Stuck -- half blind gaps

[Derek Cohen]

Looks like the old saying is true: There's nothing new under the sun. I was proud of myself for coming up with my half blind dovetail jig. I put it together from separate ideas I'd seen for using a backer block for maintaining vertical for chopping and a spacer for horizontal for paring. Thought it was my design. Cudos to Derek for coming up with it before I did. He said, "[I]ncidentally, the jig is one I had published in FWW magazine about 15 or more years ago." Had I known I was copying Derek's jig, I would have credited him with the idea. My apologies, Derek.

Hank

Absolutely nothing to apologise for, Hank. There are a few variations of this jig around. Mine is (was .. it is a while since I used it) different ...

 



The rear section is the fence. The front is a depth stop. Place the fence across the dovetail baseline. It should automatically be square. Slide the depth stop up and lock it down. This allows the board to be flipped over and the fence require a minor adjustment, if at all. 

It was either FWW or Pop Woodworking. I think the latter. It was a long time ago. 

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Aram]

Thanks all for your ideas.

I was thinking about what the problem could be. I realized that the way I chop my tails could be at fault. I lay a board across the baseline to register the chisel against, like Krenov did -- like Hank and Derek showed, but without the extra fixturing. I just line up the board by eye, and bash a holdfast down on it. Now, a scribe line, even a light one, is thin but it does have some width to it. And I tend to crowd it. So this time, I bumped it back a touch, lining the chisel guide up against the side of the scribe line farthest from the board edge. Yes, it is possible to nudge it that little.

I like the result. We'll see if I can repeat it.



Crazy, huh.

[Hank Knight]

Thanks all for your ideas.

I was thinking about what the problem could be. I realized that the way I chop my tails could be at fault. I lay a board across the baseline to register the chisel against, like Krenov did -- like Hank and Derek showed, but without the extra fixturing. I just line up the board by eye, and bash a holdfast down on it. Now, a scribe line, even a light one, is thin but it does have some width to it. And I tend to crowd it. So this time, I bumped it back a touch, lining the chisel guide up against the side of the scribe line farthest from the board edge. Yes, it is possible to nudge it that little.

I like the result. We'll see if I can repeat it.



Crazy, huh.

Looks like you got it figured out. Wonderful! Keep it up!