Corner Post Dovetail Box *PIC* (cross posted)

[Brian in Dawson Creek]

Birch and Poplar were used here but next time I plan to use wood with more contrast, but this was a test piece so all the wood came from the scrap bin … I was starting to feel guilty about the size of some of the contents in my scrap bin.

Eight coats of wipe on poly.

Brian

[gad5264]

Very nice piece

[cgallery]

That is really pretty nice. Have any tips, etc., that you learned from making it?

[linear]

I dig the way you featured the knot. Very cool.

[jking]

I'm curious about how you did the corners. It looks like you dovetailed both the side and ends into a corner block. Am I seeing this correctly?

John

[Brian in Dawson Creek]

That is really pretty nice. Have any tips, etc., that you learned from making it?

To be honest … no I don’t, other than to follow the instructions exactly. Once you glue in the corner piece I found that if it was not flush with rest of the width. (I don’t care about the thickness as that can be sanded even.) Even if it’s just a little bit over you must remember that this edge is the reference point that rests on the router fence and if it’s out you will have problems … every thing must be square.

Brian

[Brian in Dawson Creek]

I'm curious about how you did the corners. It looks like you dovetailed both the side and ends into a corner block. Am I seeing this correctly?

John

You are correct and here are the instructions from the manual

[drumpriest]

That's a great looking box, well done. I love the figure of the top, showcasing the knot.

The corner post dovetail is a very nice looking joint, but it's not exclusive to Incra. You can in fact make this joint with any dovetail jig. The steps taken are slightly different, but it's certainly doable. The Incra is really nice as working on small projects is typically easier with it.

[Brian in Dawson Creek]

That's a great looking box, well done. I love the figure of the top, showcasing the knot.

The corner post dovetail is a very nice looking joint, but it's not exclusive to Incra. You can in fact make this joint with any dovetail jig. The steps taken are slightly different, but it's certainly doable. The Incra is really nice as working on small projects is typically easier with it.

How intriguing … you know something I don’t … care to elaborate, I’d like to know more.

Brian

[JR]

Birch and Poplar were used here but next time I plan to use wood with more contrast...

It looks a lot cooler than I would have thought. The contrast is subtle, but noticeable.

Nice box.

JR

[drumpriest]

Sure Brian, you can exercise essentially the same steps using any 1/2 blind dovetail jig. You cut the pins on 2 seperate pieces of stock (1 maple, 1 walnut, for instance), they will then interlock. You can make this cut using a 1/2" spacer so that the edges of the 2 will align. Then you can glue them together flat. You've now got 1 long board that is 1/2 maple and 1/2 walnut. Cut the walnut away to length. Then 1/2 blind dovetail another piece of maple to this board as normal.

The limitation is that you can make boxes too small for the dovetail jig to reach from the clamp to the template. This too can be overcome, by clamping your workpiece between 2 longer pieces with a block at the bottom of the same thickness of your workpiece.

Leigh provides instructions for corner post dovetails with their jigs online, and it is possible to do it with a porter cable, or even the rockler jig.

[mater]

That is very nice. Beautiful work.

[Pappy]

Beautiful box, Brian. The combination of the knot and the curly figure in the top is outstanding!

[John Hunter]

Very nice.

[lrogers]

I like the amount of contrast, pleasing, but not overpowering. You have a winner there.