February 8, 2012

Woodworking in America at Valley Forge: Dovetails – the details, with Roy Underhill

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Duration: 17:12 minutes

Funny. Entertaining. Hilarious. Serious. Supreme raconteur. What else? Oh, yeah – historian of our craft.

If you have never watched Roy Underhill perform, be prepared to be entertained, and to learn important aspects of the history of dovetails. Also, prepare yourself to volunteer to go back to the first half of the 19th Century, to “correct” a craftsman for using dovetail angles that were “too steep”. But wait! Maybe the craftsman allowed his magazine subscription to expire, and totally missed on the “proper” dovetail angles???

In this episode you will see something old, by way of an old chest full of very old tools of a trade. In addition, I invite you to watch, and learn novel ways of cutting your dovetails. No matter what your background, be prepared to be entertained, and to learn along the way. For Roy Underhill has been doing this for close to 30 years!

I would love to learn if YOU cut dovetails in a way similar to the way in which Underhill does. And, if you do, I, too, will have learned something new.

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—— Al Navas

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Woodworking in America at Valley Forge: Making and fitting drawers, with Mario Rodriguez

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Duration: 19:34 minutes

You can read a short description of the work by Mario Rodriguez at the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop web page, and at FineWoodworking.com.

Making drawers, and fitting them well, separates a good piece from a great workpiece. As a result, it behooves the craftsman to learn how make drawers properly. Mario used a case containing two drawers to illustrate differences in fitting options.

Included in this session you will the following: milling the wood, letting it “rest” to acclimate to the shop environment, milling to final dimensions for a perfect drawer front fit, suitable material thickness, layout of the dovetails, fitting the bottoms, hardwood bottoms and grain orientation, drawer slips to beef up the thickness of the sides, drawer web with dust cover, and installation and sizing of drawer stops.

Mario ended the session with a verbal description of the technique he uses to cut and fit the dovetails by hand.

Although I edited the 90-minute session to less than 20 minutes, I hope you will find all the critical information to properly make and fit drawers in your next masterpiece.

If you ever have a chance, make the time to attend one of the Woodworking in America conferences. I know you will likely learn something new, will meet new people, and will enjoy the Marketplace and the terrific tool makers!

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——  Al Navas

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Related posts:
More Woodworking in America posts on this blog.

Woodworking in America Valley Forge: One boring cat fight

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Duration: 5:57 minutes

It had to happen, as the stage was set at the Woodworking in America conference in St Charles: Three women, all chasing the title of “Fastest Borer”. I won’t give away the ending – you will have to watch the video to learn who won.

Christopher Schwarz, Editor of Popular Woodworking and Woodworking magazines, introduced the contestants: Megan Fitzpatrick, Managing Editor of Popular Woodworking magazine; Heather Griffin, with the conference organizing group for FW Media; and Kari Hultman, The Village Carpenter. Each contestant had to bore a 3/4″ hole in a plank using a brace and bit setup.

I screwed up the exposure in part of the video – my bad! But I hope you enjoy the festivities.

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—- Al Navas

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