Hi all;

I'm about to start my Christmas presents for my daughters. I'm making
them keepsake boxes out of Honduran mahogany. Dimensions will be
something like 16"L X 12" W X 7" H. I'll use my Leigh jig for the
dovetails.

This time I'd like to vary the spacing and layout of the dovetails,
rather than make them evenly spaced. I'm just out of ideas as to what
irregular spacing might look "right" on a box of those dimensions.

Anybopdy got any ideas or inspiration?

Thanks a heap,
-Zz

"Zz Yzx" wrote in message
...
Hi all;

I'm about to start my Christmas presents for my daughters. I'm making
them keepsake boxes out of Honduran mahogany. Dimensions will be
something like 16"L X 12" W X 7" H. I'll use my Leigh jig for the
dovetails.

This time I'd like to vary the spacing and layout of the dovetails,
rather than make them evenly spaced. I'm just out of ideas as to what
irregular spacing might look "right" on a box of those dimensions.

Anybopdy got any ideas or inspiration?

Thanks a heap,
-Zz


For uniformity I try to make the uneven spacing symmetrical. The top half
/right side is a mirror image of the bottom side/left side. From there just
play around. I do like to have smaller spacing near the corners for maximum
strength.

The only asymmetrical layouts I have seen that I liked are actually
still actually symmetrical about the mid point. I've also seen where
they have progressively larger spaces. On big boxes you can make them
bigger as they move down the box to make it look bottom heavy.
However, I like it when they get bigger from both ends toward the
center.

Maybe just workjing in from the outside on the 7 inch edge you make 2
at each end with very small gaps, then the next one from ech end about
2/3 bigger and one large space in the middle.


On Nov 16, 9:33*am, Zz Yzx wrote:
Hi all;

I'm about to start my Christmas presents for my daughters. *I'm making
them keepsake boxes out of Honduran mahogany. *Dimensions will be
something like 16"L X 12" W X 7" H. *I'll use my Leigh jig for the
dovetails.

This time I'd like to vary the spacing and layout of the dovetails,
rather than make them evenly spaced. *I'm just out of ideas as to what
irregular spacing might look "right" on a box of those dimensions.

Anybopdy got any ideas or inspiration?

Thanks a heap,
-Zz

SonomaProducts.com wrote:
The only asymmetrical layouts I have seen that I liked are actually
still actually symmetrical about the mid point. I've also seen where
they have progressively larger spaces. On big boxes you can make them
bigger as they move down the box to make it look bottom heavy.
However, I like it when they get bigger from both ends toward the
center.

Maybe just workjing in from the outside on the 7 inch edge you make 2
at each end with very small gaps, then the next one from ech end about
2/3 bigger and one large space in the middle.

What he said. I prefer sizing the edge pins, then the center pin or
tail, and working back out to the edges.

On Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:33:46 -0800, Zz Yzx
wrote:

Hi all;

I'm about to start my Christmas presents for my daughters. I'm making
them keepsake boxes out of Honduran mahogany. Dimensions will be
something like 16"L X 12" W X 7" H. I'll use my Leigh jig for the
dovetails.

This time I'd like to vary the spacing and layout of the dovetails,
rather than make them evenly spaced. I'm just out of ideas as to what
irregular spacing might look "right" on a box of those dimensions.

Anybopdy got any ideas or inspiration?

Thanks a heap,
-Zz


You can use any kind of spacing you think looks good. My personal
visual preference is even spacing.