Learn how to make compound-angle dovetails building this handy stool and portable tool box. For my job as a trim carpenter and furnituremaker, I’ve always needed a sturdy stool to stand on. I’ve [...]
Tool: The Secret Mitre Dovetail Video Manufacturer: Lie Neilson/David Charlesworth MSRP: $45.00 The “secret miter” dovetail is considered the most elegant and difficult of all the dovetail [...]
Though not as lightweight as an eReader, this portable library is far more stylish. Bookcases that fold up like a clamshell were common among British travelers of the 19th century. Soldiers, [...]
Universal Drawer Holder When I make dovetailed drawers, I usually plane the sides to even up the joints and fine-tune the drawer’s fit. Years ago, I found that you can’t accurately [...]
1. Paraffin Lube When you rout a dovetail joint, your sense of feel is important. Your router should slide easily around the jig’s fingers, without hesitating, so you can tell which [...]
Router and hand tools combine for line and berry inlay on this 18th-century piece. In 1746, at the age of four, Hannah Pyle stored her prized possessions in a small three-drawer chest with line [...]
As a woodworker, what’s the first thing you notice when you open a cabinet’s drawer? The way it’s put together, of course. A drawer made with half-blind dovetails really stands [...]
Discover how to join oblique sides with through-dovetails. As an avid sailor and full-time furniture maker, I’ve always wanted to make a proper sea chest replete with rope beckets and a compass [...]
Cutting dovetails by hand is supposed to be an orderly, precise process. But when you’re in the thick of it, it’s all too easy to end up with a bench littered with stray tools and [...]
Though not traditional, router patterns make quick work of the inlay. In southeastern Pennsylvania, just northwest of Philadelphia, is Chester County. It was one of the original three counties [...]
Equally-Spaced Dovetails Every Time When laying out dovetails, I always start by marking the centers of the pins so the distance between them is approximately the same. I came up with this trick [...]
There are lots of excuses for not using dovetails; cutting them by hand takes time, patience, and lots of practice. A dovetail jig is relatively fool proof, but if you don’t use it [...]