In this episode of Advancing Your Skills, Ian Kirby demonstrates how to mark the pins and tails of a single lap dovetail.
Advancing Your Skills is the third volume in The Way to Woodwork series. The episodes in Advancing Your Skills build on the concepts taught in Essential Starters and Building on Basics. Woodworkers of all skill levels will find this volume educational and entertaining. You’ll learn more advanced woodworking skills and joinery, including detailed instruction on how to hand-cut dovetail joints and an introduction to machine cut dovetail joints. Designing projects with mock-ups and project design (proportions, form, and space) are also covered using a project as an example.
Watch – The Way to Woodwork – Volume 3
Advancing Your Skills – Ep. 8 – Marking Single Lap Dovetails
Single-Lap Dovetail Details
These dimensions were used to make the drawer in the video. They make for elegant looking and refined front and back joints. The hidden detail (the shape described with dotted lines) shows the groove — in the drawer front that accepts the tongue on the bottom — going through a tail socket. It also shows the line of the bottom pin on the back joint.
Marking Out and Jointing the Single-Lap Dovetail
The single-lap joint on the drawer front is marked out by two gauge settings and three gauge lines. The first setting (1/32″ less than the thickness of the side) determines how far the tails stand proud of the pins. The second setting determines the length of the tails and, at the same time, the thickness of the end wall.
Watch more episodes from The Way to Woodwork – Building on Basics:
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2. Using Mock Ups to Design Projects [1:56]
3. Bedside Cabinet – Introduction [2:46]
4. Fitting a Door and Choosing Hardware [11:36]
5. Standing Desk – Introduction [2:21]
6. Handmade Drawer – Overview [2:37]
7. Fitting Drawer Parts [8:13]
8. Marking Single Lap Dovetails [4:28]
9. Cutting Single Lap Dovetails [13:54]
10. Marking and Cutting Through Dovetails [7:14]
11. Introduction to Machine Cut Dovetails [1:53]
12. Assembling Handmade Drawers [3:37]
13. Fitting the Drawer Bottom [5:43]
14. Fitting the Drawer in the Cabinet [3:26]
Did you miss Vol.1, Essential Starters or Vol.2, Building on Basics?
Watch The Way to Woodwork, Vol. 1, Essential Starters.
Watch The Way to Woodworker, Vol. 2, Building on Basics
