Half-Blind Dovetailed Joint. Fig. 151.

Material:

1 front, 4 1/2" X 3" X 7/8" 1 side, 4 1/2" X 3" X 1/2".

This is the joint which is used in the construction of drawers upon the best grades of work. (In laying out the dovetails of a drawer side, care should be used that the groove for the drawer bottom comes in one of the tails, for if it comes in a pin, it will show upon the end of the drawer front.) As this is the form of dovetailing used the most, there have been several machines invented for the purpose of dovetailing drawers, and the work of the best of these is equal in strength to the work done by hand, though no machine has yet been devised which will exactly reproduce handmade dovetails.

In making the half-blind dovetailed joint, we have another instance in which it is necessary to work from the back, instead of from the face of the front, as we will designate the 7/8" piece.

After the pieces have been prepared as described in the last paragraph of Topic 78 A, proceed as follows:

1. Marking and cutting the joint: Set the gauge to the thickness of the side, and gauge upon both sides of the end of the side which is to be dovetailed, as at a a. Without changing the set of the gauge, working from the back corner, or corner b, of the back of the front, make gauge marks, c, which indicate the length and depth of the space that must be cut out from between the pins, d, d, d, and the corners, e, e.

2. Lay out, saw, and cut the dovetails upon the end of the side. Mark the pins upon the end of the front, being careful that the lines a of the side, and 6 of the front, coincide perfectly, and proceed by the same method as in the preceding problem. The experienced workman learns to make the cut without the guide lines c, of Fig. 152, with sufficient accuracy to insure a good fit, but the amateur should be cautious in attempting methods of work which are beyond his skill.

Fig. 151. - Half-blind Dovetailed Joint.

Fig. 152. - Half-blind Dovetail; Sawing the Pins.

3. Saw the pins as indicated in Fig. 152 at a, and with a chisel cut out the rest of the space which is to receive the dovetails of the side. Workmen who have much of this to do generally have a short, stout chisel, which may be handled more easily than one of the ordinary size. Cut out corners, e, with a backsaw, as far as possible, placing the piece in the vise so that a nearly vertical cut may be made on all sides, as it is difficult to make an accurate cut in any other position.

4. Smooth and sandpaper the inside of the model.

5. Glue together, smooth and sandpaper as in the plain dovetail.