Craftsman Style Bookends: Episode 1

Posted 11 January 2017

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Laying out and cutting the dovetails makes a sensible starting point to the project. Paul shows how to cut them in and out of the vice, being careful not to tear out and to get crisp pin recesses. The pins can then be laid out in the other piece, then cut and the dovetails fitted.

Previous: Craftsman Style Bookends: Info Page

43 Comments

    1. Hello Michael (and others),
      Sorry for the noise in the background. The site where we are based houses a number of woodworking businesses. Removing the noise in editing produced unwanted problems, but we are taking short and longer term steps to decrease and eliminate background noise.
      Thank you for your patience,
      Woodworking Masterclasses Team

    1. The sander noise in the background is mildy distracting and annoying, but every time I hear it, it reminds me why I choose to use primarily hand tools. Much more enjoyable process and I’m sure everyone here would agree. Also I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed Paul’s bent chisel. But as he often says “it probably bothers you more than me” haha

  7. When driving the dovetails home there is, like Paul said, a possibility of splitting the wood. It happens to me on occasion and not only with dovetails but also with m&t. What can you do when this happens? And i mean splitting without breaking pieces off. My own answer would be to open it up a little and poure some super glue in it. Is that the right way to solve the mistake? Replacing a part is not always convenient to say the least.

    1. this has happened to me in the past .i wouldn’t try open it up for super glue you can do more damage . with dovetails i would leave it ,especially if it still in tact.i have done so and the you can’t tell there is even a split .as for mortice and tenon i’am not so sure you don’t say if it is tenon or mortice but what i do know is if you are chopping a mortise into the pith area of your wood it can easily split a this is a high fracture area

    2. I’ve done that myself as most everyone has. Personally, I have put a little preasure on it to open the split and forces wood glue into it and then clamped. I have also closed a split by clamping across when final assembly is done. When you force the peaces together it will inevitably force glue down into the split. Put a clamp across and leave it over night. It works for me!

  11. Thanks Paul. Could you please elaborate a bit more on the decision process you use to determine how many dovetails, how wide they are, and the spacing spacing between them? Also, you seem to prefer 1:7. I also see 1:6 and sometimes 1:4 talked about. Are there any pros and cons as to which you should use?

    1. Hi Joseph.
      I belive 1:7 to be a compromise. Historical recommendation were either 1:6 or 1:8. Both with valid arguments. I think Paul mentions this in his YouTube video about the dovetail template. A slight change of pitch requires the same approach and technique. I think it is a matter of trying to appreciate the operation and aesthetic results.

    2. I think it is a matter of preference and strength. Too wide of tails and it looks odd, too small creates a lot of extra work. I try to make the pins small enough that no one can mistake them for machine-cut :), but not so small that they might break during fitting or use. I use wider pins for softwood. Also, I use a divider to space them out rather than measure. Many woodworkers use this method; Rob Cosman has a demo online somewhere.

  13. Maybe because the dovetails in this project are not too critical, but Paul went away from starting the chopping a couple of mm’s back from the knife wall so as not to move it?

      1. Hej Phil,
        With all known apologies for being blatantly brutally blunt: no, it does not make sense with less that one knows what those factors are and how they influence the choice of chopping method. Providing the information, together with the experience on how to overcome any obstacles, within a project using more difficult wood (cf Toolbox project) should make for a good class, I believe.
        Cheers /soj

        1. I reckon he means that if the wood is softer, more likely for the knife wall to be moved, then you’d start further out. And as far as the size of the dovetails/recesses goes, if large and you can use a wide chisel, this will be less prone to moving the knife wall. Whereas a smaller recess and narrower chisel would be much more prone to moving the knife wall. I hope that makes sense and is indeed what was meant! Please correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s how I understood it.

          Regards Adam

  15. You notice he repeatably said the wood was hard. He may have felt it would withstand the closer chopping. It really doesnt matter where you start it matters how hard you chopwhen you start. . I think anyway.

    1. Paul makes traditional wooden mallets for several reasons;
      To complete his numerous Traditional Tool Chests (family heirlooms?).
      To gift to students attending classes (he makes them while the class is busy, if no-one needs his help for a while).
      And to show us how it’s done.

      Paul prefers the weight, size, and agility of his Thorex Hammer. It has a hard side (white) and a soft side (grey). The heads are replaceable too, when worn out and chewed-up. Paul has used both types, and shown us both types. It’s for us to decide whether we want the one, the other, or both.

    2. Hi Jim,

      Paul says:
      The joiners mallet is a tool many woodworkers enjoy using, and indeed I used one for 40 years. I like the center of percussion (COP) I get from the Thorex hammers. In baseball and cricket they call this the sweet spot. It’s that point where everything is so centered, and indeed you do get this with regular wooden mallets, but the bulls eye is a lot smaller on the Thorex.

      Kind Regards,
      Izzy

    1. John: If you haven’t watched a video, or download a large file, for a while, your Internet speed may have slowed automatically. Internet Providers do this routinely to save Bandwith for other customers. Your speed may, or may not, pick up again automatically. Resetting you router (Off-Wait-On) usually resets that.

      You may have a background PC tasks (Upload/Download) that you’re unaware of. A cloud back-up or program updates?

      You might have chosen a busy period (5pm-9pm), or coincided with a popular online sporting event, or your ISP may have had higher priorities…

      Telephone companies may have rerouted you during maintenance.

      Pausing the video for a few minutes, will allow your PC to buffer content ahead of where you’re watching. Your PC will overcome download delays before you view that portion.
      Try reducing Resolution to 720, 360, or AUTO (self-calibrating).
      Change from Wi-Fi connected to hard-wired Ethernet Cable.

      The causes are complex and there’s many solutions to try. It almost-certainly isn’t WWMC’s fault. Their video was pre-recorded, edited, and uploaded to website servers. Any delay is between numerous Service Providers and your own PC.

      Hope that helps 😁

    1. Keith: The metal bases sit beneath the first three or four books at each end so the weight of those few books holds the bookend firmly in place, preventing the bookend from sliding outwards or toppling over, as it would with heavy or tall volumes.
      This is particularly important when the books are on an open shelf, or when you have e.g. a delicate ornament adjacent to a row of heavy books.
      You could put silicone feet on each bookend, but heavier and tall volumes can overcome the friction and move it.
      Also, when you remove a book, there’s a domino effect as the remaining books cascade sideways. The metal plate weighed-down, counteracts that.

    2. No, not essential; if you choose to, the metal plates may be omitted.

      Plenty of book-ends have been made over decades without a metal anchor plate, but it’s good refinement for modern books that lack stiffness.

      Solid, hard-backed books with a good edge-thickness tend sit upright and not lean sideways and exert side forces as some rather more pliant paperbacks do. The rationale of these bookends is to sit tight to each end of a line of books and prevent them leaning – otherwise they support their own weight.

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