38 Joinery joints
fibres) and in retaining squareness. Alternatively, if cut
with a fine saw, the ends can be sanded – or, as illus-
trated, they can be shot square on a traditional- type
shooting board. Although not shown, a smoothing- or
jack- plane, lying on edge and held from above, is slid
backwards and forwards along the recessed edge of the
shooting board whilst the component is held firmly
with the back- palm of the hand against the right-
angled stop.
Production technique for four sets of
tails
There are variations of production techniques, but I
take only one of the (D) pieces – mentioned above –
and set out two sets of dovetails (one at each end)
on the face- side with my dividers’ method. When
marking the dovetail slopes, I continue the pencil lines
down past the pencilled shoulders for at least 12mm,
as this helps to visually align the saw to the angle
within the otherwise shallow depth of cut.
The setting out of tails can also be done on the
other (D) piece, if you prefer, but, professionally,
crafts people usually mark only one or two sets in a
four- set production and use these as templates to cut
the other two or three sets.
The dovetails are now nearly ready to be cut, but
first take the other (D) piece and place it face- side
to back- side and face- edge to face- edge against the
marked- out template piece. Line them up lengthways
and sideways, with particular attention to matching up
the edge- marked shoulder lines, and bind them very
tightly together with a band of masking tape near each
end. You cannot rely wholly on this, so you will still
need to check all edges for alignment as you place the
two pieces in the vice, ready for dovetailing.
Next, square the tail ends across the end- grain of
both (D) pieces and mark with a chisel- knifed car-
penter’s pencil. Then turn the pieces upside down and
mark the other ends. As previously mentioned, if your
pencil marks do not stand out too clearly on a particu-
lar species of wood, rub a stick of light- coloured chalk
across the end grain before using the pencil.
Cutting the tails
Now reposition the taped pieces vertically in the vice,
with about 75mm upstand, and cut the tail- slopes
carefully down to the shoulder lines. When quite close
to the lines, move your head over the work occasion-
ally whilst sawing and check the depth of cut on the
rear face of the second (D) piece. If you are right-
handed, cut all the right- hand slopes first, then all
the left- hand slopes. This continuity of stance and
repetition is believed by me to promote greater accu-
racy and speed. However, some woodworkers, who
prefer to saw vertically, tilt the work in the vice one
way and then the other. Others also use dovetail saws,
but I prefer to use a gent’s saw.
When both sets of tails have been sawn this
way, release the work from the vice and remove the
masking tape. Then apply the try square to the four
pencilled shoulder lines on the face- sides (but with
particular reference to the edge- knifed shoulder lines
on the face- edges) and deeply knife all intermit-
tent parts of the shoulder lines between the dove-
tails, i.e., the pin sockets, where the pins and half pins
will be seated. These hit- and- miss knife cuts might
easily overrun, but are controlled by the point of the
marking knife starting in the kerf at the base of one
saw cut and ending in the kerf at the base of another.
Note that some craftspeople knife the shoulder
lines right across the face- side, not intermittently.
Such changes in technique are just another interest-
ing variation. I did it this way myself some years ago
(perhaps when I was less pedantic) and evidence
of this practise can often be seen on the lapped-
dovetailed sides of antique drawers.Removing pin- socket waste
Figure 3.33: Back in the vice again, but this time with
individual pieces, the waste- wood in the pin sockets
(between the tails) is removed. As illustrated, this
is usually done with a coping saw. First, though, a
vertical cut is made roughly in the middle waste- area
with a gent’s saw to within 2 to 3mm of the shoulder
line. The coping saw is used in this cut only (to limit
the risk of damaging the tail cuts) and it is turned on
a small arc at the bottom towards the tail, to remove
half of the waste. It is then turned the other way to
remove the other half.
The waste on the outer edges of the tails is removed
with the gent’s saw, carefully leaving about 0.5mm
to 1mm for final chisel- paring down to the knifed
shoulder lines. In softwood, these outer shoulders that
seat the half pins are sometimes finished by saw only.Figure 3.33 Removing the waste material from the pin-
sockets.