A
Anonymous
Guest
Hi all
Thanks to Alan (Aldel) for his method of cutting through DTs which inspired this method for half-blind.
First of all, I LOVE cutting through dovetails by hand. It is the woodworking operation I most enjoy. However, I don't like cutting half-blind by hand as the waste is a pain to remove. I decided to find a good way to use the Rat on half-blind DTs.
Second point is that I like to use the aluminium bars for most operations and do not think much of the cams and centre button which is a pain to setup correctly.
Thirdly, I think the Woodrat manual method is flawed. One cuts tails on one setting and then completely changes the setup before cutting the pins to the machine setting, NOT to match the other part of the joint :roll:
Well, I tried the Woodrat manual way of cutting dovetails and was not happy. The method requires the aluminium rails to be removed, two cams to be installed and setup, the middle button thingy to be accurately set up and the main router plate to be moved into one of three positions (4 large bolts removed and re-fitted) depending on the cutters one chooses to use.
Another thing I don't like about the manual method is that it specifies straight cut bit sizes that are hard to come-by unless one buys direct from Woodrat. I prefer TCT to HSS for straight cut bits and can see no reason to use HSS straightcut bits that will not remain sharp for as long - the HSS DT bit has advantages in that it can cut thinner tails which look more like hand-cut. My method allows any TCT straight cutter to be used regardless of the DT bit used (within reason).
The following method was used to cut half-blind DTs in three 200mm deep drawers 2 weekends ago. These half-blind DTs were cut and finished in 4 hours which I think is not bad at all.
First, I cut the slots for the bottom using the router table (with push blocks :wink: ). I use these slots to align the wood a bit later.
I cut the tails in the sides in the normal way using a Woodrat HSS DT bit. I clamped all six sides together and routed all of the tails in one go. Fast
I mount the drawer front in the vice and push a small piece of base material into the routed slot to align the front to the side during marking out of pins.
I then mark out the pins using a sharp craft knife. I ran a 0.3mm pencil along the pencil line afterwards to make it more visible during routing. i also use a little desk spotlight to ensure accurate cutting.
I set the stop on the Rat to allow the router to cut to the required depth of the pins (back to front of the drawer front). I find this easier if the router is running as I move it towards the line. I set the stop at the point that the cutter just touches the line.
I route as close as I can to the lines without going over the top. This is really quick and accomplished in one pass as the depth stop is set to the full depth of cut.
Finally, I quickly clean up with a few chisels. This is really quick and easy as almost all of the wood is already removed. I ground a couple of cheap Marples chisels as skew chisels to help clean out the corners.
Here is my very first attempt - this is not glued and has not been clamped yet.
Tools used
This method works for me and the cams and button will remain in a drawer for the foreseeable future :wink:
3 drawers in 4 hours at my first attempt is, in my opinion, pretty quick athough reading this one might think the method slow. It isn't as only a little wood is removed with the chisels.
Thanks to Alan (Aldel) for his method of cutting through DTs which inspired this method for half-blind.
First of all, I LOVE cutting through dovetails by hand. It is the woodworking operation I most enjoy. However, I don't like cutting half-blind by hand as the waste is a pain to remove. I decided to find a good way to use the Rat on half-blind DTs.
Second point is that I like to use the aluminium bars for most operations and do not think much of the cams and centre button which is a pain to setup correctly.
Thirdly, I think the Woodrat manual method is flawed. One cuts tails on one setting and then completely changes the setup before cutting the pins to the machine setting, NOT to match the other part of the joint :roll:
Well, I tried the Woodrat manual way of cutting dovetails and was not happy. The method requires the aluminium rails to be removed, two cams to be installed and setup, the middle button thingy to be accurately set up and the main router plate to be moved into one of three positions (4 large bolts removed and re-fitted) depending on the cutters one chooses to use.
Another thing I don't like about the manual method is that it specifies straight cut bit sizes that are hard to come-by unless one buys direct from Woodrat. I prefer TCT to HSS for straight cut bits and can see no reason to use HSS straightcut bits that will not remain sharp for as long - the HSS DT bit has advantages in that it can cut thinner tails which look more like hand-cut. My method allows any TCT straight cutter to be used regardless of the DT bit used (within reason).
The following method was used to cut half-blind DTs in three 200mm deep drawers 2 weekends ago. These half-blind DTs were cut and finished in 4 hours which I think is not bad at all.
First, I cut the slots for the bottom using the router table (with push blocks :wink: ). I use these slots to align the wood a bit later.
I cut the tails in the sides in the normal way using a Woodrat HSS DT bit. I clamped all six sides together and routed all of the tails in one go. Fast
I mount the drawer front in the vice and push a small piece of base material into the routed slot to align the front to the side during marking out of pins.
I then mark out the pins using a sharp craft knife. I ran a 0.3mm pencil along the pencil line afterwards to make it more visible during routing. i also use a little desk spotlight to ensure accurate cutting.
I set the stop on the Rat to allow the router to cut to the required depth of the pins (back to front of the drawer front). I find this easier if the router is running as I move it towards the line. I set the stop at the point that the cutter just touches the line.
I route as close as I can to the lines without going over the top. This is really quick and accomplished in one pass as the depth stop is set to the full depth of cut.
Finally, I quickly clean up with a few chisels. This is really quick and easy as almost all of the wood is already removed. I ground a couple of cheap Marples chisels as skew chisels to help clean out the corners.
Here is my very first attempt - this is not glued and has not been clamped yet.
Tools used
This method works for me and the cams and button will remain in a drawer for the foreseeable future :wink:
3 drawers in 4 hours at my first attempt is, in my opinion, pretty quick athough reading this one might think the method slow. It isn't as only a little wood is removed with the chisels.
