EASY router table dovetails that LOOK HAND CUT, with a simple jig!

hi I'm James Hamilton from stumbling ups woodworking journal and today I'm going to show you how to cut dovetails on a router table that look like they were cut by hand this jig doesn't look like much but it's designed to cut accurate dovetail pins on the router table normos I said pins because there is a trade-off to having something so simple and easy to use compared to the complex Cup tail jigs out there what we'll get to that later first I'm going to tell you how to build the jig and then we'll talk about how to use it the design of this jig is based on one made by glen huey and it's built much like a simple table saw sled the base panel is 12 inches by 16 inches with a couple of cross pieces that are two inches tall the two inner fences are set at 12 degrees to the edge of the jig to pretty good compromise for most of tail joints but you could make a jig for any angle you like I made the fences double thick because they're three inches tall and I wanted to be sure they stayed square to the sled space I also left an inch of space between the two fences at their closest point so that I can slide wide work pieces between them on the other side is a runner that fits into the miter slot on your router table aligning the jig so that the router bit will cut a curve through the center of the jig the first time you use it that's all there is to building them now let's see how it works to prepare our workpiece lay out your pins just as you would if you're hand cutting the joint I described a base line on both faces then I lay out one pin in the center one on each corner and then I divide the space on either side of the center pin with two more pins the nice thing about this jig is you can make your pins as narrow as you like most router dovetail jigs limit you to quarter inch or wider pins that's a sure sign that the joints been cut by a machine but this jig doesn't limit you at all giving your joint a hand-cut look you want to lay out your pins on both sides of your workpiece making sure that the angle across the end grain matches the angle of your jig spent in my case 12 degrees so I strike the angles across the end grain and then I follow the lines down the other face it's also a good idea to color in the spaces between the pins so you don't cut in the wrong place later this jig is designed to be used with the same half-inch straight bit every time that way the kerf in the jig's base will always stay the same and you can use it to align the marks you've laid out on your work peace the pins are cut in two steps first you align the left side of each pin with the edge of the curve in the sled and then you make a cut you're only going to cut on the left edge of each pin because those sides of the pin are angled in the same direction as the rear sense in your jig you're aligning by I we don't have to be perfect just make your cuts close to the mark and you can make up for any Corrections when you cut your tails later on after you apply a curve in all the left sides of the pins you'll move the workpiece to the other sense and you'll stand on the opposite side of your router table so that you can push the jig from the opposite direction this time you cut on the right side of each pin the angle that matches the angle of the fence on this side of the jig if you have anything left between the pins you also clean that out now too I should mention that it's important to keep your workpiece still during each cut the spinning bit will try to shift the workpiece sideways so clamps important and the results are perfect pins that look like they were hand cut now what about the tail half of the joint these have to be custom cut to match your pin so you trace their shape on to your tails board as you would do if you were hand cutting the joint it's very important that you keep the pins firmly in place as you trace them or you're not going to have an accurate joint to cut off the tails we are going to use a jig at all we're going to do it at the bandsaw why a bandsaw because while it's tough to cut dovetail pins on a bandsaw due to the fact that the table only tilts enough in one direction it's easy to cut details on a bandsaw you just remove those little triangles and here's the final result now a few general dovetailing tips that will help you achieve perfect joint first when you cut your tails on the bandsaw leave the pencil line if you cut that line away the joint will be too loose in fact I like to leave a little sliver of wood between my bandsaw blade in that line this will make the joint a little bit tight if I'm working with pine the fibers will compress and that would give me a nice clean looking joint but if you're working with hard wood don't try to force together an overly tight joint you'll split the wood it should only take a few taps with the mallet to see your joint together otherwise use a chisel and do some fine-tuning so that's my version of Glen Huey's simple router table dovetail jig but it's not the only way to cut dovetails with the router next week we'll have another easy solution that works with a handheld palm router and keep an eye out for my upcoming book the stumping UPS guide to getting more from your router which will be published by Popular Woodworking later this fall in the meantime be sure to check out the latest issue of stumping up some woodworking journal which is full of great tips tricks and techniques designed to make you a better woodworker subscriptions are free at stuffing up calm happy dovetailing

Channel: Stumpy Nubs

Views: 508,813

Keywords: woodworking, stumpy nubs, router table sled, dovetain jig, hand cut dovetails

Id: nfuEik2ak00

Length: 5min 23sec (323 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 27 2017