Well, me and the dovetail jig spent about two hours getting aquainted again
so that I can do four drawers. I have the time invested once again and will
go ahead and do it this way but that's it - I've really had enough spending
three times the time setting it up as doing them. If it were straight
half-blind dovetails, it wouldn't be so bad, but no - they are rabbited
dovetails with 3/4 and 1/2" material. Between getting depths correct and
even, getting guides set so sides match fronts, etc - it's a PITA. Each
time I tell myself that I understand it and can do it again, but not having
as good a memory as I think I do, I have to start over with the learning
curve.

I don't really have a choice with a chest of drawers because of the strength
of the joint, but I'm going to learn another way. Cutting by hand isn't
really an option because chisel work hasn't been a real strong suit - gotta
use power of some sort I guess. Anyone else get frustrated with dovetails?

Don

D. J. Dorn wrote:

Well, me and the dovetail jig spent about two hours getting aquainted again
so that I can do four drawers. I have the time invested once again and will
go ahead and do it this way but that's it - I've really had enough spending
three times the time setting it up as doing them. If it were straight
half-blind dovetails, it wouldn't be so bad, but no - they are rabbited
dovetails with 3/4 and 1/2" material. Between getting depths correct and
even, getting guides set so sides match fronts, etc - it's a PITA. Each
time I tell myself that I understand it and can do it again, but not having
as good a memory as I think I do, I have to start over with the learning
curve.

I don't really have a choice with a chest of drawers because of the strength
of the joint, but I'm going to learn another way. Cutting by hand isn't
really an option because chisel work hasn't been a real strong suit - gotta
use power of some sort I guess. Anyone else get frustrated with dovetails?

Don


I don't get nearly as frustrated with my dovetail jig as I do with the
rabbit there helping me cut 'em...

Philski

You know you can always just make a normal through dovetail box, and then
screw a false front onto it to form a rabbetted half-blind look - not sure
if it would take you as long to set-up and remind yourself how to do through
dovetails or not. You can plug the screw holes and it is doubtful anyone
would ever know the difference.

Mike

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:17:41 -0500, "D. J. Dorn"
wrote:

Well, me and the dovetail jig spent about two hours getting aquainted again
so that I can do four drawers. I have the time invested once again and will
go ahead and do it this way but that's it - I've really had enough spending
three times the time setting it up as doing them. If it were straight
half-blind dovetails, it wouldn't be so bad, but no - they are rabbited
dovetails with 3/4 and 1/2" material. Between getting depths correct and
even, getting guides set so sides match fronts, etc - it's a PITA. Each
time I tell myself that I understand it and can do it again, but not having
as good a memory as I think I do, I have to start over with the learning
curve.

I don't really have a choice with a chest of drawers because of the strength
of the joint, but I'm going to learn another way. Cutting by hand isn't
really an option because chisel work hasn't been a real strong suit - gotta
use power of some sort I guess. Anyone else get frustrated with dovetails?

Don

Take notes. Lots of notes. Keep them with the jig. (If writing the
notes down is too much of a pain, use a cassette recorder.

You might also consider how long it would take you to improve your
chisel technique compared to the time it takes learning how to set up
the jig. (But then I think hand cut dovetails are really neat and I
can afford a truly lordly disregard for time and effort.)

--RC

If I weren't interested in gardening and Ireland,
I'd automatically killfile any messages mentioning
'bush' or 'Kerry'

I too became frustrated with the set up time of using a jig and router.
With that
in mind, I'm teaching myself (with a lot of help from articles etc..) to cut
my own
by hand. I'm finding it much more enjoyable and quite frankly, I find the
hand cut
joints look better than a machine made joint. YMMV.
Cheers,
cc

James "Cubby" Culbertson wrote:

I too became frustrated with the set up time of using a jig and router.
With that
in mind, I'm teaching myself (with a lot of help from articles etc..) to cut
my own
by hand. I'm finding it much more enjoyable and quite frankly, I find the
hand cut
joints look better than a machine made joint. YMMV.
Cheers,
cc



Ahhhh yes...

