| ARTICLE - Drawer Making - ©2002 Richard Jones | next 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
Hand cut through dovetails at the back of the drawer box are marked. To save time most cabinetmakers mark only the outside face of one side. If there are multiple sides the same width I'll often clamp a stack of four, six, or sight sides together, fix them in the bench vise as shown, square lines across the end grain from the marked rakes with a set square and pencil and, using a dovetail saw, cut just to the waste side of the lines down to the shoulder line.
The gaps between the tails just cut are cleaned out with a coping saw and chisels, but much of the waste can often be removed with a router, straight bit and a side fence, and this helps define the shoulder line. In some work where the gap between the tails is very fine, as in the mahogany cabinet shown at the top, a cutter can't be found small enough to fit between the tails, and the only option is to clean out the waste by hand with chisels.