When I started woodworking, I had a lot of tools to acquire. Of course, the table saw was the first big purchase. After a while, I got a really nice sliding miter saw, and then a planer. One of the ‘big’ tools that took me a long time to acquire was a bandsaw. I love…
Looking for a rock solid way to join drawers that doesn’t require a dovetail jig? If you’ve got a router table, you can easily make a sliding dovetail and get many of the strength advantages a half-blind or through dovetail would provide. You’ll only be able to use sliding dovetails for drawers on which the…
In part one of this article I showed you how a half-blind router dovetail jig works, and how to size your drawer parts for routing in the jig. In this final installment, I will explain using the jig to rout the joints, and then how to assemble the drawers. Boards must be correctly oriented and…
This is a two-part story. The focus is on drawers with mechanical slides. In this installment I will explain how a half-blind dovetail router jig works, calculating drawer parts sizes, and where to locate drawer bottoms for drawers with side-mount slides or undermount slides. Part two will be about using a dovetail router jig, and…
The Leigh D4R and D4R Pro dovetail jigs have received a lot of press as great dovetail jigs. Justifiably so. One complaint users have had is that, until now, half-blind dovetails were cut one board at a time, where other jigs allow the tail and socket boards to be cut at the same time.The new…
One of the things I like best about woodworking is the chance to create objects that are both useful and beautiful. The humble step stool is just such a project. A stool spends its life down on the floor dutifully presenting its back for people to step on. Like a true friend, a stool is…