Mitred dovetails
I had made a set of these a long time ago, but had to do a set recently as a demo. There are different ways to do this- there can be a mitred plane at the inside of the DT's as well as at the outside, but this is the easier way, maybe with more useful glue surface.
The joint is laid out with a try square and marking gauge.
The first cuts I did with the saw, but not exactly to the line of the mitre.
Next, the mitred area is chiselled out.
Carbon paper is used to find the high points, first with a try square and then with a 6 inch rule rubbed on the joint.
High points are pared and filed off.
Pins are cut, waste drilled out.
Tails are marked from pins and cut out.
Ends of pins and tails are sawn and pared to the mitre.
Carbon paper is put between the parts as they're fit.
High points are pared off.
Final fit. That gap at the outside corner is from over-paring the mitre, so be careful. This would probably be for a foot, so it wouldn't show. Does anyone have evidence for a Newport foot being dovetailed? I've heard about it being done, but never saw any x-rays or photos to document it.-Al
Comment
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Comment by Dr Joseph Hemingway on December 12, 2010 at 11:19am -
Thats nice cabinetwork, a pleasure to see.
Kind Regards
Dr Joseph Hemingway
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Comment by al breed on June 28, 2010 at 10:33pm -
Mike- Nice work. I usually carve the front blocked foot with extra at the mitre end and then just mitre it to the side foot, tracing the finished front foot onto the side mitre and then shaping it. I know what you mean about wasting stock- you do lose a lot in the process if you make molding first. I've never DT'd one, but now I may have to.
It would be fun to xray some and see what's in there.....Al
Cal- That desk sure has Newport interior elements, th roudabout chair not as much. Good luck on your project-Al
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Comment by michael s mcgrail on June 24, 2010 at 2:52pm
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I know it may seem overkill, but I have been cutting these on my feet for several years now- they just seem stronger to me and I could never really figure out how to clamp up a miter. I think the only trick is making sure one that the miter closes before the dovetail bottoms, pretty easy to make happen if you think about it while using your marking gauge.
Here is 2 photos of one I have been cutting, it is glued together now and carved, but I haven't shot any pictures of that yet. These feet are for block fronts, so the front face is thicker than the side.
I roughly cut out the profile of the foot(so there will be less to mold later) and then carve the ogee molding profile with block plane and a gouge after the mitered dovettail is glued. I think it is less work and might save a little material as opposed to molding a 45 inch long board or so- there are always little bits of board lying about that need to be used.
Just wondered if anybody else used there little bits for feet like this-
I think it entirely possible some might have done it this way in the 18thC.
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Comment by Calvin Hobbs on June 24, 2010 at 8:03am -
White almost surely was trained in Newport. In American Furniture 1999 there was an article by John Bivins (who borrowed heavily from my brother Matt's Winterthur thesis) about Thomas White and John Saunders from Perquimans, both of whose furniture styles linked to Newport. Here are a couple of examples of his work at MESDA in Winston Salem.
The desk is the one I am currently working on reproducing. My Dad, two brothers, and I each started one in February. We also worked with Kirk Rush in SC who made an outstanding copy when the original was donated to the museum.
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Comment by al breed on June 23, 2010 at 9:23pm
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Cal- That's the trouble with feet, you can't tell by looking at them. Not familliar with White's work. Did he use shells and blocking?-Al
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Comment by Calvin Hobbs on June 23, 2010 at 6:07pm
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Thanks for the post Al. I recently did this type of joint for a reproduction of a desk (top of case to sides) by Thomas White, built in Perquimans County, NC. White was VERY Newport 'ish" in his desks, you might be familiar with his work. The extra step to miter the dovetails is a lot of extra work, but still pretty cool. It actually hides all the potential dovetail gaps, but like you said is very unforgiving at the miter. We debated whether White's feet were mitered dovetails as well. My brother was sure that they were, me, not so much....Cal
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