Dovetail joint

“ Some workers, when making either of the above joints, prefer to give a slight bevel to the dovetail, so that it drives tightly into the housing when put together.
A variation of this type of dovetail is frequently used to joint internal uprights to the horizontal shelves of writing desks, cabinets, and bookcases, etc. The dovetailed portion is parallel for about three-fourths of its width; the remaining part is tapered towards the front edge and notched away at the face so as to conceal the method of construction. An illustration of the top portion of a division 14 ins. wide is shown at Fig. ”

“ Care must be exercised whilst cutting away the core to ensure the chisel being held nearly perpendicular; if too much lead (or bevel) be given, a faulty and undercut dovetail will be the result. Undercut dovetails prevent a proper grip of the glue; they give a weak joint, and often cause the face of the drawer side to be splintered whilst driving up the joint. If it be necessary to ease one or two shavings from off the drawer side whilst fitting the completed drawer in the carcase, the joint will show a greater gap as each succeeding shaving is removed. ”

“ The making of joints just for practice may not be very interesting, but in the case of the dovetail it is decidedly advisable. This is what Ralph decided in Harry's case, and he was required to make first a single open joint as shown in Fig. 179. The piece marked a was laid out first, after squaring up the stock, and the shaded portion removed with back saw and chisel, sawing so close to the oblique lines that no chiselling was required on these two sides. ”

“ This is called the hopper joint and it is fastened with nails or brads.
No. 7. End lap. A joint much used in house framing. [252]
Fig. 154. Joints used in construction
[253]
Fig. 154a. Joints used in construction (continued)
No. 8. Shows the lap joint used for splicing two pieces lengthwise. It needs to be nailed or bolted to prevent pulling apart.
No. 9. A middle lap joint.
No. 10. Dovetail lap or lap dovetail. This form resists pulling apart and is a combination of lap and dovetail joints.
No. 11. Shows a modification of the same, only one side being dovetailed. [254]
Fig. ”

“ From a constructional point of view Fig. 101 is far and away the best joint that has yet been produced. Unfortunately, however, there is not at the present time any hand tool that will economically produce it, owing probably to the fact that the joint is the subject of a patent. The dovetail tongue tapers slightly throughout its entire length, gripping the joint on the principle of the wedge and squeezing the glue into the pores of the wood. ”

“ Fig. 102.—Joint with Single Dovetail Tongue and Groove.
Cabinet-work Joints.—With regard to tongued and grooved joints which apply more particularly to the jointing of cabinet work, Fig. 93 is produced by planes which are specially made for the purpose. One plane makes the tongue and another the groove. The handiest sizes to buy are those which joint 3⁄8 in., 5⁄8 in., and 3⁄4 in. timber, it being usual to dowel or loose-tongue thicker boards. ”

“ The blind miter or secret dovetail is a joint in which only part, say one-half, of both boards is dovetailed, the outer portion being mitered. The edges of the boards are also mitered right thru for a short distance so that when finished the dovetails are invisible. ”

“ Fig. 267-51 Blind dovetail BEVELED JOINTS
A beveled joint is made by beveling the members so that the plane of the joint bisects the angle at which the members meet. This is called the "miter" and may be 45 degrees or any other angle. It is a neat but weak joint unless reinforced by a spline, nails, or in some other way.
No. 52. A plain miter is a joint where the beveled edges or ends abut and are simply glued or nailed together. It is commonly used in picture-frames, inside trim, columns, boxes, and taborets, four or more sided. ”

“ Fig. 47 shows a combination of a bevelled dovetail half-lapped joint. This is only used as a puzzle joint. When neatly constructed and glued together it is apparently impossible to make it, showing as it does a half lap on one side and a dovetailed half lap on the reverse side.
Fig. 48 is the end view of a kitchen table with drop leaf, showing the skirting board scribed to the solid side. A table of this type is fastened to the wall with two iron holdfasts which engage the ends of the table. [Pg 21]
Figs. ”

