Drawers and Dovetails. It's a natural.

The kitchen I have been making by stages is completed structurally. It's time to make the drawers, before the doors and drawer fronts are made and hung. These doors and drawer fronts will be made with WA Blackbutt (Eucalyptus patens), as per the framing and end panels.

One section of the big kitchen ready for appliances, end panels, drawers and drawer fronts and doors.

My customer has a huge pile of New Zealand grown pine - either Pinus radiate or Pinus pinasta - which she picked up from a local furniture manufacturer who was closing down. Sadly, yet another furniture maker put out of business by the West Australian public choosing to buy cheap Chinese imports rather than supporting their local industry.  But that's another story...

Somehow, the Kiwi's can grow much nicer pine than we can grow in Australia, especially Western Australia where we grow those same two species. I suspect it's a climate thing as well as a plantation management issue. Anyway, this awesomely nice material, in random lengths of material all dressed to 175x19mm (7"x3/4"), was what I would be making the drawers from. No nasty white melamine!

Preparing the material.
As most of the drawer sides would be wider than the 175mm stock, I would need to glue up the material to make the width. The least wasteful way to do this would be to edge glue up the boards.

One of many bunches of boards glued up, in cramps.

 Once glued up, these wide sections would be ripped down to the required widths to make the drawer sides. These would in turn be reduced down in thickness to the required 15mm (almost 5/8").
The strongest and most reliable jointing method for the boards was to glue them up with a "lightning joint". The two parts are done with a carefully set up single router cutter - one side cut from above, the other side cut from below. The two components fit together, a type of tongue and groove joint, which more than doubles the glue surface area. Nice.

A lightning joint, seen here after the material had been reduced down to the 16mm thickness.

With the material ripped slightly oversize, one edge was shot over the buzzer then these were ripped accurately to width over the table saw. These were then docked to the correct lengths required for the drawer box sides, fronts and backs. It was time to cut the dovetails.

Cutting the dovetails - first the tails.
Tails first, no argument. With the marking gauge set at 0.5mm wider than the drawer side material, a scribe line was made all the way around the front end of each drawer side. This would be the base line for the joints. The spacing of the dovetails were then planned, making sure that the drawer bottom groove would fit behind the bottom tail. The spacing positions were then marked onto an offcut, to make it easy to transfer the marks onto each of the drawer side outer front edge faces.

Transferring the critical marks onto the end of the drawer fronts. 

 Setting the sliding bevel at an angle of 1:7, a very sharp pencil was used to mark out the tails.

Marking the tails from the critical marks, using the sliding bevel. 

 With the tails marked, the next step was to square off from the lines across the end of the drawer sides. This just helps to ensure the cuts made are nicely at 90 degrees through the material.

Marking the lines across the top of the drawer side front ends.

That's what we're looking for. Nice clean lines on two adjacent faces, the waste marked.

With the tails marked ready for cutting, it was time to produce the tails. The drawing of the pencil lines down well below the base line makes it easier for the eye to align the saw plate - in other words, it's a trick which helps cut nice joints.Surplus pencil lines are cleaned when the completed drawer is cleaned up.

Using a nice little Gents Saw to cut the sides of the tails. Very fine teeth, minimal set, filed for ripping. 

The next stage was to cut out the waste, using a coping saw.  Just down close to the line.

First this way...

Then that way...

 With the bulk of the waste removed with the coping saw, the last of the waste needs to be removed exactly to the scribed base line. With hardwood, this is easily done with a nice sharp chisel. Cheesy pine, on the other hand, even nice NZ grown pine, does not cut well across the end grain, even with a razor sharp chisel.
I did the first few with a chisel, and it was chunking out too much between the scribe lines. This would reduce the strength of the joint, even though it would look like a million dollars on the outside. So another alternative was to set up the bandsaw to cleanly take out the remaining waste exactly down to the scribed base line - without chunking out the end grain. The last little bits remaining at the base of the tails are then taken out with a chisel of a knife.

The stop board fixed at the back ensures the blade stops exactly at the base line.

Using the bandsaw in this way to finish removing the waste after the coping saw is very quick (so long as there is minmal material to remove) and accurate - but in this case it was done to maximise the joint strength in the nice but cheesy pine.
 

Drawer sides with tails cut. Time to cut the housings for the backs and the drawer bottoms, 

Cutting the housing grooves for the drawer backs and bottoms.
With the tails all cut in the drawer sides, it was time to cut the grooves to house the base and the backs.  The groove would also be cut in the drawer box front, even though the pins for the dovetails have not been cut yet. The cutting of the housing grooves would be a table saw job.

The position of the groove to house the drawer bottom is determined by two important things: the thickness of the material to be used in the bottom (15mm, same as the drawer sides) and the specs required by the drawer runners. My customer wants the Hettich brand modern soft-closing drawer runners. The bigger drawers with 50kg capacity and the smaller ones with 30kg capacity. While most of these drawer runners in modern conventional kitchens are used with the pressed metal sides and melamine bottoms, Hettich does make a version specially made for wooden drawer sides. They had to come from Sydney, but eventually they arrived.
The specs for these runners determine the drawer dimensions to fit within the opening in the frame, and the position of the runners which are fitted below the drawers. The drawer sides are required to hang 12mm (1/2") below the underside of the drawer bottom.  

