Drawer Making episode 1
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Paul shows the steps used to prepare the stock and fit the drawer to the recess. The drawers feature half-lapped dovetails into the thicker front, and housing dados with tenons at the back. In this episode, Paul demonstrates the first of two different methods for marking out and cutting the half-lapped dovetail joint.
Thanks for the brilliant episode today. I especially liked the section at the beginning with the explanation on getting your pieces precisely square and accurate, a problem many of us face.
Wonderful episode. The guide block for perfectly matched dovetails is an extremely valuable technique. Thank you very much.
You make it look so easy, Paul. Beautiful work. Cannot wait to try this!
Would be interested to know Paul’s reason for not gang cutting dovetails. I do this regularly and it seems to work well. My reasoning is that the longer registration edge helps keep the saw cut square and gang cutting assures uniformity of the drawer sides. Thanks again.
Hi Harold,
Paul discusses it here:
https://paulsellers.com/2014/10/making-the-toolbox-pare-and-chop-dovetails-and-pins/
Best, Phil
That was impressive.
Another great episode, thank you Paul and crew. I am really enjoying this build.
Steve
Love it , love it, love it. Amazingly simple and REPEATABLE.
Thank you Paul and camera crew for bringing this special touch to drawer making.
Beautifully done!!!
When that dove tail went in, it was truly amazing.
I find it very helpful to sit down with a cup of coffee and watch the whole video, then let it sink in over night and watch it again the next day. For me, I will pick up little things I missed, forgot, or whatever. Then I try my hand at it. There is so much to learn not just in knowing what to do, but eye to hand coordination, and even more, knowing what you are seeing. After making one or two dovetails, watch the video again. I always seem to pick up on something more. When I make my first perfect dovetail, you’ll hear a scream of joy from Colombia to England. I’ve got some that are ok, but nothing that would pass your eye.
I do the same.
Me too! What I find interesting is that when I revisit a video it is the subtle softly spoken cues that I missed the first time, which make it seem like I am watching a retake. There is tons of info in each video. Sometimes I feel like when Paul makes a video he is acutely aware of his students making a revisit and those soft spoken and guiding cues are like the hand of skill guiding you to your goal of better than paint quality work.
Thank you for the lesson.
Liked this one a lot. Makes me want to run out into the garage and start making dovetails at 10 PM on a Thursday evening.
Wonderful lesson. Now I know why I was getting the tearout in the middle of my dovetails when using a coping or fret saw to remove waste.
Thank you for taking the time to go through this topic in full detail and with such emphasis on precision. I have been practicing through dovetails and meaning to take on the half-lap. This gives us all a