“ The glue adheres better with the grain than it would end way of the grain, and if slight shrinkage occurs across the width of the bottom rail the moulding would not be forced away by the upright (see example at Fig. 28, 10) .
Fig. 41.—Tee Halving Joint.
The joint lettered B in Fig. 28 is a "Cross Halving Joint" where each piece runs through the other. Fig. 39 [Pg 19] shows this joint separated, and Fig. 40 shows a similar joint separated where the joint is made edgeways.
Fig. 41 shows a "Tee Halving Joint" with a dovetail cut on the edge. This is seldom used except as a woodwork exercise. ”

“ A wise man once said that the basis of true science consists in correct definitions.
Picture Frames.—In picture frames the mitered corners may have a saw kerf (C) cut across the corners, as shown in Fig. 44, and a thin blade [Pg 54] of hard wood driven in, the whole being glued together.
Dovetail Joints.—It is in the laying out of the more complicated dovetail joints that the highest skill is required, because exactness is of more importance in this work than in any other article in joinery. ”

“ While the body is in the lathe, a circle on each end may be struck for the depth of the dovetails, which should be cut out to gauge and to template, so that the teeth will interchange to any dovetail. The bottom of the dovetails need not be circular, but flat, which is easier to make. Dovetail pieces or strips are fitted to the grooves, being left to project slightly above the face of the cone or body. They are drawn in tight enough to enable them to keep their position while being turned in the lathe when the projecting points are turned down level with the cone of the body. ”

“ To cause the bar t to accurately fit the dovetail, notwithstanding any wear of the surfaces, a slip g is introduced, being set up to t by set-screws passing through that side of the dovetailed piece. The work, as the crank c, is bolted to the face plate, and the set-screws on g are eased so that the plate can be moved to set the work true; when true, the set-screws are tightened, and the first hole may be bored. To bore the second hole all that is necessary is to slacken the set-screws on g, move the plate, which will slide in the dovetail groove, and set the work ”

“ Another method of marking through dovetails is shown at Fig 279. The side is held in position on the end, and the dovetail saw is inserted and drawn out of the saw kerf, thus leaving the exact mark on the drawer-back.
Other workers prefer a pounce-bag instead of a saw. A pounce-bag consists of a piece of fairly open woven muslin filled with a mixture of French chalk and finely-powdered whiting ”

“ The new portion of the leg is afterwards sawn and wrought to the desired shape.
This is an example of work where it is next to impossible [Pg 102] to use a gauge, and as only one joint is required it is not worth the time taken to make a template.
Fig. 210.—Dowelling a Cabriole Leg.
The tools used in dowelling are: Brace, countersink, dowel-rounder, twist bit, try-square, marking-awl, and the usual bench tools. The first four are illustrated at Figs. 194, 195, 196 and 197 respectively.
The method of working is: Plane up, mark out, bore holes, countersink, glue dowels and complete joints. ”

“ A third method is shown at Fig. 277. With hard, [Pg 140] curly timbers, such as tobacco mahogany and satinwood, it is a laborious process to carefully chop away the timber in small pieces, and to overcome this difficulty we occasionally see the workman take a twist-bit and bore a series of holes as shown. A great portion of the timber may then be split away by inserting the chisel end-way into the grain, after which it is pared to a finish.
As dovetailing is chiefly used for drawer making, it will be of interest to give several illustrations of variations of the joint and its uses. ”

“ Insert the dowels into the holes and make a trial assembly. If any rail is twisted from its proper plane, note carefully where the error is, take apart, glue a dowel into the hole, that is wrong, pare it off flush with the surface, and re-bore in such a place that the parts, when assembled will come up true. When everything fits, glue and clamp together.
No. 9. A toe-nailed joint is made by driving nails diagonally thru the corners of one member into the other. It is used in fastening the studding to the sill in balloon framing.
Fig. 264-9 Toe-nailed
No. ”

