Lost Art Press

Dovetails: Efficient Waste Removal

Posted on by fitz
3-13A. Chisel used to size tails. One-hit tails.

The following is excerpted from “Shaker Inspiration” by Christian Becksvoort.

Not too many woodworkers can claim five decades of business success, but Becksvoort is among them. In “Shaker Inspiration,” he shares not only his woodworking knowledge and some of his best professional techniques for producing top-quality work, but also the business advice that helped him establish and sustain his long career in a one-man shop. Plus, he shares measured drawings for 13 of his own well-known furniture designs and seven Shaker pieces that he’s reproduced.

I stack my parts four or six high. That way I only clamp once on each side, for all parts. Let’s say it takes four hits per side to get halfway into each socket, or eight hits altogether. That means I have to switch chisels eight times (a wide chisel for the baseline, then a narrow chisel to remove the waste). If I do one socket at a time, and I have 12 sockets to chop, that means I switch chisels 96 times. By cutting all baselines on all pieces, then switching chisels and removing the first 1/16″ (.16cm) of waste, I save a lot of time.

3-13B. Here’s the first hit, with a 1/2″ (1.27cm) chisel and a very light tap directly in the scribe line.

Switching to a narrow chisel, I take out a thin sliver of waste on all the tails. Then I set the other chisel up against the shoulder I’ve just created at the scribe line, and give it a profound whack. I tend to tilt the chisel forward about 1°, to undercut the waste. Again I chop all of them, switch chisels, remove waste and do it once more, until I reach the middle of the tail boards. Then I flip them all over, re-clamp, and proceed in the exact same manner on the other side.

3-13C. Once all the light hits are done on all the pieces, I use a 3/16″ (.47cm) chisel to take out a thin sliver of waste on all the sockets.

When done, I clamp each board upright in my vise, then clean the corners with a thin-bladed knife. Remember that bevel-edged chisels have a narrow 90° edge, and the dovetail angles are less. There is almost always a bit of waste in each corner. We like crisp, clean tails, right into the corners.

3-13D. With the shoulder of the socket established, my second hit is a vigorous whack. I tilt the chisel forward about 1° or 2° for a slight undercut. In pine, that hit should easily reach half way into the socket. For hardwoods, it may take two or three hits (removing the waste each time) to reach the middle.
3-13E. Once I reach the middle of the socket, I use the narrow chisel to remove a much thicker waste piece.
3-13F. When one side is done, I flip the whole pile over, re-clamp it, and follow the same process on the other side.

18 thoughts on “Dovetails: Efficient Waste Removal”

  1. Had no idea of how many tool touches, for a simple box with dovetails, were involved. Thanks for this insight. Nice bench dogs, love the brass tightening knob, what brand are they?

  4. Tage Frid method. From his Joinery book. How I learned to do it in the 70’s.

  5. In addition to baker’s dozen of his iconic pieces, great tips like above, there is really good business advice in the book. It’s one of my favorite LAP books. All given in concise writing which seems symbolic of the Shaker style of furniture.

  6. Very helpful technique. I think the last two photos have been interchanged…

    1. I think you’re right. I checked in the book (both the physical book, and the Jan. 2020 PDF), and it looks like those two pictures are reversed in both.

  7. Interesting and informative. What I wonder is how, with the pieces stacked, one avoids dinging the board underneath.

    1. In theory, one only removes half of the waste in each go. The only issue is if the waste gives way earlier than expected on the second round… 😉

  8. The steady stream of (mostly) woodworking wisdom here is a wonderful thing. Thanks all.

    Has anyone else noticed issues with the RSS feed, or is it just me? Mine is updating for other blogs, but not LAP…

      1. A week’s worth just showed up in mine – maybe something came unstuck?

  11. Would be great to see a video of this, especially to get the idea of working on multiple boards at once.

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