Fig. 298.—Oblique Dovetailing.
Fig. 299.—Dovetailing for Small Box.
Setting out the Joint.—For constructing a dovetail joint at the corner of a frame, as [Fig. 300], it is necessary at the outset to trim up the ends of the timber square and true. This may be accomplished by neatly sawing to the line and paring the end of the wood with a sharp chisel, or by bringing the wood to a finish with a finely-set plane, such as an iron-faced smoothing plane. The ends of the wood must be perfectly square when tested from either the face side or from the marked edge.
| Fig. 300.—Corner Dovetail. | Fig. 301.—Squaring. |
Take a cutting gauge and set it to equal the thickness of the timber, and, holding it as already shown at [Fig. 273], strike the gauge lines on the wood as illustrated at [Fig. 302], G. Proceed to mark out the dovetail pins, as at [Fig. 303]; in this illustration G again shows the gauge line. The inclination of the lines across the end of the wood should not be too great, or the joint will be a weak one, and the edges of the dovetails will be liable to crumble away when the work is knocked together.
Dovetailing Template.—Many workers who are constantly engaged upon dovetail joints make a small wooden template, as shown at [Fig. 304]. This template is generally of hardwood, such as beech or walnut. The method of obtaining the correct angles of such a template has already been given on [p. 134]. Notice that the lines bb ([Fig. 303]) of the dovetail pins do not bevel; they are parallel to the sides of the wood and at right angles to the end of the wood as shown.