“ This will give the correct angle for the dovetails, and it may then be transferred to the [Pg 135] joiners' bevel. Many workers who are constantly on dovetail work make a zinc template to the exact angle and keep it specially for the purpose (Fig. 272) .
Squaring.—Another important point to remember is that the drawer sides must be true and squared to an exact length and planed up to thickness; otherwise the finished drawer will be in winding and out of truth.
To true and square the ends of drawer sides, drawer backs and drawer front, a most useful little machine is the mitre trimmer ”

“ As most readers may be aware, this species is the original stock from which the numerous races of dovecot Pigeon have descended. Curiously enough, this bird is inseparably attached to the coast; it is a rock-haunting species, and one which rarely or never perches in trees. Usually our first acquaintance with the Rock Dove is made as the startled bird dashes out of the cliffs, with rattling wings and 273 impetuous haste. It is more or less gregarious all the year round, and may frequently be seen in flocks on the fields near its native cliffs. ”

“ Strong lever to raise up the block from the wheel."—Tusser.
DOVE-TAIL. The fastening or letting in of one timber into another by a dove-tailed end and score, so that they hold firmly together, and cannot come asunder endwise. The operation of cutting the mortise is called dove-tailing.
DOVE-TAIL PLATES. Metal plates resembling dove-tails in form, let into the heel of the stern-post and the keel, to bind them together; and also those used for connecting the stem-foot with the fore end of the keel.
DOWAL. A coak of metal in a sheave. ”

“ Joints cut right across the bedding, and are often variously combined, one set of joint planes traversing the rock in one direction, and another set or sets intersecting these at various angles. Thus, in many cases the rocks are so divided as easily to separate into more or less irregular fragments of various sizes. Besides these confused joints there are usually other more regular division planes, which intersect the strata in some definite directions, and run parallel to each other, often over a wide area: these are called master-joints. ”

“ The butt hinge is let in as shown in the illustration, and the door when opened forms a close-fitting joint.
Fig. 250.—Rule Joint Hinge, with Leaf Open.
The Rule Joint Hinge is used to connect the top and the drop leaf of a table in cases where continuity of design is desired, so that the edge of the top and the leaf will show an ovolo moulding when the table is either open or closed. To the inexperienced worker it presents several difficulties and, if it is a first effort, it is [Pg 126] advisable to try out a sample joint on a couple of odd pieces of timber. ”

“ Fig. 62.—The Two Pieces of a Halved Joint.
The tools used for making joints of the above class are: planes, the gauge, tenon or other saw, chisels, try square, and in some cases a joiner's bevel to obtain and mark the necessary angles, pencil and marking knife.
Plane up the face side and face edge of the timber, gauge and plane to both thickness and width; mark shoulders with pencil or marking knife; gauge to the thickness of the required halving; saw waste portions away; pare up with chisel to a good fit ”

“ At these joints there is no one of the three that seems to be the stock whereon the other grow, but each of the fibres are, for the most part, of an equal bigness, and seem each of them to have an equal share in the joint; the fibres are all of them much about the same bigness, not smaller towards the top of the Sponge, and bigger neerer the bottom or root, as is usuall in Plants, the length of each between the joints, is very irregular and different; the distance between some two joints, being ten or twelve times more then between some others. ”

“ The bottom of the dado thus cut should be flat so as to afford surface for gluing. When well made, a cross-lap joint does not need to be pounded together but will fit tight under pressure of the hands.
No. 15. A middle-lap joint or halved tee is made in the same way as a cross-lap joint, but one member projects from the joint in only one direction, it is used to join stretchers to rails as in floor timbers.
Fig. 265-15 Middle lap
No. ”

“ Compasses or dividers, Fig. 207, consist of two legs turning on a joint, and having sharpened points. A convenient form is the wing divider which can be accurately adjusted by set-screws. A pencil can be substituted for the removable point. They are used for describing circles and arcs, for spacing, for measuring, for subdividing distances, and for scribing. In scribing a line parallel with a given outline, one leg follows the given edge, or outline, and the point of the other, marks the desired line. ”