Table saw dovetail joints.

When I first considered using dovetail joints for boxes and drawers and trays, I searched the web for methods, jigs etc. I found many dovetail jigs for routers and router tables and also some very complex layout methods. What was interesting was that a lot of woodworkers simply mark out the tails with either an adjustable square or dedicated dovetail square.

The other interesting thing I found was that some of the really practiced woodworkers use just a stiff back saw to cut both pins and tails, and either a chisel or coping saw to flattent he bottoms. One Saturday morning while watching a popular woodworking TV show, I watched in amazement as the host, after marking the depth, just started cutting tails with a stiff backed saw. Then he chiseled out the waste, marked the pins and quickly chiseled them out.

While he was doing this, he explained that he sometimes cut 20 or 30 dovetail joints a day and didn't have time to go through all the marking and measuring that normally would be involved with cutting these difficult joints.

I watched numerous videos of dovetail cutting jigs that can be used on a router table or with a hand held router. These appear to work very well in the videos, but one should bear in mind that router bits dull quickly on hard woods and need to be sharpened daily. If you don't have your own sharpening tools, costs can add up quickly and while you're waiting for bit sharpening turn around, you may want to explore other methods.

I finally settled on using my table saw. There are three reasons for this.

No new equipment to buy.

Saw blades stay sharp for a long time even when cutting hardwoods.

Only one cutting tool is needed.

By adding a piece of scrap stock to your mitre guage so that it extends past the saw blade and then setting your mitre guage to 10 degrees you can cut half of the tails. When you are done one side of the tails, simply flip the angle on your mitre guage to the opposite 10 degree mark and cut the other side of the tails. To set your blade height, lay your stock flat on the table saw and snug it up to the blade. Now raise or lower the blade to match the thickness of the stock. It won't hurt to raise it a hair above the height of the stock to ensure that your cuts are deep enough.

To cut the waste out, just nibble it away by moving your stock over 1/8 of an inch, pass it through the blade and repeat until you have about half the waste removed. then switch to the opposite angle on the mitre guage and do the other half.

Next, trace the pins onto a new piece of stock from the tails you've just cut. Then change the angle of your blade to 10 degrees and carefully cut inside the lines you just marked. While you have the blade at this angle, nibble away the wasted betweent the pins. Cutting the pins must be done very acurately because if you cut them too small, they won't fit together and if you cut them too big there will be gaps in the joints. Again, be sure to set your blade height equal to or just a hair higher than the thickness of your stock.

I have done several boxes and tray joints using just my table saw and with a bit of practice this can be done quickly, accurately and easily. The joints will be tight and solid with no gaps and just a few taps with a rubber hammer to fully seat them will be needed.

Good luck!!