Demystifying Dovetails – Making and Fitting a Dovetailed Drawer
Cost: £590
Duration: 5 Days
Additional Costs : None
About the Course
This is not just cutting dovetails for sake of it, it’s more about training your hands and learning core cabinetmaking skills, cutting dovetails happens to be a very good way of judging how you’re progressing in this quest which ultimately just relies on good, solid technique and an in-depth understanding of the process and the tools that are required for success. Having said that though, if you make furniture, it doesn’t matter how wonderful the design is, or how perfectly the veneers have been matched, if there’s a drawer to be opened you will, without question, ultimately be judged by how lovely your dovetails are.
Dovetails are a wonderfully elegant and efficient solution for jointing pieces of wood along their edges and, being a mechanical joint, are amazingly strong, even without the addition of glue. There is perhaps good reason for judging furniture-making expertise by the quality of your dovetails, perfect dovetails rely on accurate planning, skilful sawing and precise chisel work – the three main hand skills that need to be mastered by the cabinetmaker.
Over the many years that I have been teaching dovetailing, I have analysed, refined and simplified the process to make it easier for everyone to conquer this timeless joint. Combine technique with a bit of focussed practice and you are guaranteed the silly grin and warm, fuzzy feeling that I find always accompanies the completion of a crisp set of dovetails. No need for jigs or confusing, noisy, router systems, mastering basic skills, will inevitably result in perfect dovetails, straight off the saw.
Accurately making and fitting a drawer is just an extension of the precision required to cut dovetails, and a well thought out design and thorough understanding of the process makes piston-fit drawers attainable rather than just an aspiration.
Your drawer will be completed with the accurate fitting of a ‘till’ lock, letting in a hand-made escutcheon and a final flourish with a crisp line of inlay around the edge of the drawer front.
| Course Name | Dates |
|---|---|
| Demystifying Dovetails - Making & fitting a dovetailed drawer Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate Preferably some basic knowledge or previously attended 'Furniture Making I' or weekend ‘Sharpening and Tuning’ Course | 2016 4-8 April 18-22 July |
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What You Will Learn
- SHARPENING REFRESHER – As always, sharp tools are the key to success
- THE TOOLS THAT WILL MAKE THE DIFFERNCE
- MAINTAINING A SUPER SHARP SAW – Blunt saw = Dodgy dovetails
- MASTERING THE DOVETAIL SAW – Tricks and exercises to help you saw straight
- HOW TO TUNE AND USE A CUTTING GAUGE
- TIMBER PREPARATION – Perfect dovetails need perfectly flat wood
- THROUGH DOVETAILS – Often thought of as the simplest but in some ways the hardest
- LAPPED DOVETAILS – Not as tricky as you might think and one half of this joint is hidden!
- HOUNDSTOOTH DOVETAILS – A dovetail variation that is guaranteed to impress
- HAND-CUT GROOVES AND BEADINGS
- JOINTING A DRAWER BOTTOM – Includes cutting tongues on the router table
- PRECISION FITTING OF A DRAWER INTO ITS NEW HOME
- FITTING A ‘TILL’ LOCK
- MAKING AND FITTING AN INLAYED ESCUTCHEON
- INLAYING A LINE AROUND AN EDGE