How to finish imperfect dovetails?
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I’m still in the “imperfect dovetail cutting” part of my learning. After cutting and chiseling, I can be off 1/16″ here and there. It’s me. I know it’s me. Practice practice practice!
Obviously the creator is never happy with their creation. But I don’t want to go tossing many hours of work and wood. So what is the best way to repair/hide the worst of the work? Wood filler? Other tricks?
20 February 2018 at 4:06 pm #478111cut shims that corresponds with the grain of the tail,or pin and glue in , end grain being a bit harder to fill than long grain taper the shim and tap tight then plane smooth after the glue dries..
Maybe this will be of help:
22 February 2018 at 4:59 pm #479817Geoff, a good idea i found was save all your offcuts until you are done with the project. They match what you are doing best. I toss them all in the corner of the bench and pick from the pile as needed. Even dovetail scraps come in handy.
I do toss most of the shall stuff when the project is finished.21 June 2018 at 8:58 pm #548667I don’t know if this helps but this is what I say to myself a lot. “Well, it’s much better than anything I can buy at Ikea and looks nicer.”
21 June 2018 at 9:40 pm #548668On the really thin gaps, the ones too small for a wedge, I just use a wax filler. Comes in all sorts of colors but you can’t use it until AFTER you put your finish on – it’s wax and finish won’t adhere to it. Beeswax works if you’re not staining and using a lighter color wood. I avoid that stuff they call wood filler. I’ve yet to find any that doesn’t make the problem look worse instead of better. Sometimes, a little sawdust mixed with some PVA can do the trick on the thin gaps.
You have to have higher standards, I would just keep practising with well prepared stock until you can do a dovetail with no gaps, don’t worry about it, just move on and make another box, really take your time, it could be worth practising sawing accurately simply by drawing lines onto a piece of wood, sounds basic but it works, and trains you to saw to the line squarely and accurately.
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