Manual of Purpose-Made Woodworking Joinery

Dovetail joints 41

is held vertically in the vice. The first angle (to the ver-
tical plane) is the marked tail- slope, the second angle
(to the horizontal plane) is the angle of cut required to
come close to the shoulder line on the face and close
to the cutting- gauge line on the end grain at the top.
The waste area of each socket is then partly reduced
with a coping saw, by making similar angled cuts to
the horizontal plane from a mid- position one way and
then the other, carefully up to the socket’s saw- kerfs.
To help visualize my description, when cut this way,
the sockets will appear to contain rough- sawn cham-
fered edges.
In the next operation, the bulk of the tail- socket
waste is chopped out by chisel and mallet across the
grain on the inner face- side, then vertically with
the grain, on the end, whilst the work is held in the
vice. By this method, a hardwood backing board must
be placed behind and the work must be positioned
fairly low in the vice. I usually kneel down to do the
horizontal chisel- and- mallet chopping, with one
knee on a small offcut of carpet. But other positions
and stances can be adopted. My technique is to start
chopping across the grain in the mid- waste area of a
socket, halfway up the rough chamfer, then I release
the chopped fibres with a vertical cut to form a small
inverted step. By alternate horizontal, then vertical
chopping (paring) – 2mm to 3mm each time – the
step is soon transformed to become a tail socket. This
procedure is repeated in each socket and then the
work is taken out of the vice to finalize the vertical
paring (without the mallet) of each socket’s end- grain
up to the incised shoulder line. Ideally, at this stage,
you need a left- hand and a right- hand skew chisel for
paring out the acute- angled corners of the sockets. If
you have a healthy- sized lap on the drawer- front, an
ordinary 6mm or 10mm chisel will do the job without
seriously damaging the lap – but, if you want to

compete with past masters in achieving very thin laps,

skew chisels (as illustrated) can be made from ordi-

nary bevel- edged chisels of the same width, with the

cutting edges reground slightly to an approx 80° angle.

When the paring of the end grain in the sockets is

nearing completion and you have reached the knifed

shoulder line, hold the flat- sided point of the chisel

firmly against the socket shoulders with finger- tip

pressure against its extreme end, and hold a small

try square behind to test the vertical- paring square-

ness.

The final paring (along the grain) and testing of the

thin inner- lips of the lapped sockets is best done back

in the vice. Again, hold the flat- sided point of the

chisel firmly against the inside of the lap, with finger-

tip pressure and hold a small (say, 150 × 20 × 20mm)

straightedge on the face of the drawer- front and check

that it is visually parallel to the chisel. If not, ease the

lap socket accordingly.

Gluing up a drawer

Figures 3.37(a)(b): When finished, the sets of lapped

dovetails – ideally – should only be partially tried

together; not fully fitted or knocked together until

they are glued up. And because of the cleaning- up

allowance of 0.5mm to 1mm, after gluing, the final

knocking together should be done with a wedge-

shaped piece of hardwood and a hammer, working

the thick end of the wedge in between the slightly-

projecting pins. When doing this, the obtuse- angled

side of the wedge should be kept close to the tail- sides

to support the short grain.

If the lapped dovetails described above were for the

front- sides of a drawer, then the back- sides would have

Figure 3.36 Corner- paring of stopped tail- sockets with
left- and right- handed skew chisels.

Figure 3.37 (a) Top edge(*) reduced by at least 6mm to

release the pump- effect of a snugly fitted closing drawer;

and the bottom’s height(*) should be not less than 6mm in

hardwood, or 9mm in softwood; (b) Alternative top edge

and tail- arrangement.

Side

Side

Back

Back

(a) (b)