Hand Cut Dovetails

Fifteen years ago when I first started woodworking I was always impressed with the pictures of people who built furniture using dovetails for the joinery. My first foray into the art of dovetail joinery was on a sweater chest I had built for myself. It was also the first piece I had designed and drew plans for. I wanted the drawers and the plinth to have dovetails and used the Craftsman dovetail jig my brother had in the shop that we shared at the time. I was really pleased with the way the joints and the overall piece turned. However, afterwords, one of used the jig and forgot to put the bushing on the router and destroyed it and the router bit.



I didn't buy a new jig and pretty much had moved out of the shop and never really gave dovetail joints much thought as I had nowhere to really work for a couple of years.



When I moved into my current shop four years ago the need for a new jig kept coming to mind, but wasn't at the top of the list of the tools I needed so I ignored them for a while but was always thinking of learning to do them by hand. Since then I have acquired two dovetail jigs, one being a Leigh which has the reputation as being the best. I spent some time learning to use it and was happy with the results. But at the same time, I kept having a desire to learn to cut them by hand. When I told a couple of my fellow woodworkers this they all asked the same question, "Why?".

I had asked myself that same question time and again and never really came up with anything more than desire as the answer. In the last year though I have done more studying in order to become a better craftsman and move away from just building for the sake of creating another table. It is known that all great furniture makers are great craftsman and all great furniture craftsman have an intimate relationship with hand tools.

When I first started making tables and and cabinets I used powered machines exclusively. The machines themselves take a lot of maintenance and can be problematic. Also, hand work can make you better at understanding wood and it's characteristics. To make a long story less longer than I already have I decided in the last few weeks to start learning how to cut the dovetail joints by hand. I sharpened my chisels and my dovetail saw and began watching every video I could find on the Internet on the best way to do it.

I began two weeks ago laying out and cutting two sets of dovetail joints by hand everyday. It is definitely one of the harder things I have tried to teach myself in the shop. They have laid out wrong, the cuts with the saw crooked, the chisel work sloppy and the joints extremely loose. But as each day goes by the sawing becomes easier and the joints tighter. It can be a bit frustrating, but I know in the end it will make me a better woodworker and craftsman, the end product more beautiful and my work more valuable. But most importantly, it will be more gratifying knowing that I did with my own two hands and not a machine.

Boxes

Small detailed boxes hone the machine. They also make beautiful small pieces of furniture. Desktop size.

Sofa Table

Antique wood, truly one-of-a-kind





















Detail of sofa table currently on display at Devon Antiques in Stonington Borough, CT