Double Dovetail Box #1: Milling the parts.

A1Jim suggested I post a blog to describe how I did the double dovetail Joint I used on my Spalted Mango Box so here it goes. I hope people find this helpful and if you have questions please post them and I’ll do my best to answer them. I also greatly appreciate feedback on anything.

I was going to show how to make the joint using some scrap wood but since it’s just as much work as using good wood so I decided I may as well use good wood and build a whole box. I’ll be pretty much making up the design for this box as I go like I often do so any suggestions will be most welcome. The wood of choice for this project is Canary Wood and Jarrah.

Step 1: Mill the front, back, and sides of the box as usual using whatever dimensions you want. For a normal dovetailed box the lengths of the pieces would be exactly the same as the finished box. For this box, subtract twice the thickness of the pieces from the lengths to allow for the corners.

Step 2: Mill a couple a couple other scrap pieces the same thickness and width as the box parts. Length doesn’t matter as long they’re long enough to clamp into your dovetail jig. I would normaly use some cheap poplar but I didn’t have any and I already had a bunch of the canary wood pre-milled so I used that.

Step 3. Mill the 4 corner pieces. The final size should be the same thickness as the side pieces square and as long as the sides are wide. For example: if your sides are 3/4×3 x 8 then make your corner pices 3/4×3/4×3. For now, make them a little wide, say 3/4×1 x 3”.

Step 4: Glue the corner pieces onto the ends of the scrap pieces. I used my bench and a couple of blocks to keep them flat and flush. Make sure you’ve got a good joint and Let the glue set overnight.

Next up, cutting the dovetails.

-- Don - I wood work if I could. Redmond WA.