Saw blade protruding 7mm above the table, 12mm between blade and fence. First cut, base and back.

 The groove position at the base would also be done at the back. Easy on the same saw setting.

Inside and outside cuts made. Now to take out the waste between these.

After the saw removed most of the waste, a No70 router plane quickly cleaned up the groove bottoms.

With the grooves cut in the drawer sides and the drawer box faces, it was time to complete the cutting of the dovetail joints. Now to cut the pins. This could have been done before the grooves were cut, but I chose to do it this way around - only because it suited me with the material preparation sequencing.

Cutting the dovetails - now the pins.
This is an important part of hand cutting dovetails, and accuracy will be important to get good joints. With the drawer box fronts held vertically in a vice at the bench, the corresponding drawer side is placed on top and aligned in exactly the right position. Held here, a marking knife is then used to mark along the sides of the tails. 

Transferring the tail marks onto the end of the adjoining member. 

A straight piece of timber is clamped to the drawer box front, to keep it flat. This helps to create a more accurate joint.

Using a pencil and small square to carry the scribe lines down the outside face beyond the scribed base line.

These pencil lines will help enable accurate saw work. 

It's pretty quick to do the cuts - always on the waste side of the scribe lines.

Dovetail pins and tails all cut for this batch of Drawer sides and fronts.

Putting it all together.
The remaining components were made: the drawer backs and bottoms, The bottoms were made each with three boards, held together with tongue and groove joints were they met. I had cut these T&G joints on the table saw.  These boards in the base, and the backs, were housed in the grooves in the drawer sides. The drawer bottom extends beyond the underside of the drawer back. It's a traditional way of doing it - at least here in Australia. With all the pieces made, the drawers could be assembled.
  

One bank of three drawers made and ready to be polished before fitting the drawer runners.

Nice completed dovetails! No filler, no jigs, just good accurate marking and cutting. 

 These are all "through" dovetails rather than "half blind dovetails", because the drawer fronts, to be made from WA Blackbutt, will be fitted onto the front of each of these drawers.

These days Dovetails have a particular mystique about them. However this is really a phenomenon of the modern era, a kind of reaction to the diminished standard of craftsmanship which had become apparent in the later end of the 20th century. Thus the dovetail joint has become a kind of hallmark of quality for the discerning consuming public. Though most people couldn't tell the difference between the hand cut dovetail and the machine cut dovetail, a discerning person can pick the difference.
Contrast this with the past, where the dovetail joint was just a practical, reliable, and strong joint  - mechanically ideal for use in the front of drawers. (and many other situations and functions) They were normally cut by hand by the tradespeople who were just doing their jobs constructing the furniture. No fanfare. Just nice durable joints.

So here we are today. A top quality custom kitchen in the modern idiom needs to have good quality hand cut dovetails to reflect something of that inherent quality. On the practical side, the dovetail joint mechanically remains the ideal joint to withstand the stresses imposed on a drawer being pushed and pulled over decades.

Drawers and dovetails. They are a natural fit.
They are also a pleasure to cut by hand - a very satisfying process. Quality to be proud of...  

Toss that dovetail router jig!

Last night I was guest presenter at the North Metropolitan Triton Club.
I called my presentation: "Five Good Reasons to Chuck Away Your Dovetail Router Jig", where I went briefly through the history of the joint and different types of the joint. I followed this with a demo on hand cutting a Through Dovetail Joint. Then it was time for them all to have a go.

I had taken enough tools and timber for 20 people to be making their joints simultaneously. It was a lot of fun, with all the usual traps and pitfalls being experienced along the way, and lots of people being pleasantly surprised with what they achieved. For some it was the first time they'd ever cut a dovetail by hand ... for others it was the first time since they last did it at school half a century ago! A great night.

The Club meets in a high school woodworking classroom. Busy cutting dovetails by hand.

My demo worked well, despite the low light conditions! It's hard to see pencil lines on jarrah in low light. 

A nice contrast, jarrah and pine. Joint straight off the saw a tight fit, no trimming of joint required. 

While it is fun to tease "router-ophiles" about their screaming power tools, on a serious note I was suggesting the potential benefits to their woodworking skill development which the hand cutting of dovetails can offer. Accuracy in marking out and accurate tool use apply across all aspects of woodwork. Then there is the matter of personal satisfaction...
Yes, it was a fun night at the North Metropolitan Triton Club Inc...


Learn the pleasures of hand cutting dovetail joints.
For those people in Perth, Western Australia, I am offering a workshop for the public on Friday night, June 21 : "Unlock the Mystique of the Dovetail Joint". It'll be a lot of fun, and a chance to learn and have a go. Email me for more info if you would like to book in or know more about it.

Saw sharpening day.

