Sliding Home

[Hank Knight]

The writing surface of the slant top desk I'm building is joined to the case sides with housed sliding dovetails. An accomplished woodworking friend told me that the joint should be sized loosely so it would go together easily. I'd already cut a snug joint when he gave me this advice, so I was anxious about getting the panel glued in place before the glue tacked and seized the joint. I've been putting this off for weeks. I finally nerved it up yesterday and attacked the problem - with Bessy parallel clamps.

IMG_4486 by Hank Knight, on Flickr

IMG_4487 by Hank Knight, on Flickr

Inch by inch I cranked the panel into place. It slid into the sockets grudgingly, but nothing halted the progress. When I had it about 2/3 of the way in, I applied liquid hide glue to the rear 8" of the socket and the front 8"of the tail and cranked it home. It worked beautifully. Thankfully, everything ended up square. Whew! That's done.

IMG_4489 by Hank Knight, on Flickr

IMG_4491 by Hank Knight, on Flickr

IMG_4490 by Hank Knight, on Flickr

Before I ran out of gas, I made the two dividers that define the channel for the lopers (the pieces that slide out to support the drop front when its open). They're dovetailed into the writing surface and the top drawer divider at the ends of the top drawer opening.

IMG_4494 by Hank Knight, on Flickr

I've cut and fitted all the rest of the drawer dividers and the panel for the case bottom, I'll glue them in as soon as I recover from gluing in the writing surface.

Thanks for looking.

[Gary G™]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiice.

[handi]

My Butterfly Leaf Dining Table used double dovetail keys to hold the breadboard edges.
I too used parallel clamps to draw everything together. Much more powerful than a mallet and less risk of damage too.

The desk is looking great!

[barryvabeach]

Very nice work.  I have done something similar a few times,  IIRC , at least once it got stuck before it slid all the way home, even with clamps.

[Hank Knight]

Very nice work.  I have done something similar a few times,  IIRC , at least once it got stuck before it slid all the way home, even with clamps.

Barry, how did you free it when it stuck? I'm still worried about that possibility with the case bottom.

[MarkSingleton]

Well done. The use of the clamps was definitely the way to go!
Sure can see why you were nervous about it!
Beautiful work.

[Stwood_]

Looking very nice.
So, you glued both front and back??

[Hank Knight]

Looking very nice.
So, you glued both front and back??

Stwood, I'm not sure I understand your question. I was skeptical about applying glue to the entire joint before I started inserting the panel into the dovetail sockets. I knew it was going to take a while to get it in place and I thought the glue would probably grab before I got it home. I decided to start the process and get the panel partially in inserted before I applied any glue. Then I spread glue on the dovetail tails on the edges of the panel that still protruded from the front of the case and on the still-open sockets in the sides at the rear of the case, and slid the panel home. That way I got glue on at least 12 to 16 inches of the 21 inch joint. Only six inches or so of the center of the joint are without any glue. That should be plenty of glue to secure the joint since it was tight to begin with. Hope that answers your question, or at least clarifies my original description.

[WoodTinker]

Stwood, I'm not sure I understand your question. I was skeptical about applying glue to the entire joint before I started inserting the panel into the dovetail sockets. I knew it was going to take a while to get it in place and I thought the glue would probably grab before I got it home. I decided to start the process and get the panel partially in inserted before I applied any glue. Then I spread glue on the dovetail tails on the edges of the panel that still protruded from the front of the case and on the still-open sockets in the sides at the rear of the case, and slid the panel home. That way I got glue on at least 12 to 16 inches of the 21 inch joint. Only six inches or so of the center of the joint are without any glue. That should be plenty of glue to secure the joint since it was tight to begin with. Hope that answers your question, or at least clarifies my original description.

Sounds very nerve racking to say the least.

Far from an expert.

My thoughts would be to slide it in from the back and only glue the front a couple of inches.  This would let the expansion and contraction be at the back. The grain direction is the same in the sides and panel, so you are probably fine.

[fredhargis]

It is a really nice desk, way cool with the sliding DT joints.