In my opinion, a handcut dovetail is the most beautiful looking joint
there is - particularly if it has the faint pencil/marking gauge scribe
as seen in the antique furniture of our forefathers...

DamnYankee wrote:

Ahhhh yes...

In my opinion, a handcut dovetail is the most beautiful looking joint
there is - particularly if it has the faint pencil/marking gauge scribe
as seen in the antique furniture of our forefathers...

My preference is for fine joinery that you DON'T see - as is
common in chinese furniture and a mortise and tenoned triple
miter is at the top of the list - so far. The triple miter gives
a nice continuous flow of the grain around a corner - in either
direction and the M&T produces a self aligning, very strong
joint.

I'm not sure when or why visible through or half blind dovetails
became "in", they use to veneer over them so they wouldn't
show - which is kind of cheating. Somehow the Arts & Crafts
movement made the joinery a design element - showing "the
honesty" of the joinery. Greene & Greene (or is it Green &
Green), or was it Stickley, used the "joinery as a design
element" but cheated with faked through tenons etc. to
perhaps hide less than perfect joinery. A through M&T
visually doesn't leave much room for error. But if it's a
blind M&T - with a plug that looks like the end of a through
tenon the actual joint can be pretty sloppy - maybe shimmed
for fit - and still look "precise" - on the OUTSIDE.

Having said all that, handcut dovetails are interesting to
do and are very strong.

charlie b

charlie b wrote:

DamnYankee wrote:


Ahhhh yes...

In my opinion, a handcut dovetail is the most beautiful looking joint
there is - particularly if it has the faint pencil/marking gauge scribe
as seen in the antique furniture of our forefathers...


My preference is for fine joinery that you DON'T see - as is
common in chinese furniture and a mortise and tenoned triple
miter is at the top of the list - so far. The triple miter gives
a nice continuous flow of the grain around a corner - in either
direction and the M&T produces a self aligning, very strong
joint.

I'm not sure when or why visible through or half blind dovetails
became "in", they use to veneer over them so they wouldn't
show - which is kind of cheating. Somehow the Arts & Crafts
movement made the joinery a design element - showing "the
honesty" of the joinery. Greene & Greene (or is it Green &
Green), or was it Stickley, used the "joinery as a design
element" but cheated with faked through tenons etc. to
perhaps hide less than perfect joinery. A through M&T
visually doesn't leave much room for error. But if it's a
blind M&T - with a plug that looks like the end of a through
tenon the actual joint can be pretty sloppy - maybe shimmed
for fit - and still look "precise" - on the OUTSIDE.

Having said all that, handcut dovetails are interesting to
do and are very strong.

charlie b

Agreed! Incidentally, one of Thomas Jefferson's slaves was Jefferson's
cabinetmaker; and the bookcases which were built depicted not only the
dovetails but the scribe marks as well...absolutely beautiful in my
opinion - but that's my preference.

Naturally that would have been taboo in the upcoming Victorian
age...which in my opinion, was the most beautiful, intricate, and
incredible wood butchering occurred. Some of the pieces of furniture
made in that time was beyond impressive.

Peace!

DY

In my opinion, a handcut dovetail is the most beautiful looking joint
there is - particularly if it has the faint pencil/marking gauge scribe as
seen in the antique furniture of our forefathers...

40 grit in a 12 amp belt sander will get rid scribe lines in short order.

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 02:50:12 GMT, wrote:

You might also consider how long it would take you to improve your
chisel technique compared to the time it takes learning how to set up
the jig. (But then I think hand cut dovetails are really neat and I
can afford a truly lordly disregard for time and effort.)

