of the tail so it doesn't show through.
It depends on the project but often I'll lay out the dovetails so that the groove falls on the exposed end grain. After the box is assembled I'll drive a small wedge (with a little glue) in the gap. Once trimmed and sanded flush the wedge is almost invisible on the end grain.
Right answer. One way to cheat is to use a dry assembly, suitably clamped, and a slot cutter on a router table. Place the bottom of the assembly on the table and rout around. You'll need to round the corners of your bottom where they don't show, but we all love rounded bottoms anyway, right? Make sure the slot cutter is shallow enough not to run through, and Bob's your shirttail relative anyway....
Believe it or not, I bought the plowplane from Japan Woodworker to make the rebate in little boxes. The plane will do from 1/8" to 1/2" rebates. I had not considered doing half blind dovetails to hide the slots. I think I'll do one that way. :-)
Well, when I looked at my boxes in the shop this morning I found that they *do not* have any groove showing. So, I don't know why I had that impression.
Of course, that would be much neater.
Tim w
Well maybe you forgot something that you have learned and comes naturally now. The groves not properly placed will in deed show if placed in the pin location rather than the tail location.
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