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The F3 finger joint template

May 14, 2010 By Al Navas

Last week I received the new (latest!) F3 finger joint template for the Leigh D4 dovetail jig, for evaluation.

I love to make boxes; as a result, the D4 jig I bought many years ago has always been the workhorse in the shop. This has always meant that until now all my boxes used dovetail joinery – through dovetails, inlaid dovetails, sliding dovetails, half-blind dovetails. The F3 will make it very easy to make boxes with finger joints; now I will make them very, very easily.

The F3 mounts on the D4, and replaces the dovetail finger assembly completely. That is what the 15-second opening sequence of the video at the bottom of this article is about. Simply remove the dovetail finger assembly, and replace it with the F3. What could be simpler than that? Step-by-step, the following is what I did:

  1. Replace the dovetail finger assembly with the F3 finger assembly
  2. Install the e7 e-Bush on the router; select a setting of 5 to start the test cuts
  3. Select board width for a box around 4 inches tall; rip to final width, per the board width selection guide on page 12 of the User Guide
  4. Test boards, to test the finger joint fit: Make the first tests at a setting of 5 on the e-Bush; make sure to run the guidebush on both sides of each template opening, to get even cuts on each finger on the boards
  5. Adjust the joint fit by rotating the e-Bush as needed; each division adjusts the joint fit by 0.002″
  6. I found that a maximum of three tests was required to fine tune the perfect fit.

For purposes of this first video on the F3, I made a box using symmetrical box joints. This means that two of the boards have pins on the side edges, and two have sockets on the side edges, like the two boards in the back in the following image (I copied the following image from the 15.9-MB F3 User Guide):

F3 symmetrical vs. asymmetrical joints.

To make the symmetrical joints, the User Guide includes on page 12 a chart that simplifies the process of selecting board width, for optimum finger placement:

F3 board width selection chart.

F3 board width selection chart.

One important thing to remember when making this joint: After cutting the joint on the ends, the boards are rotated end-over-end, not clockwise or counter-clockwise. This maintains the symmetry.

Using this chart: I decided I wanted to make a 5/16″ symmetrical joint. The maple boards I had on hand were just over 4 inches wide. From the chart, and circled in red, I determined that the boards would have a total of 11 fingers, and the exact width required would be 3-17/32″. I ripped the boards to that width, and it worked beautifully! But you will have to watch the video below to confirm this.

Disclosure: Leigh Industries is a sponsor of this blog. On occasion, I receive tools and jig templates for evaluation; and I maintain total editorial freedom of the reviews I present on the blog. Plain and simple, I never receive or accept cash for anything I review.

The F3 finger joint template — symmetrical joints
Download this video in Quicktime format
(In Windows, Right-click | Save Link As…)
Duration: 28:29 minutes
File size: 248 MB

I would love to hear from you how you cut the finger joints for the boxes you make:

  • Do you use hand tools?
  • Do you use a dedicated jig?
  • Do you make the joints on a table saw or on a router table?

Acknowledgment: Music courtesy Jason Riley, professional guitarist, St Joseph, Missouri, USA. I selected Track #8 in the Outtakes CD – It is Prelude in D, by J.S. Bach).

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog, Box making, F3 finger joint, Finger joints, Jigs, Joinery, Leigh jig Tagged With: F3, finger joint, Leigh jig, template

Tutorial: hand-cut half-blind dovetails

December 21, 2009 By Al Navas

Download this video in Quicktime format
(In Windows,  Right-click | Save Link As…)
Duration: 21:41 minutes

One of the readers of the blog recently posted the following Comment to the earlier article on More great drawers:

Could you add ‘Cutting Pins by Hand for Half-Blind Dovetails’ to the list of topics to cover? I fully get how to cut pins and tails for through dovetails, but half-blind pins I can’t seem to wrap my mind around. Is it all chisel work? Is there a sawing technique I don’t know of to cut 80% through the thickness of a board?

Torch, this article and video are my response to your request – perfect timing!

Although today it is considered the hallmark of a woodworking craftsman, the dovetail was not always held in such high esteem. In fact, dovetails used to be buried behind trim, as they were strictly a utilitarian joint; but they were used for their holding strength. Today we make dovetails by hand and with dovetail jigs, to get beautiful results; and they are beautiful!

In this episode I show in detail how to cut one half-blind dovetail on a narrow board. Although I managed to damage the fit on the first attempt, I recovered to shoot the chopping of the pins for this episode in its entirety. In the video I show in high speed the details of chopping the waste, from start to finish:

  1. Very light chiseling at the baseline, to ensure that it stays nice and clean.
  2. Once the baseline is established, more aggressive chopping can take place.
  3. But care must be taken at the half-pins, to prevent splitting of the wood; typically, a narrower chisel, and lighter chisel action are required, or the board will split.
  4. Slight undercutting at the baseline, about 1° to 2°, will result in better and easier fit of the tails in their sockets.
  5. However, too much undercutting will result in a weak joint – as a result, avoid too much undercutting. Practice, practice…
  6. Chop the bulk of the waste with the board supported by the workbench; then place the work piece in the vise, to finish with light paring cuts.
  7. Cut a very small chamfer on the back of the dovetails, to easy entry into their respective sockets in the pins board.

Gary Rogowski is a great advocate of the 5-minute dovetail, a practice session to get ready for the real job of cutting the joinery on a real project. And although the exercise is typically for through dovetails, I believe it applies just as well to half-blind dovetails. In fact, I always do a similar warm-up when I use the Leigh dovetail jig – I never start cutting dovetails cold, regardless the method. Click on this link to see the Inlaid Dovetails Tutorial videos I posted on the blog in March 2008, using the Leigh D4 dovetail jig.

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Filed Under: Blog, Dovetails, Education, Joinery, Tutorial, Video Tagged With: Dovetails, Education, half-blind, hand-cut, Joinery, Tutorial

Hand-cut inlaid dovetails, by a member of Lumberjocks

July 12, 2008 By Al Navas

A woodworker at Lumberjocks, Martin, aka Woodhacker, documented in a wonderful photographic procedure how to make inlaid dovetails using hand tools. This is the first time I have ever seen inlaid dovetails done exclusively with hand tools; and Martin’s results are terrific!

The following is the outcome of Martin’s effort – you can read the entire process at Woodhacker’s blog at Lumberjocks (the images are linked back to his photos, on Photobucket):

Photobucket

Photobucket

Thanks for sharing this with us, Martin! I provide the “Bookmark” link below, to allow easy sharing of Martin’s efforts with others.

Bookmark and Share

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Filed Under: Blog, Dovetails, Hand tools, Lumberjocks