Possible to make dovetails without a jig?

[stryped]

Is it possible to make dovetails with only a dovetail bit and a router table without a dovetail jig? (Mainly for small drawers.) Or would rabitting be easiest way to go and still be strong?

[tom]

With some careful measuring, a fence and a verticle push jig, half-blind, yes. Tom

[Rich]

Try making them freehand, with an Exacto knife, first.

[stoutman]

No, No, No!

You must use a butter knife!

[Mike Reed]

Without a jig, rabbets are the way to go if you want to use a router w/out a DT jig. When I'm making drawers in a hurry, I rabbet them.

I would, however, suggest you at least try doing them by hand once. My first hand-dovetailed drawer took me about an hour (drawer was 5 inches tall). I only did one practice joint prior to the drawer, and I started at the back ;)

They weren't the prettiest dovetails, but they weren't bad. I got some nice angles and irregularly patterned spacing on them so they look a lot cooler than a regular jigged dovetail.

Anyway, rabbets will hold up fine for decades.

As a matter of fact, I built a rolling file cabinet when I was just getting started, and I just butt-glued 1/4" ply to the pine fronts, and let gravity hold them in place to dry. They're working like new, 15 years later...

Those were the days. I'd never try that now, but I still shake my head that it held up.

-Mike

[stoutman]

Is your bed going to be constructed with dovetails?? Interesting.

[pat]

In a manner, see the

pix link for example.

[Stephen M]

I agree, but I would call that a "no". You need jig, either buy it or make it, but you need a jig to *route* dovetails.

[dadiOH]

No. Dovetails did not exist before there were jigs. Or would

Hey, stryped...ever hear of sliding dovetails?

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[Dukes909]

Not totally unrelated: without a router dovetail jig, it's also possible to cut them on a tablesaw and bandsaw, or omitting the bandsaw, a tablesaw and chisel. I think I saw the technique in a book by Yeung Chan. Briefly, you cut the pins first on a tablesaw with the work placed against a miter gauge and backer board/jig turned to the angle you want the dovetails. Make small cuts on one side of the pin then reverse the jig to repeat the cut on the other side of the pin. After the pins are cut, trace them onto the tail piece and cut the tails either on bandsaw or handsaw and chisel. You must be able to cut the tails accurately to a scribed line for this method to work.

Woodcraft has an article FWW published years ago that shows how Mark Duginske did it:

[Bugs]

You can make perfectly good dovetails using home made spacer blocks on the router table. The width of the blocks is critical, but once made they are good for as long as you want and more compact than a dovetail jig. Most router books will show the technique. Bugs

[Josh]

For through dovetails (which I prefer), I usually do them on my tablesaw with a little cleanup with a chisel, similarly to what Duke described. I actually lay them out on a CAD program (I use CorelDraw; it's cheap, easy, and powerful enough for most of the stuff I need it to do). I print out and attach the pattern to the board with doublestick tape.

I'm happy to provide more details on what to do after that if you're interested.

btw, thankyou for allowing this thread to be archived!

Josh

stryped wrote:

[stryped]

[stryped]

x-no-archive:yes

No, it is not. I was reading last night about dovetails in my book and realized my router bit set I received for Christmas has a dovetail bit in it. I have seen mention of dovetail jigs mentioned on here and wondered if it was common practive to do without a jig.

[Phisherman]

I'm sure this scan be done on a router table, but not without some kind of setup. Keep in mind there are various sizes of dovetail bits, some for hardwoods others for softwoods. A box joint is stronger than a rabbet joint and can be made with a router.

[tom]

Stephen M wrote: I agree, but I would call that a "no". You need jig, either buy it or make it, but you need a jig to *route* dovetails.

(Note to self: It's spelled "vertical".) Well, the vertical push jig is not a single-purpose tool like the other, I'm pretty sure. The OP was asking about a "dovetail jig", a single-purpose tool (If I'm wrong, I hope others will enlighten me. I don't own one.) which can make through dovetails, but you'll also need a straight bit and collars. Half-blinds can be made with just the one dovetail bit, a fence and an easily made jig, of course. And how's about this for picayune; I know Norm (genuflecting) calls it a dovetail jig, but is it really a fixture or pattern? Tom

[dadiOH]

Because...

1. they make first rate joints

1. they are easy to make

2. no jig required

dadiOH ______________

stryped wrote:

[tom]

Note: The author of this message requested that it not be archived. This message will be removed from Groups in 6 days (Mar 1, 7:33 am). (Not now, it won't)

stryped wrote:

No, it is not. I was reading last night about dovetails in my book and realized my router bit set I received for Christmas has a dovetail bit in it. I have seen mention of dovetail jigs mentioned on here and wondered if it was common practive to do without a jig.

[Enoch Root]

Would a sand blaster work as well?

er

[Australopithecus scobis]

Only on hardwoods.