Project - Stickley Style Writing Desk - Making the Sliding Dovetail Legs...continued

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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.
  

   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.

   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.

   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

   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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