Small Tote from Current Issue of FWW

[jteneyck]

I saw this project by Michael Pekovitch in the latest FWW and thought it would be a good opportunity to see if the vertical fence I had installed in my CNC would work for cutting the dovetails. Pekovitch used butternut and ash, finished with shellac. I used white oak and walnut, and Osmo Oil for the finish.



Turns out, the CNC could create "hand cut" dovetails very close to those Pekovitch cut by hand. The tail boards were cut with the stock flat on the table, in the normal manner. The pin board, however, was cut with the stock cut vertically so that the bit could create the required tapers for the pins. The beauty of this approach is that straight bits can be used for both the tail and pin boards. That also allows you to create any shape and size of dovetail desired, limited only by the length of the bit. Spacing is whatever you want.




I used the CNC to cut the tail and pin boards, as well as the handle.




By using a small radius bit to cut the corners of the tails, the result looks pretty close to hand cut dovetails. Accuracy and precision are assured, too.





Nice little project. Now that I've used the CNC to create some dovetails, I'm looking forward to incorporating them into a larger project.

John

[Tapper]

That's "almost" cheating! Nicely done, John.

Doug

[AHill]

Very nice. Great choice of woods and finish. Yeah, the CNC is cheating a bit, but it ensures the fit is perfect.

[jteneyck]

Very nice.  Great choice of woods and finish.  Yeah, the CNC is cheating a bit, but it ensures the fit is perfect.

I felt that way, too, until I thought about folks who use a dovetail jig.  There's really no difference.  So, it's only cheating when compared to those who actually hand cut their dovetails.  In any case, I'm OK with it.  Being able to emulate the proportions of hand cut dovetails and know that they are going to fit, opens up a lot of options for large case work that I never would have considered before.  

John

[Tapper]

I felt that way, too, until I thought about folks who use a dovetail jig.  There's really no difference.  So, it's only cheating when compared to those who actually hand cut their dovetails.  In any case, I'm OK with it.  Being able to emulate the proportions of hand cut dovetails and know that they are going to fit, opens up a lot of options for large case work that I never would have considered before.  

John

^^^^^^^^^^^
Amen!!!

Doug

[BrentDH]

John, I would like a few more details if you don’t mind. You said “a small radius bit” to cut the tails. Was that a 1/16” bit?  If so, how thick are the boards?  My 1/16” bit has only 1/4” of cutting length.  Then what did you do to the pins to make them fit?  Did you program that radius into the cnc or just knock the corners off with sandpaper and drive them home?  Thanks.

[jteneyck]

John, I would like a few more details if you don’t mind. You said “a small radius bit” to cut the tails. Was that a 1/16” bit?  If so, how thick are the boards?  My 1/16” bit has only 1/4” of cutting length.  Then what did you do to the pins to make them fit?  Did you program that radius into the cnc or just knock the corners off with sandpaper and drive them home?  Thanks.

The wood was 0.5" thick.  First, I ran a profile cut around the tailboard (side) with a 0.125" diameter bit.  



Then I ran another profile cut just along the tails using a 1.5 mm diameter bit with 1/2" cutting length.   



You can buy bits for cheap on Amazon.  Link  That gave me about a 1/32" radius in the corners of the tails.  To make the sharp corners of the pins fit, I took a swipe or two across them with a sanding block. That was all that was needed.  



I could have used a chisel to create sharp corners in the tails, but that seemed like too much work and with a high probability of hosing up, so I chose to round over the pins.  

John