Kevmc Posted February 25, 2012 Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 I am mostly finished with the dovetail on the end block and it fits ok. Definitely not furniture quality but for my first dovetails ever I am happy. However when I drive the tails in the last. Quarter inch or so, it angles the board out of alignment but about a half inch at the other end. I can pull it back into alignment with little pressure but I would rather fix it if I can with some fine tuning of the joint. Any recommendations on where to star. At first I though the bottom tail Was a bit long and thus pushing the board out of alignment so I trimmed that up a bit. Then I though the bottom shoulder looked like it might be pushing it out so I trimmed that up a bit. It seemed to fit much better and the joint goes together pretty smoothly until the last quarter inch or so when I have to use a hammer. Then the end board gets pushed out of alignment with the rest of the bench. Thanks Kc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewoodwhisperer Posted February 25, 2012 Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 Hey Kc. I'll admit that troubleshooting something like this is a little tricky without actually being able to inspect and test the joint. But the first thing I would do is check to make sure all of the components are square as well as the inner walls of the tails and pins. If the board is catching more in the last 1/4", I would try to solve that problem first. You might just find the alignment isn't an issues anymore once the dovetails is seated properly. I think the first think I would look at is the pin sockets. They are very deep and it is hard to see if some extra material is in the way, especially in the corners where the router bit couldn't reach. Another thing you can try is marking the walls of your tail with lots of pencil, then assemble the joint. Once you disassemble, you can sometimes see where the joint rubs more aggressively and pinpoint the source of a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevmc Posted February 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2012 Thanks Marc I notices one tail was a lot tighter than the other and cleaned up the socket just a small amount. it fit much better and that solved my problem. The tolerances for a good fitting dovetail are quite small and that make good looking dovetails all that more impressive to me. once my bench is built I am going to focus on dovail practice. On to the vice installation once the glue dries up KC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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