Chris shares his method for laying out dovetails to make things easier and more reliable for each set of dovetails. For more great information on joinery techniques, visit www.popwood.com...
Of all the videos around explaining this concept, this is the clearest and easiest to 'get into my head'. Love your style of teaching, Chris. Thank you! 6 months later, I still come back to this video if I need a refresher course, and recommend this to everyone as the definitive video for explaining dovetail layout.
at 61....and a life long woodworker/carpenter, today I tried my first dovetail just for fun. One tail came out bigger than the others and I can't figure out why. Oh well.......there's always more wood to practice on. Thank you Mr. Schwarz.
After watching, I went out to the shop made a small box with this method, it worked brilliantly, and was repeatable on all four corners. It's much easier than figuring out with a calculator or with a ruler skewed on the board for equal divisions. Now if only I could get more masterful at cutting the actual dovetails. Thank you.
I've watched many, many, videos, but never been confident in the information staying in my head correctly, to try it... I really believe this is the best explanation I've seen..... Thank you...
Give me more!!! After seeing so many people teach us about dovetails, no one ever told us the magic behind the dividers, I am rushing to buy myself a pair, thanks a lot,
I am a beginner woodworker. I have been always interested in woodworking. I have looked all over RU-vid for someone to explain and demonstrate going into detail on how to layout the dovetails and pins. Step by step. I have a project I was working on but I had to stop due to I didn't know how to do dovetails but now I'll be able to do complete my project. Thank you so much you are the first one to definitely demonstrate explain about dovetails.
Thank you I've watched numerous videos and no one has ever explained how to do dovetails as easily as you. I'm loving doing dovetails now. Much appreciated.
It's not that hard to calculate. You have n tails and n-1 pins and 2 half pins. Measure the total distance. Decide how big you want your pins and half pins. Subtract 2*half pin width + (n-1)*pin width from the total distance, then what's left over needs to be divided by n to get the width of the tails. If you want your half pins to be equal in width to your pins at the base line, it's even easier. Subtract (n+1)*pin base width from the total distance, then divide by n to get the tail base width. Then lay out the measures at the base line instead of the edge of the board.
I use the same technique, but I like to have the base of my pins roughly the same size as a suitable chisel to make chopping them out easier. This then determines my spacing.
Really cool technique. Makes perfect sense and now we know why they're called "dividers" haha! Good to see that you have several new video appearances posted since last I checked. Always a worthwhile watch. Keep up the great work.
Hey Chris, been a subscriber on and off for many years, always thought I didn’t have the ability to do hand tool woodworking, but I think I was mistaken and I’m becoming a huge fan of yours !
I think that uneven dovetails look better myself. If they are precise you may as well use a jig .If they are a bit uneven it means they were HANDCUT. Pretty nice easy ,memorable way he showed though having said that.This man may not have the years of practical work behind him but he has a wealth of knowledge and is a thorough teacher.
Thank you so much(I think this time I got it.) Also noticed the rubber mat normally used for stable boxes and horse vans(comfort for horses.) GREAT idea for all the time spent standing...cheers...rr
Ya know, you broke it down and explained how simple it actually is, I laughed at myself for being so stupid! You made it easy, I'm alot more confidant now!
I watched that and was left with a kind of "huh?" ... But as Christopher said, don't think about it. I later used the technique and it work wonderfully! ... Just do it, don't think about it or over think it.
I see you have also found the fabulous Pentel Graphgear 1000 pencil. I like the 09 and sand it down to a point when needed. I got the brainfreeze using this technique as illustrated by your cohort, Megan. Took awhile to sink in. I must be a yokel myself cause I like the 14* too.
Superb presentation. Like most good communicators, you told us what you were going to say, then you said it, and then you summarized what you just said. Well done, sir. Are there any resources that explain the mathematics behind why this works? Or could you give an explanation? I see the elegance of this approach, but my brain is still trying to wrap itself around the underlying math.
@Duncan (I assume your "brain wrap" is referring to just why the distance the divider point extends beyond the half pin mark happens to work out to be the pin widths. ) I agree, that does get awfully fuzzy. I majored in math, but I'm about 50 or 60 years past being able to put an explanation in mathematical terms. But imagine how that 7th step would work out if we let the pins approach an infinitesimal width.
@@lynnlard5531 Thanks for the response. I’m cheered that I’m not alone in feeling that sense of fuzziness regarding an explanation. Like you, I kind of get it, but I’m not able to explain so mathematically. Would welcome somebody doing so.
