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The leg is white oak and very dense. There is no way that I can make a cut with a dovetail
bit without first removing as much of the groove as possible.
I will use a straight bit to remove material in the groove, but first, I
"mark" the ends. I do this by turning the router on and starting the cut. I want
to cut just enough so that I can get an outline of the bit. There is a lot of burning, so
I take this very slow, in order to not overheat the bit.
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I want to mark the
location of the other side's dovetail so I go to the opposite side of the router. NOTE:
do not make cuts from this direction. I only want to mark the end in the same way as
before, so I carefully ease the leg until it is marked.
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Now you can see that the
dovetail marking is a good way to show where the actual dovetails will be. I position the
side piece, with the centerline marked, to see if the reveal is correct. It looks good. It
is time to cut the legs.
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I set the Incra Stop to
cut the groove the width of the side, less about 3/8". This can be approximate since
we will trim the tails to fit. Once set, I move the Incra Stop's scale to 0o,
so that I can remove the Incra Stop and later return it to the exact position.
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I want to use a straight
bit to rout out as much of the groove as possible. The right straight bit diameter will
depend on the dovetail. I went through one bit at a time and tried it against the dovetail
impression I had made on the leg. The 3/8" seems to fit.
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I have installed the
straight bit and am lowering it to be level with the router plate. I use a scrap piece of
wood to help me judge when the router bit is just level.
Once level, I crank the height adjustment 3 to 4 turns clockwise and make my
cuts. I make cuts only on the first dovetail slot.
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Here is my leg now.
The pencil is fitting in the 3/8" straight bit groove and the groove depth exactly
matches the dovetail depth
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If you recall, I
"burned" the dovetail shape in the other groove by coming from the other
direction. You do NOT want to do any cutting from this direction. What I did was use the
"burn" mark to move the fence so that the straight bit was centered on the
"burn."
There is a way to compute this location, but it is complicated. This method
works much better for me. I lowered the straight bit and made a series of cuts, raising
the bit 3 to 4 turns for each pass.
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Once the straight bit has
done its job, I install the dovetail bit again and make a pass. Even in this very dense
quarter-sawn oak, the dovetail bit makes an easy cut, now that the straight bit removed
the bulk of the slot.
Now it is time to cut the sides.
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