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13 February 2011

Raven inlay Jewelry and Make-up Boxes-Part 2

Hi Everyone!

Welcome back to part two of the box duo! We ended the last part by carefully marking out the dovetails. Today we will be cutting those dovetails by a combination of the table saw and by hand using a hand saw especially made for cutting dovetails, appropriately named a dovetail saw. To clean up the dovetails we will be using various sized chisels and a wooden mallet.


I start by cutting the tails first. I use the table saw to quickly and accurately cut the angles of the tails. I simply tilt the blade to the appropriate angle of the dovetails, in this case I went with the 1 : 6 ratio to get that angle. The stop block is a great way to get accurate and repeatable cuts. Now from these cuts everything else will follow, so I take extra care to be very precise with this operation.

After all the tails are cut at the table saw I then look toward my scroll saw to remove the waste in between the tails. I make sure I stay far enough away from the the scribed line of the shoulders. This will be cleaned up later with the help of a guide block and chisel. Who says a scroll saw can't be used for fine joinery!
At my bench I clean up the shoulders of the tails. I use the aid of a beefy guide block to help guide the chisel at a perfect 90 degree angle as I chop out the waste.

After all the shoulders of the tails have been squared up, it was time to mark the pin board. I carefully line up the tail board on the end of the pin board. I steadily hold the pieces in place and with a very sharp marking knife, I carefully trace the angle of the tails onto the pin board.


Before I can cut the pins however, I make sure to scribe the thickness of the tail board onto the edge of the pin board by using a marking gauge. I also use a machinist square to carry the lines of the angles onto the face of the pin board. Then with my fantastic Veritas dovetail saw I cut the pins, staying well away from the marked lines.
Well that's it for now folks! Please join me next time to see how the dovetails turn out.
Thanks for looking!
Roshaan



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