Cutting Dovetails on a Bandsaw

It seems like woodworkers are always looking for another way that they can do dovetails, maybe bigger, faster, better, stronger, of just looking for an approach that makes it a little bit easier for them. I found that I can cut through dovetails on the bandsaw with a little bit of practice, cut 'em pretty effectively. So that's what I wanna show you in this video article. First, let's just talk about through dovetails. A through dovetail is when each component projects through the other.

So what that means is that the end grain on that piece shows through the face grain on this one and vice versa. Both parts project through the other. So this is the style of dovetail that we can do on the band saw. Let me show you a special jig or ramp that you're gonna have to make for your machine. When woodworkers make dovetails, to produce this angle they use what's called a dovetail slope.

And typically we use a dovetail slope of either one in six or one in eight. Now let me explain what that means. Remember that it's this angle right here. What we're talking about is if I took a line and I went one inch up and then I measured from there six inches over and I connected the dots. this angle would produce a slope of one in six.

Now if I did that again, and I drew a line one inch up and eight inches over, and then I connected the dots that would produce a dovetail slope of one in eight. So there are two different angles. The one and eight dovetail slope is commonly used for hardwoods, one in six for softwoods. Now what we need to know from that is the angle at which we're gonna build our dovetail ramp for the bandsaw. So this is our dovetail ramp.

When we cut our materials, specifically when we cut the pins and sockets of the joint, the material will rest in this ramp. So when the band saw blade is vertical in the table because our piece is at an angle, that's gonna produce our dovetail slope on this piece, on the pins and sockets. So the ramp is really pretty simple to build. Remember, we're talking about one in six or one in eight. You know what I did?

I cheated. I split the difference and I built this dovetail ramp at one in seven, halfway between the two. So I measured one inch up, seven inches over and I cut this wedge. In fact, I made two of 'em. Then put the wedge between the top and the bottom.

That automatically gives me that angle. There's a little cleat down here. My material can rest on that when I'm cutting. So very simple to make, but before you can do any dovetails on the band saw you gotta have this dovetail ramp. Once the dovetail ramp is built, we're just about ready to get some cutting done on our boards, but we need to get some layout done first.

So one thing we wanna do is get these boards set so that we transfer the thickness of this piece, to the face of this one and vice versa. That's gonna tell us how deeply to cut once we get on the bandsaw. One of the easiest ways to do that is with a marking gauge. So what I'm gonna do is I've set my marking gauge to slightly more than the thickness of this material. When I'm done, I want each piece to project a little bit past the other one.

Talk more about that when we actually get a dovetail done. So I've sent my marking gauge so it's slightly past the face. Then I'm gonna simply scribe this. And this cut that I've made matches that dimension, slightly more than the thickness of the other piece. I'm just gonna pull my pencil through it so it's a little easier for you to see.

There we go. Do the same thing to both parts. Next thing that we'll do is actually lay out the dovetail. And I really like this technique because you can be as creative as you want with the dovetail joint. You can do any layout that you want on this board.

A lotta router jigs limit you to the spacing the jig provides but here you can do whatever layout you like. So here on the end of this board I'm gonna mark out my first half pin. So what we're doing here is we're doing the pin and socket board. Then I'm gonna come over here and I'm gonna mark a half pin on this side. Then here toward the center I'm gonna do a full pin in the middle.

Now you notice I'm not even measuring for this. I'm doing everything by eye. And you'll see that when we get to the next step when we make the tails, pretty much, no matter what you do for layout, your tails are gonna match. I wanna mark this though. This is waste.

So that's the part we're gonna cut away. This is waste. We're keeping a half pin, a full pin and a half pin. This is all we need from marks. We're ready to cut 'em.

Before making a cut, let's take a second and talk about blade selection. I've installed on the band saw a 3/16, 10 tooth per inch blade. What that's gonna do is it's small enough, 3/16, that in some sections where we have to turn a corner it's gonna let us turn the corner and make the cut. I like the fine teeth because we're gonna rely on the quality of cut right off the blade to assemble the joint. So I don't wanna have to go back there and clean this up.

I don't wanna file it, sand it, or use a chisel. We wanna go from the bandsaw, right to putting the parts together, so the fine tooth count is gonna help with that. So let's talk a second about what we're doing here. Here's a piece that's already complete, a pin and socket board. So on the pin and socket board, we're gonna make this cut, this cut, this cut and this cut.

