Customize the cheap tools for one task…

Dad, through his woodworking club in Phoenix found that there were 5 guys that want to get a set up to do just these dovetail joints. The big trouble is getting the set up right.

Dad’s solution is to find five elements that can be used specifically for the blind dovetail joint. The idea was to create the custom set up just to make dovetail joints for drawers. Dad, mounted the router bit, 7/16 guide and the base plate on the router and set up the height of the router bit to work with the dovetail jig, then we set up the dovetail jig and made sure it worked.

Here was his solution:

1) One cheap plunge router,($26.00),

2) One cheap dovetail bit, ($1.50)

3) A guide and base plate, ($25.00) and

4) One cheap dovetail jig, ($39.95)

Now the five guys have their custom made dovetail joint making machine for under $100.00. So the idea here is to find the cheap equipment and set them up to complete a specific task. Once the set up have been made and it works you don’t change the set up or use these tools for any other routing tasks. They are used for this specific task and set up for just one purpose.

In this case we are making dovetail joints.

Another Woodworking Source…

What about the blind dovetail joint…

I was surfing the web looking for information on the blind dovetail. Through my travels I was having trouble finding additional information about the tools needed to make this perfect wood. What I did find was a website that is a good reference website for a lot of wood joints including the dovetail joint.

This is a great site used for reference material. In this case look up the dovetail joint on this website to see the wealth of information.

Looking for more websites…

If anyone has other woodworking websites that are good reference websites please comment in this post and add the link to your favorite reference website. Please no commercial sites selling tools.