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Now the
"through dovetails." I must say that I had real trepidation about making these
on this jig. For one, I didn't know how a single dovetail bit could cut both tails and
pins. After all, the jigs I have experience with used a dovetail bit and a straight bit.
Reading the instructions, at first, didn't help. "Whittling" as the last
step seemed to defeat the purpose of such a precision jig. Maybe this jig really isn't
meant for this joint.
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Again, I start by looking through the template pages. This time I note the stock thickness for the "through" dovetails. Here I find a template for the 1/2-inch stock I am using and one that uses a dovetail bit I have. |
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Setting the router depth is the same as for blind dovetails. You set first by the "approx. depth of cut" listed in the template. Then cut the tests and put them together and adjust accordingly. This adjustment is unique to this method but will quickly be easy to repeat. It does make for very exact joints. |
The sides get tails cut exactly the same way as for half-blind dovetails. |
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The end board pins are cut in three steps: the first step is to cut the pins exactly like the sides (tails) were cut but using the "B" settings. |
Now to the second cut. You set the Incra Stop so that the dovetail cutter just cuts to the baseline of the earlier cuts. Then you use the holddown pad and make the "B" cuts with the end piece flat on the table, as shown. |
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The third cut is simply to remove a tiny nib that is left from the first two cuts. I used a chip carving knife to remove it in one simple stroke. Absolutely no carving skill is required. A chisel or utility knife could be as easily used. |
The final box with four very tight through dovetails. As I said at teh outset, I was very skeptical about doing this joint with only the one bit...and the carving step caused me to wonder—but not now. I frankly don't quite understand how it does it using only the dovetail bit, but it does—and that is good enough for me. |
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So here is that first picture again. Three strong, accurate and beautiful joints. For any one about to use the Incra Jig, I strongly recommending taking on the task in the exact same order I did them. There are a lot of steps. No one step is difficult. Leave any one step out and you will have trouble. The instructions are well written and clearly illustrated. Follow them and you will have success. |
That is the end of this section. There
are two things I have to do with the Incra Jig:
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