Spacey,

 Are you cutting a dovetail slot or just a square slot?

 I hear you on the one try and back to square one if it doesn't work out risk.

 Good luck!!!





 I had a wonderful day yesterday doing finish carpentry on my mix room windows.

 My assistant was in a wonderful mood and he helped me work the magic on some hand selected quarter sawn pine I was using. Our goal was to "wrap" the grain in a continuous flow from the source boards. No one notices, but they actually do, and when they figure out that they noticed it is rewarding to see them walk around the place staring at wood grain as if they are having a revelation of what is possible. :-)

 He was right there for me, focused on the goal and we fabricated everything using just the boards we wanted, where we wanted while trying to make those super tight finish carpentry cuts and make assembly square, true, and level.

 It seemed like every move was "do it right or back to square one" and it was wonderful to have the support and full attention of an assistant who wanted to help achieve that goal. Good times.




 It's amazing how stressful wood working can be when you feel that you are about to put a piece of wood, that you value for it's uniqueness, at risk of being made into disposable trash.

 


 I know you'll do a great job of it!!!



 best regards,
mike

All I can think of; If it's a dovetail make sure you keep that router pressed down against the surface so it doesn't "lift" and reshape the taper. But you knew that. :-)



Yikes! I've only done simplistic dovetail stuff.



I imagine that getting on the other side of that stepping stone is going to feel very rewarding for you!


all the best,
mike

I'd be happy to discuss wood but I'm hesitant to deviate form the OP subject.


In any event, my too most recent realizations about working with pine for simple furniture:


1) Biscuit joiners are cheap and create opportunity for easy to set up glue joints that you might have otherwise nailed. That can make for an easier job of finishing and an very nice appearance. I often times make true mortise and tenon joints, but it's tedious and time consuming. The biscuit joiner offers similar structural benefits for not much cost or effort.



2) "Forstner" type drill bits are great for making clean holes in soft and or fibrous pine wood. Also, when ever you drill wood, and desire good clean edges, make sure that you have a backing material to reinforce the wood so that it doesn't break up when you punch through the bottom.


When you're ready start a new thread and we can babble.  :-)



best regards,
mike

Mike and Star- please don't hesitate to discuss anything you care to.

I'll even join in!

Pine would probably be my last choice unless I had no options. Even paying for
number one pine isn't going to buy stability and strength.
I remember when I was young some nice blocks and 2"x 12" pine worked very well. :)

Most pine that I've used is fast grown and weak.
Nothing would be worse than to do all that work and a week later
all the shelves bowed and twisted into a big mess.

For strength I'd use plywood. I'd also spring for furniture grade and
should I decide not to paint -not a problem.

I've been using Red Oak for all my shelves in the shop. I can understand
why you may not want to run the cost up but if you want that built in
to fall into "furniture" then personally I'd rather have a smaller quality unit
than a big oh-hum unit. Not an easy call.

May seem wrong but you do know that a piece of tubing supports more than a solid rod- something to consider. ( horizontally thinking :)

Nice

Thank you much Karyn...I have a real silly grin and kinda still shaking lol.

Incredible stuff as always Mike
 
 
 

Thank you very much Steve and Craig.

Craig there were a few things I wanted to learn how to do with this build.
They may not seem like much but they are new to me.
This joint with the addition of the "pretty" piece but also the back of the head
with Wenge. I guess the idea is to give visual balance but I really wanted to
break the lines from the laminated neck.

The other thing I wanted in this build is to laminate the front of the head.
That is a real challenge due to the curved slope. I hope to get a heating bar and
bend some wood to do that. I still haven't got my head wrapped around it...I have
to learn how to do that and make it transition right with the fretboard. Just not sure
about it yet. Not only because of a tool I don't have but also because I really don't
want to use Wenge or Zebra on the face of the head...suggestions?
I've been thinking some dyed black Holley or Flame maple to match the neck.

Comin' along BEAUTIFULLY!!!

mike_mccue


That looks great Spacey.

I do have a question though, isn't that construction technique more often called "long tenon" like on the late 1960s SG guitars where they extended the joint? It seems like a dovetail joint has a angled tail shape like on a Martin acoustic.

Not trying to start a disagreement... I just pictured something slightly different this morning.


best regards,
mike

5.5 of one, 6 of the other, a dovetail doesn't have to lock by angles. A Tenon can be three sided. It's kind of a regional label either way from what I know. Now you've got me wanting to look at my Martin. lol

Craig I wanted to laminate both sides of the head. To do the front it would need to follow the slope and go up under the fretboard I'm thinking.

 
 
I guess we'll have to wait and see. Take your time, go with your feelings.

Mike you have me thinking and wondering.

I think I know what you were expecting to see now.

If the neck had shoulders that butted up against the body then
the dovetail.
Without the shoulders then classified a tenon.   ? Am I thinking right?
I may have to draw what I'm thinking. Maybe you can?

I've always thought a dovetail was a specialized subset of a mortoise tenon using trapezoidal shapes to lock the joint together. I was just confused about which direction you were doing trapezoid. Don't really know why I got it in my head that way.

 
I think you're mostly right, but are the angle limits? 2 degrees, 15 degrees, 30 degrees?

Ahhhh, inserted from the top, not slid in. Yep, big ole dovetail huh? :)

Nice