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Entry hall table for a niece: Part 8



Following hot on the heels of the last post, where we created the male or tail section of the tapered sliding dovetail, now comes the female or pin socket to house the base for the legs.

These are the bases. This post will focus on the socket for the one closest the camera.

The base is positioned exactly 3 1/4" from the side. The tapered side is on the inside, with the outside face square to the front and rear of the case ...

This process is essentially the same as transferring marks from the tail- to the pin board with drawers.

The base tapers towards the toe, that is, the sliding dovetail will tighten up as the base is pushed into the socket.

The first step is to register the far end of the base in such a way that the position is repeatable. This is done by placing a long board along the "square" side. The position for the end of the board is marked ...

Now the base can be stood up to mark inside the tail with a scratch awl. You can make out the mark aligning the baseline of the tail ...

Look carefully for the dots.

This is repeated at the other end.

The dots are now joined up ...

The plan is to saw the socket sides, as if sawing dovetails in a drawer. The angle ratio is 1:6, as it was with the base. Since the socket is blind or stopped, the saw needs to have space in which to begin the cut. An area at the toe is excavated with a router.

The depth of the cut is set using a 7.0mm drill bit. I am aware that the actual depth is 7.5mm, but this will be a second pass. I intend to clear the waste with the router - this Jarrah is bloody hard, and I am not a masochist! 

Using an angled saw guide, the end is chopped to the line ..

Now this is space to register the azebiki saw ...

I have roughly marked a depth to aim for ...

Both sides have been sawn ...

The waste is removed with the router, leaving a few mm close to the sides ...

This is chopped away with a chisel in two passes, and then cleaned up with a hand router ...

The side rebate #79/dovetail plane is used to clean any rough sections ..

The power router drops a 0.5mm to 7.5mm and this is cleaned up ...

Amazingly, the base slides in and tightens up about 1/4" from the end. It will need a tap to be fully secure.

That's it for now.

Regards from Perth

Derek

February 2020