How to Cut a Dovetail Easily

Marking the Wood

• 1

  Lay one of the pieces of wood to be used in the dovetail joint on the workbench. Place the other piece vertically on top of it and at the end of the wood, so that the two pieces of wood butt each other as they would when joined.

• 2

  Draw a line on the lower piece of wood to mark the thickness of the vertical piece of wood. Take a carpenter’s square and extend the line you’ve drawn so that it goes around all four sides of the wood. Score this with a utility knife.

• 3

  Lay the vertical piece of wood on the workbench and put the other piece of wood vertically on top of it, at the end of the wood, then mark the thickness around the end, once again scoring the line with the utility knife.

Making the Tail

• 4

  Put the first piece of wood in a vise, ensuring that it stands vertically with the marked end at the top. Measure and mark the halfway point along the top edge and put a dovetail template over this, with the mark in the center of the template.

• 5

  Mark around the edge of the template down to the line you’ve scored around the wood. Remove the template and shade the areas outside the marks – these are the areas you will remove to leave the center piece, or tail. Keep the wood in the vise and make the cuts down with a tenon saw, keeping the blades just outside the line from the template. Cut down to the scored line.

• 6

  Move the wood so it’s horizontal in the vise and cut along the scored lines to remove one side outside the joint. Move the wood again and cut to remove the other side.

• 7

  Place the wood flat on a piece of scrap wood on the workbench and hold securely with a G clamp. Cut to the lines and make the edges smooth with a sharp chisel and mallet, just removing a small amount of wood each time.

Completing the Joint

• 8

  Hold the other piece of wood vertically in the vise. Mark the midpoint of the end and center the dovetail template over it, then mark the outside of the template with a pencil. Shade the center area this time and cut down just inside the lines with a tenon saw.

• 9

  Lay the wood flat on the scrap wood on the bench and use the G clamp to keep it secure. Hold the chisel against the line at the bottom of the joint and tap with a hammer; go slowly to keep the edges straight until you’ve removed the wood from the joint.

• 10

  Straighten the edges of the cut with a chisel then fit the two halves of the dovetail joint together.