This was my last 2 days at work and there wasn’t anything to do. So my boss comes over with a little pencil sketch of a box with dovetails on it. “We need 2 of these pine boxes and they will paint some dovetails on after” he said. I pulled a face and suggested I should use some real dovetails. “How much time?” “About 2 hours extra for the dovetails” I replied “Do it” he said and walked away. After he left I realized I hadn’t cut any dovetails in probably 30 years. I don’t even have a dovetail saw anymore.

Anyway I plunged into the project full bore. Using 3/4 thick pine I had to glue up some pieces 10” wide. As we don’t have a 10” jointer I got out my 05 and flattened and straightened the boards and then put them through the thicknesser and reduced them to 5/8”. I cut them to length and then I marked up the face sides and edges and laid out a set of tails on the one board. I put all 4 sides together in the vise and started cutting with my 10” tenon saw.

Note the pieces are tilted over so that I can hold the saw vertical.

I then flipped the top board of the stack to use the saw cuts as a guide for the other end. This saves a lot of laying out and all that is needed is some square lines to be drawn across the ends.

The bundle is tilted the opposite way to again allow the saw to be held vertical.

The other tails are then cut.

Now comes the tricky part, marking the pins from the tails. First the side and end are aligned on the bench and then using the vise and a clamp they are held in position.

Then using the tip of the saw in each saw cut, the location of the pins is transferred.

With the pins now marked I have drawn X’s in the waste areas so that I remind myself to cut on the waste side of the line.

The pin lines are squared down to the cut shoulder lines with a pencil, and then the pins cut.

With the pins marked and cut, the waste is removed from the tails with a coping saw.

And then a 1/2” chisel is used to pare the remaining waste down to the shoulder line. Note how I hold the chisel to ensure some degree of accuracy. My right hand is now just below my right shoulder and I can use all the weight of my upper body to push the chisel down. I also pare using less than half the width of the chisel on each cut. Doing this means less force is needed and a mallet is unnecessary.

The pins are treated the same way and finally it is time for the first fit.

Not bad, they could have been a little bit tighter and more precisely pared with the chisel. But after the box is painted, hopefully the dovetails will show through.

The first box assembled. It will have a groove run around the inside to receive a 1/4” plywood bottom .

Here is the finished pair of boxes complete with lids and hardware ready for painting.

As I have already noted these were my first sets of dovetails in probably 30 years. As far as quality goes, I would maybe give myself 7 out of 10. The total time spent, including planing, sanding, and installing hinges all by hand was 10 hours. This means to sell at retail and make $20 an hour, plus cover material and hardware costs each box would have to be priced at $300. The boxes are 19 x 9.5 x 10 inches

Peter Hyde
April,2006