Today was a saw sharpening day. I have a couple of teaching workshops coming up where I will be teaching the pleasures of hand cutting dovetail joints. It was time to get more dovetail saws organised for the bigger groups.
Much of my dovetail saw collection has been amassed (like the rest of my saw collection) over the last few years from antique tool sales, garage sales and flea markets. I am not a Tool Collector, incidentally, for my purpose is to put tools back into service, not into glass cabinets. Many of the priority saws have been piling up in a box awaiting for a sharpening day. That day arrived today.

A few of the saws awaiting cleaning up and sharpening...

Some of the saws needed to be "given a birthday" first: Many needed surface rust removed, some needed a bit of straightening of their saw plate, the odd bit of nut tightening, and a bit of nourishment for the handles. The cleaning up of the saw plate was done with the wire wheel in the bench grinder, wet and dry paper, WD40, steel wool, etc.

When the saws were ready, I donned my magnifying head gear, sharpening equipment, saw vice, and got onto the next phase of the task. Sharpening day was well under way.

What a beautiful array of dovetail saws!! Several of them are well over 100 years old. The brands represented include Sheffield companies like Robert Sorby, Marples, Sanderson Brothers & Newbould, Bowden and then of course Disston from the USA. There are a bunch of other unknown brands present in the pile too, including the inevitable "Warranted Superior"which many companies seemed to use.

The dovetail saws in the pile are a mixture of open handled models, gents saws, and a few closed handled models. I had a few other saws waiting in that pile too, including a couple of old panel saws and small carcass/tenon saws. I'd do them if I had time. Such a beautiful array of saws and all oozing with history.

One of the Gents Saws in the saw vice.

The Gent's Saw. What's in the name? In the 19th century, upper class recreational woodworking gentlemen did not want to appear like the lower class tradesmen, so I understand. Gentlemen required a different style of handle to the tradesmen's saws. Hence the Gent's Saw was born. This style still bears the name to this day.

Sharpening a Gent's Saw using the new Veritas filing guide.

What makes saw a Dovetail Saw? Ideally, they will have a thin saw plate for minimal kerf, minimal set of the teeth, be only 8 to 10 inches long, and be filed with ripping teeth.  Saws are generally filed for ripping (cutting along the grain) or for cross cutting (cutting across the grain). It is the various angles of the teeth which makes the difference. Dovetailing involves cutting along the grain, so the best dovetail saws are filed for ripping - that is, filed straight across. This creates a chiseling action by the teeth - the most efficient and clean way to cut along the grain. Crosscutting teeth are filed on a different angle to create a slicing action on the fibres of the wood. Whatever the style and size of the saws in my pile awaiting sharpening, I was setting them up to be used almost exclusively for dovetailing, so they would all be filed for ripping.  There is a science to getting the shape of the teeth right - but I will save a discourse on that for another post.

In the past I have used a block of wood driven onto the far end of the file as the guide for consistent filing. This was the first time I have used the new Veritas filing guide... and I like it very much.

Looking good. Another saw done. The test cut was good too.

While the filing generally went well, there was one sad story. One of the really old open handled saws had a couple of bad patches of corrosion on the saw plate. There were almost no teeth left on it - I'm sure the previous owner must've been cutting bricks with it! I was having to re-form the teeth on the saw plate. Sadly, while filing a corroded section a small piece blew out. At least the beautiful handle and nuts can be used on another saw.

Bummer. Too much corrosion, so filing caused a blow out. This saw now in the spare parts box.

Keeping the saws sharp.
Some hours later, I had finished filing assorted 10 dovetail saws.

Ten beautiful dovetail saws all cleaned up, freshly sharpened and ready for action

However, the saws would need some protection on their edges to ensure they don't knock against other or against other metal objects, as this bluntens them. I commonly use a piece of 1/2" trickle irrigation tubing slit along much of its length, and held onto the saw with rubber bands made from cross-sections of a bicycle tube. The recycler's solution to protecting the saws' edges.

Protection in place. A pile of ten sharpened dovetail saws.

A good day's work.
It can do your head in, staring hard through your magnifying head gear for hours on end while filing and setting saw teeth. By the time I called it a day, I had filed 14 saws. Ten dovetail saws filed for ripping, three small tenon/carcass saws filed for cross cutting, and a panel saw filed for cross cutting. Sensitive finger tips from too many pin pricks from the sharp teeth, tiredness from concentrating hard for so many hours, and a sore back from so much stooping over the saw vice.

Despite all that, I was very satisfied with the day's achievement. I have never filed so many saws in one day, and I was a few steps closer to getting enough saws ready for the dovetailing workshops coming up in June. It was a good day's work.

At the start of the year, I had resolved that 2013 would be the year that I become very competent at saw sharpening. I reckon things are going according to plan... my skills are improving.

All in a day's work.

Saw sharpening day was a lot of work but very successful. However, I need to do many more such days if I am to make a dent in the huge pile of saws awaiting similar treatment!!  Hopefully my skills will keep improving as I go...