ATC Part 1 – Dovetails, Dovetails, Dovetails

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Anarchist’s Tool Chest (ATC) is the first book written by Chris Schwarz and published by Lost Art Press (LAP) in 2011. Ths book had a major impact to my woodworking mindset. Before the ATC, I was primarily a power tool user and used hand tools as an afterthought.

For those of you that are concerned about the word “Anarchist’s” (because it has been used in a negative context before) in the title, here is Chris Schwarz’ explanation: This is not scary at all unless you sell cheap flatpack stuff made of termite spit.

Mitres Dovetails And Lid

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

With some trepidation I went headlong into the fabrication of my Saw Box lid. The challenge came from the the geometry of the corner joint for the lid. By mounting the top board in a groove in the frame boards, the only way to conceal the groove would be to use a mitre joint.

The big problem with ordinary mitre joints is they are weak and do not offer a lot of glueing area. This is the reason I chose the mitered dovetail joint. The mitre hides the groove and the dovetail gives the joint strength. I have never cut this joint before, I have only seen Roy Underhill cut these on his 2-episode show on the Woodwright’s Shop where he made a Joiner’s Tool Chest and used this type of joint for the same reason as I was going to use it. My effort was a process of trial and error; my first one was ok, but it had a few extra unnecessary cuts. Fortunately I foresaw this difficulty and planned ahead with extra long stock, which gave me a couple of tries for each piece. When it came to cutting the critical second cuts on each board, I was getting pretty good at it.

Dovetails on Olde Tool Workshop

ATC Part 1 – Dovetails, Dovetails, Dovetails

Mitres Dovetails And Lid