Tall plank dovetail

[SMALMALEKI]

......I don’t have a plan but what I have drafted is just short of 200 cm tall and 45 cm deep. Has three main compartment of 58 cm. ........

A couple of things. Firstly, 450 deep (minus the depth of the back panel, presumably), isn't deep enough for a coat hanger with shirts or jackets etc. I make wardrobes 700 deep (650 min.). Secondly, I'd be making the sides out of a paneled construction, rather than solid boards. Just make sure you have a cross-member to suit shelves and hanging rails etc.

Hi Mike

Thank you for your advice. The reason I went 450 was because of the room this is going to put in. 700 mm could possibly be slightly too big for the room. To make room for hangers I was planing to get the rail front to back rather than side to side and fix it to the top of wardrobe with hanging hooks.

Do you mean I use the second design for the sides rather than the one in the first photo?


Another question which I have to ask is where do you get the plans for tried and tested furnitures?

Best regards

 

[SMALMALEKI]

I cheat !

Hi Roger

That’s a beautiful jig for dovetail cutting. I am afraid I don’t have the skill to make the jig or the facilities to store and use them.

 

[RogerS]

Thank you but it's not that difficult if you have a decent mitre saw.

 

[Racers]

......These days I would cut them the same way but with a saw, Japanese one with the plank flat on the bench, crouch and saw........

Kneeling under the work, rather than kneeling over it on saw horses. I don't get it.

Didn't make sense did it, seemed to when I wrote it
I think I ment Japanese saw crouching down plank on bench.

Pete

 

[MikeG.]

That's what I thought you meant Pete, and the response applies.........Why would you crouch down or kneel to get low enough to be able to saw something above you, when you could just chuck it on saw horses and kneel on top of it in comfort?

 

[Racers]

That's what I thought you meant Pete, and the response applies.........Why would you crouch down or kneel to get low enough to be able to saw something above you, when you could just chuck it on saw horses and kneel on top of it in comfort?

I guess you could either, I would prefer crouching it seems easer to work with gravity rather than against it.
Your head would be level with the edge of the work crouching.

Pete

 

[MikeG.]

......it seems easer to work with gravity rather than against it.........

Blimey, how heavy is your saw, Pete?

Actually, kneeling above is working with gravity, if you are using a western saw.

 

[Racers]

......it seems easer to work with gravity rather than against it.........

Blimey, how heavy is your saw, Pete?

It doesn't float away :wink:

Pete

 

[Jacob]

Yer basic box for a chest of drawers or wardrobe is most often DTd top and bottom with blind DTs (sockets on the vertical boards out of sight) or through DTs if there will be a plinth, moulding whatever covering the tail ends.
Lots of variations of course.
A typical chest of drawers will have 100 to 200 DTs which makes all the fussy modern ways of doing it utterly non viable.
They HAD to be done fast n furious, freehand, minimal marking out, over-cutting as far as the quality would allow, etc. But luckily this means minimal tools - an ordinary cutting marking gauge (essential) a DT saw or tenon saw, a few chisels, a marking awl (usually home made bodge) er thats about it!

 

[Racers]

Yer basic box for a chest of drawers or wardrobe is most often DTd top and bottom with blind DTs (sockets on the vertical boards out of sight) or through DTs if there will be a plinth, moulding whatever covering the tail ends.
Lots of variations of course.
A typical chest of drawers will have 100 to 200 DTs which makes all the fussy modern ways of doing it utterly non viable.
They HAD to be done fast n furious, freehand, minimal marking out, over-cutting as far as the quality would allow, etc. But luckily this means minimal tools - an ordinary cutting marking gauge (essential) a DT saw or tenon saw, a few chisels, a marking awl (usually home made bodge) er thats about it!

No harm in striving for perfection.

Pete

 

[Benchwayze]

Whenever I have had to dovetail tall planks I place the board horizontally in the vice from the right-hand edge of the vice and at a slope. Then it's just a case of working from the side of the jaws, cutting the tails and keeping an eye on the marked lines so you make a neat job. It's a fiddle, and entails turning the board over to see both sides, but it works. Better than standing on a tall stool to cut the upright plank! :mrgreen:

As if I would!

John (hammer)

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

This may be the longest side I have dovetailed ...

I think that I must have stood on a bench to dovetail this in the upright position

Transferring dovetails ...

Several years later I needed to dovetail the end cap for a bench ...

This time I laid the board horizontally ...

Transferring the dovetails was a balancing act!

At 6'6" it was a bit too tall for my workshop ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Benchwayze]

A good excuse to get a bandsaw (hammer)

Hi Ttrees
Or even a dovetail cutting jig. The problem is that I have no power plug in my workshop 8) :twisted:

Good reason to cut them in the living room, with a good vacuum cleaner to hand!

Cheers

John :mrgreen:

 

[Benchwayze]

Derek.

That's about as tall as I would want to go at my time of life! Couldn't slant that in the vice unless I hot-melted a temporary batten to the work piece, to fit it in the vice. Probably I would lay it flat on the bench though and hold-fast it down. Easy enough to turn it over to get at the other side.

Just thought of a use for some Parana Pine I have!

Cheers

John (hammer)

 

[SMALMALEKI]

This may be the longest side I have dovetailed ...

I think that I must have stood on a bench to dovetail this in the upright position

Transferring dovetails ...

Several years later I needed to dovetail the end cap for a bench ...

This time I laid the board horizontally ...

Transferring the dovetails was a balancing act!

At 6'6" it was a bit too tall for my workshop ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

That’s amazing job. In last few weeks I have been searching nonstop to see a nice dovetail wardrobe. Even the old ones in the Antique shop did not have dovetail joining.

You wouldn’t have the drawing for the wardrobe by any chance?

Regards

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

No drawings, per se, I’m afraid. However - possibly better? - this was my among the first of the step-by-step builds I did on the forums 10 years ago, and it documented in a series of pictorials on my website.

It is termed the “Armoire Project” and “will be about 51” tall and 36” wide”. It is a smaller wardrobe as it needed to fit into a smallish spare bedroom. You could scale it up from this if you wish.

Link: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/index.html

Regards from Perth

Derek