I’ve been hand-cutting dovetails for over twenty years, and I’ve used numerous techniques for both through and half blind dovetails. A few months ago, it occurred to me that there might be an easier way to cut the half blinds, and I tried the technique on the drawers for a couple of recent projects. I call these “cheater’s half blind dovetails.” I was so happy with the results, that I thought it might be useful to share the technique. It seems so simple, that I’m sure I am not the only one who has thought of it. However, I have not seen it described before.
The basic premise is that it is far easier to cut through dovetails than half blinds. So, I thought why not cut off a 1/8” thick piece from the drawer front, cut through dovetails, glue the joints up, then glue the face piece on? Here is how I did it:
After carefully preparing all of the drawer parts just as you would normally, bandsaw off about a 1/8” thick piece from the front of the drawer front. A couple of light passes through the thickness sander removes the bandsaw marks, and leaves two smooth, flat faces for re-gluing later. Here is a photo of the two pieces of a drawer front after cutting off the face and cutting the pins on the remaining piece.
It is necessary to carefully mark each drawer front and the cut off piece with a registration mark to facilitate orientation when you go to re-glue it. That way, an accurate grain match will occur, and no one will be the wiser. They will look like traditional half blind dovetails.
This next photo shows the two pieces lying together, but not glued. Looks like half blind pins, huh?
Now the dovetails can be glued up in the usual fashion. After the glue has set, a few light passes with a sharp plane removes any glue residue from the drawer front, and assures that the ends of the tails and the fronts of the pins are flush.
Now comes the glue up of the actual drawer face to the drawer. A thin layer of glue is applied to each piece, and they are carefully lined up, and held in place with tape.
I glued two drawers up at one time, face to face, as shown in this photo.
After the glue has set, remove the clamps, use a sharp plane to clean up the glue lines and dovetails, and voila! Half blind dovetails.
Note that in this photo of the top edge of the drawer front that the glue line is for all intents and purpose, invisible.
This technique saved me a considerable amount of time. I hope that this has been helpful to those of you who like to cut dovetails by hand.
Matt
The basic premise is that it is far easier to cut through dovetails than half blinds. So, I thought why not cut off a 1/8” thick piece from the drawer front, cut through dovetails, glue the joints up, then glue the face piece on? Here is how I did it:
After carefully preparing all of the drawer parts just as you would normally, bandsaw off about a 1/8” thick piece from the front of the drawer front. A couple of light passes through the thickness sander removes the bandsaw marks, and leaves two smooth, flat faces for re-gluing later. Here is a photo of the two pieces of a drawer front after cutting off the face and cutting the pins on the remaining piece.
It is necessary to carefully mark each drawer front and the cut off piece with a registration mark to facilitate orientation when you go to re-glue it. That way, an accurate grain match will occur, and no one will be the wiser. They will look like traditional half blind dovetails.
This next photo shows the two pieces lying together, but not glued. Looks like half blind pins, huh?
Now the dovetails can be glued up in the usual fashion. After the glue has set, a few light passes with a sharp plane removes any glue residue from the drawer front, and assures that the ends of the tails and the fronts of the pins are flush.
Now comes the glue up of the actual drawer face to the drawer. A thin layer of glue is applied to each piece, and they are carefully lined up, and held in place with tape.
I glued two drawers up at one time, face to face, as shown in this photo.
After the glue has set, remove the clamps, use a sharp plane to clean up the glue lines and dovetails, and voila! Half blind dovetails.
Note that in this photo of the top edge of the drawer front that the glue line is for all intents and purpose, invisible.
This technique saved me a considerable amount of time. I hope that this has been helpful to those of you who like to cut dovetails by hand.
Matt