And of course, in order for this to be a dovetail the angles have to oppose each other. So here on our dovetail ramp, the way it's gonna work is that when this board is on our dovetail ramp like this, and of course the blade is straight up and down on the table, I can cut the left side of this one and the left side of this one. Then I'm gonna turn the ramp around, that lets the board angle this way, so I can cut the right side of this socket and the right side, my right, of this socket. So it's gonna take two flips of the ramp here and then of course we would cut all our pin and socket boards all at one time. So I'm gonna cut this one now and again, halfway through we have to flip the ramp in the other direction.

What's most important here is that as you cut, you cut nice and square. So if you miss the line just a little bit that's okay, 'cause remember I said we're gonna make the tails match. I'll show you that trick in a second. But it is important that your cut is perpendicular to this edge. That completes this part of our cut.

Here we've got all the angles done. In the next step, now what we need to do is take the waste outta here. To remove this waste, what I'll do is cut in with the band saw blade and then turn and get on the baseline here of the socket. It's important that you cut that as straight as possible because the face of the tail is gonna come up against that line. We want it to be a nice clean cut.

Because we're entering and then turning, that's why we wanna have that smaller 3/16 inch blade, so that it's capable of making a fairly tight turn and working across the bottom. So that's the next step here. I'll cut in, turn, and come this way. What you'll notice when I get to the end is that because the blade is straight up and down, but this cut is at an angle, I'm gonna have to lift the board just a little in order to finish to the inside corner. So I can do two cuts in this direction, then I'm gonna have to turn this board and finish to the other corner with the board over on this side.

These cuts will take care of our pin and socket boards. Now the next step, we gotta lay out our tails. I'll show you how to do that and make sure they're a perfect fit for the work you did here. Now, remember I promised you that no matter how you cut your pins and sockets, we'd make tails to fit. Here's the way to make that happen.

We're simply gonna trace the pin and socket that you've already done onto the tail board. So remember, you've got a line across here, that's what should be made even with the back of this board. So I'll put the back of my pin and socket board on that scribe line, even with the ends and then trace my pins and sockets. Now I took the time to sharpen my pencil right before I did this. You want your pencil to be needle, needle sharp.

You can't have a big fat pencil line. It's gotta be a very skinny line, so it does a good job of defining the dovetail. Then I've got those nice, fine lines on my tails. Once again, I've got waste wood there, there, there. Be ready to cut the tails out.

Now we wanna cut the waste wood away from this. So here's where you've gotta be real careful because the joint is already defined. We've got the pins and the sockets done. So it's gonna take a little experimentation on your part to get this figured out. This is a piece of poplar.

Poplar is a little bit soft. So what I'm actually gonna do is make my cuts so that I can still see the pencil line when I'm done. That's gonna make for a nice fit. The harder the wood the more careful you have to be about how much or how little pencil line you're gonna take away so that the joint actually goes together. So in a little trial and error you'll have it.

So I'm gonna cut out here on the waste, out here on the waste, those are easy. And this inside one, kinda like on the pins and sockets, I'm gonna have to cut in to the corner, then come back, turn to the opposite corner and then clean up down to the baseline. Just like before you wanna make sure you do a real nice job across here, so those lines are nice and flat for the mating piece. Well with the tails done and the pins and sockets done, all our work here is done. Now, one thing I've taught this technique a bunch and oftentimes people ask, when we do the tails why you're not using the ramp there.

And one of the easiest ways to see your way through that is to do a test joint on your own and see how everything works. But the bottom line is that on this piece we need to incorporate the angles from this direction. On the tailboard, the angles are in this direction. So you don't use the ramp on the tails, you only use it on pins and sockets. Now they'll only go together one way.

So let's see what we have here for a fit. What I would like to be able to do is push 'em together, maybe a little bit of gentle tapping with a mallet, but you shouldn't really have to pound on 'em. There we go. So now remember we said, we cut this so that the end grain projects a little bit past so this is sticking past this. What I would do is glue that joint together.

After the glue is dry you can come back with a block plane or a sander and you can take these end grain pieces back to the face grain. They'll look absolutely perfect. Now the bottom line with this is, it's gonna take a little bit a practice. Your first dovetail isn't gonna be perfect, but once you practice a little bit, it's a great technique, a great way to get a little extra bang out of your band saw.