@@Dunc2222 OK Duncan, I'm back. As I lay in bed last night waiting for sleep, I realized the conceptual solution is in the palm of our hand so to speak. When we look at our hand we see five fingers (digits actually) but only 4 spaces between them. It's the same with this dovetail issue. The space being marked off begins AND ends with a tail, i.e. there's one less pin. We can disregard the half-pins on each side. We're only concerned with spacing out (equally) 7 tails separated by 6 pins, each of yet to be determined width individually but jointly equal to the caliper width, over the width of the board BETWEEN the two half-pins . To represent it mathematically: Let's call that width between the half pins W. T will be our ultimate tail width and P will be the ultimate pin width. So T + P will be the distance between the caliper tips which we'll call C. So, as we step off 7 times (from right to left, starting at the inside edge of the right half-pin), that 7th step takes us an excessive distance by the amount of P (since we're going to end with that last (LH) tail.) So... W = 7C -P (...recall, the last P is excessive). Manipulating for P, we get P = 7C - W Now I just chose to use 7, rather than some undefined number n, to match Mr. Schwartz' specific example here.
@@lynnlard5531 Hi Lynn, that is some impressively creative math you’ve done. Once again, we find that much of our best thinking is done either in the shower or in bed! Thanks, but I’m still not sure this makes full sense to me. Let’s say the calipers are set perfectly so that their last step ends right on the half-pin (ie, that 7C=W). In this case, by your formula of W=7C-P, P would equal zero, right? But we know that can’t be the case, or you could have no space for a pin. Am I missing something here? I suspect I would need to experiment with this physically, in order to help figure out and test a formula. I apologize for my delayed reply; I had missed this earlier. Thanks.
@@Dunc2222 Hi again. I had to re-read and reflect on this a bit, as I'd sort of forgotten my thinking back when I responded previously.. (The ol' gray matter ain't what it ust'a be!) But no, or maybe yes, I think you are missing the obvious ...I know that feeling well. Remember, we are just trying out various spacings to arrive at something we like. Per your sceniario, we will have selected a caliper setting (which, remember encompasses a tail + pin ...that's by definition) which will yield a pin width of zero. This is a trial and error ("best fit") endeavor. So your scenario would tell us "hey, we need to make an adjustment! ...or else live with infinitesimal or smaller (lol) pins."
His example worked out, but the way a half pin is suppose to look is that it's opening to the top of the (tail) board should be the same as the opening of the other pins. It isn't a half, it is simply missing the flare of the one side of a pin. That tends to look best with highly angled tails. Of course you may have your own rule. But if you do what he said, your half pin is random in size, other than that he said it would be too weak in some cases (and that can be particularly true where you may need to plane the boards down, say as in fitting a drawer). Being too wide is not just a mater of looks, it is also a mater of not over-relying on the glue in the joint. Anyway, the point is that you should go through the process to the point where you find out what the recommended tail/pin size will be, and then work back to the half pin, and be sure you like what you have guestimated, relative to the size of now revealed full pin/tail. If not, adjust the half pin. The adjustment will probably be slight, and it will only affect the pin size by 1/3.5 of the adjusted width of the half pin, which will not be a big deal. However it turns out, I try to avoid it looking like the half pin opening (the gap on the end of his board) is larger than the opening of the other pins. But however you like it, I think it is best to relate the half and full pin sizes before doing the layout. Peters never made an unbalanced set of dovetails in his life, so I would assume he checked back also.
This is awesome I am just not sure I want to spend so much time with making a science about the spacing. After all the irregular tail size makes it more interesting for me
What if, I want to lay out dados for shelves of specific thickness? Is it going to be a trial and error process until the remainder after the last step is exactly the thickness of a shelf?
I usually do shelves on progressively wider spacing, unless they are adjustable. But you could use the method he showed here if you wanted to. Rather than having the half pins as the starting point you could use the top and bottom panel. Then when you do the layout you would end up with two ticks, which would be the top and bottom of you shelves. You could adjust as you suggest, or you could simply find a center, and mark half a shelf lower.
Great explanation! Chris has a wonderful way of teaching! Does anyone know where this video came from? Is it from a training course? Would love to see this whole thing!
It is from Artifact Bags: artifactbags.com/collections/aprons/products/artisan-apron-w-leather-straps (A similar - and similarly nice - one is available from Texas Heritage: www.txheritage.net/classic-shop-aprons)
