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Aligning Tail and Pin Boards





I started dovetailing parts of the toolbox, and there was a small fixture I wanted to share. This section has long sides held together with through dovetails, and mitred at each end. However, this method works equally with board without mitres.



A few years back I came up with a tape substitute for the shallow rebate Rob Cosman called the "#140 trick", which he learned from Alan Peters. A link to the article is here: 
https://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnit...ickisDead.html Cosman uses this all the time now.

Using tape for this length joint is not practical, and so what I did was clamp a long straight edge to the shoulder of the dovetails.


Positioning the edge before turning it over and aligning the sides …



The edge of the square also ensures that the ends line up.



Just a loose fit, but all lines up. Radiata Pine is horrible to work with.


This method works equally well with combination- and double squares on shorter lengths. Here is a 150mm double square on shorter sides.


Positioning the double square …




Aligning the sides …





Regards from Perth

Derek

March 2025