If you caught my previous post – I cut my first (ever) dovetails into the right end of the apron, which is the tail vice end.
First – I appreciate all the great comments from that post – and I want to thank superdave for alot of the inspiration to even attempt this…......There are ALOT of inspiring posts on this site, but I happened upon Daves posts (and links) with hand tools and they just kind of hit home.
So – the sweet part of this post…........
For the left end of the apron I decided to improve my chances of success by reducing the tail thickness to ~3/4”:
And the pins:
This turned out to be a good decision (I think) becasue the final fit is defineatly better than the right side – and quite honestly, better than I really expected with my lack of any practical experience – this is a dry fit:
Clearly not perfect – but it will do – I’m pretty happy with the result. The tails are still a bit proud of the pins, but I will adjust that on the final assembly – they are so tight I really want to limit how many times I have to test fit.
And the bitter part…............
I should have put the tails on the end cap and the pins on the front apron so the front vice would have a nice consistant flat face, without endgrain. It dawned on me the next day, I think I was driving to work, saying, you dumb#$@.
Sometimes I get so caught up with symmetry and balance – that common sense goes right out the door…........
Anyways – the nicest dovetails on the bench will now be covered by the vice face – or I move the vice face inward to the center of the bench to eliminate using the endgrain space.
Here are a couple of photos with the vice face on top of the bench (in 2 alternate mounting locations)....what do you think?
I know there is a cutting board club going on here, not sure of a dovetail club. I have no interest in becoming a member of the dovetail club and therefore – I am not planning on re-doing this mistake – so I live with it…......
As always – learned alot – and always appreciate the input…..
Jeff