Ulma Doctor

Infinitely Curious
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Feb 2, 2013
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i'm certainly no carpenter, and definitely not a furniture maker.

my brother has a dresser drawer that had a dovetail slide under the drawer that had broken.
the problem is that the female half of the dovetail has a very thin cross section at the base of the dovetail.
to compound the problem, the width of the stock from which the female dovetail was sawn, was too narrow.
i saw this as an opportunity to put myself into an uncomfortable position and learn stuff, in the trial by fire.
my brother got a nice piece of poplar, wider than the original piece, and thicker too.
i laid out, in metric dimensions, the new female dovetail drawer slider spine ( i made up the slider spine part, because i don't know the real nomenclature)
and was using the table saw on spare chunks of wood to ensure good tolerances.

i was certain i was doing everything like Bob Villa, or Norm Abrahms- but apparently my dovetail fu lacks discipline.
i failed miserably because i was so intent on having only a few thousandths of an inch clearance between the male and female parts,
that i completely overlooked how wide my channel was supposed to be, at the narrowest part.
i was so wrapped up in how wide the dovetail had to be at the widest part and i got that dimension worked out on the table saw,
i cut the workpiece , and the dovetail was too wide to even start cutting a dovetail without remaking something :bang head:

not letting adversity better me, i poured a little Stella Artois on my wounds and contemplated a secondary offensive for Monday after work.

i went to that big box store, and i bought the finest piece of 90mm wide Red Oak i could find.
i laid out the dimensions once again on this even wider piece of wood
this time i chose a different plan of attack, the venerated router
a 1/2" carbide straight bit was used for the main channel to make the dovetailing easier
then a 15° 1/2" dovetail bit was used to make the actual dovetail.

after rapidly finding out that you can't climb router red oak , i readjusted my attack once more :face slap:

i set up at the other end of (the longer than necessary) board and went for phase 4 or 5- (i quit counting mistakes at that point)

i re-transferred all the dimensions again and this time i used the router in the correct orientation.
i took several shallow passes being extra careful to not go too deep or too wide, i didn't want to set up again :burned up:
after what seemed to be an eternity, the dovetail finally got cut,
in the correct orientation and with very nice sliding features- almost no resistance

i dripped candlewax into both dovetail surfaces on both members, to ensure easy sliding and used a heat gun to melt it in

here is pictures of my first successful dovetail !
top: broken female dovetail part
middle: my reproduction female dovetail, but beefier
bottom : male dovetail
IMG_2628.jpg

IMG_2629.jpg

IMG_2630.jpg

IMG_2631.jpg

IMG_2632.jpg

now my brother gets to put it back together!

thanks for reading!
 
Mike,
Congratulations on a great learning experience and even better outcome. Great documentation as always.

Evan
 
Mike,
Congratulations on a great learning experience and even better outcome. Great documentation as always.
Evan
Thanks Evan,
i'm honored that you like my documentation. thank you.
i learned a whole bunch, believe that
it worked out for the best,
afterall oak should outlive poplar for a drawer slide, i would think. :grin:
 
... i was certain i was doing everything like Bob Villa, or Norm Abrahms- but apparently my dovetail fu lacks discipline.

Loved this, Mike! Glad you got it sorted. Funny how we can cut a dovetail in metal but wood is so much harder to do.
 
Loved this, Mike! Glad you got it sorted. Funny how we can cut a dovetail in metal but wood is so much harder to do.
Thank you very much Mikey,
what i find difficult about woodworking is that some rules are the same as with metal, but not all of them
you can't weld wood back together - that's why i don't trust it :cautious:
 
Another difference between wood and metal is how much they shrink and expand, and the effects of exposure to humidity. What would be a great sliding fit on metal parts, would bite you on the butt with the first cloud burst. Nice job Mike.
 
Thanks Evan,
i'm honored that you like my documentation. thank you.
i learned a whole bunch, believe that
it worked out for the best,
afterall oak should outlive poplar for a drawer slide, i would think. :grin:
Mike,
Give each side a little paraffin or candle wax (don't let your wife catch you!) and you should get years of great service.
Evan
 
Great adventure to the dark side Mike.

Greg
 
Ugh...wood. If I get a good fit on the 2nd or 3rd attempt I had a good day.
 
Mike,

They make a dovetail jig that works pretty good for making dovetail joints using your router. I'm sure you know this.

BTW-nice job!
 
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