Hand Production Techniques - Lesson Six

Today I used the Dovetail Marker made in the previous lesson to make a full dovetail joint. To begin I marked out the tail, using the normal tools such as the Marking Gauge, Marking knife and also the new D/T Marker. To use the D/T Marker, it is as simple as holding against the edge of the wood till the angle fits neatly, and drawing a line on either side of the marker, as shown below.

Once this was marked out, we cut off all the waste, include the half off of the back to just leave the tail.

 This was then used to make the slot where the tail would sit in the other piece of wood. This is done so even if the actual cut line is slightly off the marked cutting line, then it will still slot neatly into the joint. Once again to cut off all the waste I put the wood in the vice at an angle, which is how I find it easier to cut angled lines, and then cut straight down.

Once I had cut, chisel and smoothed of both section with a hand router, I put both pieces together, and found they came to be the best joint I had made so far.

The join (Although not fully pushed together)

 I was really pleased, and as I had some spare time I even made myself two bench hooks! This is because there isn't many in the workshop, and I had been using a left handed on, which made cutting difficult.