drawer
on
tradition
Having worked for the forestry
commission for 35 years, Emrys now
runs his own business making
furniture and restoring antiques.
Dovetailing drawers
with the DJ300 Jig
by Emrys Owen
he use of traditional dovetails
still remains the strongest and
most attractive method of
drawer construction. Traditional
methods of hand-cutting dovetails
require time, skill and patience. With
a router and a dovetail jig, joints for
drawer fronts can be easily cut with
only minimal setting-up to achieve
professional results. I take the DJ300
through it’s paces to produce a
variety of drawer styles.
T
First of all when cutting dovetail
joints, it is imperative that the timber
is finished square and the sides are of
equal width and length. The spacing
of the tails and pins is
automatically set by the
spacing of the fingers of the
templates. The width of the
drawer sides and front should
ideally be a multiple of the
template’s spacing to ensure
there are no partial dovetails
created. Adjustments can be
easily made to ensure that the
half pins at each end appear
equal.
The endstops have offset edges to
automatically position the drawer side
one full spacing to the right or left of
the drawer front so that the tails and
pins are cut at the same time.
2.
Setting Gauge
To assist setting-up the jig each
time with different templates, a
setting gauge can be made and
used. This consists of a
rectangular piece of MDF or
plywood with the offset lines
drawn down each edge.
Alternatively keep a joint
produced with each template and
use them for setting-up.
18
Adjust template
position
Adjust the lock nuts to
align the back of the
template slots with the
15mm line on the setting
gauge.
Autumn 1999