Try a combo method. band saws and trim (laminate trimmer) routers do
a great job of quickly removing waste, leaving only a quick chisel
swipe for cleanup. No jigs are required. The trim router is
especially good for cleaning out half-blinds. An extra 4" dual square
and a dovetail gauge, like Lee Valley's aluminum can also speed up the
process.

When cutting tails first,, you don't have to get all that perfect with
layout, as long as they're visually appealing. Use the first side as
the pattern for the other three. Mark both fronts and backs with the
sides.

Also, consider the material used for the sides of the drawers.
Basswood is extremely easy to work with hand tools.

Barry

D. J. Dorn wrote:

Well, me and the dovetail jig spent about two hours getting aquainted again
so that I can do four drawers. I have the time invested once again and will
go ahead and do it this way but that's it - I've really had enough spending
three times the time setting it up as doing them.

A problem we hobbyists encounter all the time. Since we bounce
around
on projects, trying different joinery, different stock thicknesses,
woods
etc. , by the time we get back to repeating a technique the
reacquaintance
with the technique can be like starting all over. But if you use
consistent
stock thicknesses (which I often don't ) you can save prototypes and
use them for future set ups (IF you label them AND put some reminder
notes on them AND store them together somewhere where you can
find them a year or two from now.

The problem with dovetail jigs is that they are several steps removed
from the underlying concept/method. If you hand cut dovetails YOU
do the layout of the pins or tail, marking the sockets to make the
waste area clear and distinct. Before the first saw cut is made you
can see what the dovetails will look like. YOU do the sawing and
chopping
and paring. YOU make "A" fit "B". With dovetail jigs you follow the
instruct-
ions, often not understanding how they relate to the underlying joint
idea because you don't see what the final product will look like
until AFTER you've made all your cuts.

If you can understand the connection/relationship of the jig process
to the handcut method things get a lot clearer and a little, just
a little, easier next time. Having that link between "what" and
"how"
with "why" will help quite a bit.

The other problem with jigs is that you're basically stuck with a
single
depth of cut (once you find the right one for a nice ift) - messy
when
you're playing with different parts thickness for through dovetails.


If it were straight
half-blind dovetails, it wouldn't be so bad, but no - they are rabbited
dovetails with 3/4 and 1/2" material. Between getting depths correct and
even, getting guides set so sides match fronts, etc - it's a PITA. Each
time I tell myself that I understand it and can do it again, but not having
as good a memory as I think I do, I have to start over with the learning
curve.


Notes! Diagrams! NOTES! And a binder or something to keep them in
so you can find them later. Here's a somewhat extreme example
of that idea - for handcut dovetails incidentally. These are notes
to myself based primarily on Frank Klausz's video. If I do what I
see I end up OK.

http://home.comcast.net/~charliebcz/...ilDrawer0.html

I'm doing a coopered door cabinet. You should see all the
diagrams etc. I've done to avoid problems in the next
coopered door project. I suspect that there will be several
"notes to self" when I do the knife hinges.

I don't really have a choice with a chest of drawers because of the strength
of the joint, but I'm going to learn another way. Cutting by hand isn't
really an option because chisel work hasn't been a real strong suit - gotta
use power of some sort I guess. Anyone else get frustrated with dovetails?


You can do dovetails with other power tools. Yeung Chan's book,
Classic Jointes with Power Tools (ISBN 1-57990-279-0) by Lark Books
is $19.95 - a real deal given the price of most woodworking books.
Well worth looking for and adding to your woodworking library.

Hang in there.

charlie b

In article , charlie b
wrote:

(IF you label them AND put some reminder
notes on them AND store them together somewhere where you can
find them a year or two from now.

Charlie, you have to be joking. There's at least two full afternoons
work for me just to find the bloody things even a few weeks later never
mind "a year or two". ;-)

I tend to put things "somewhere safe" and then...

Gerry

Gerry responds:

you have to be joking. There's at least two full afternoons
work for me just to find the bloody things even a few weeks later never
mind "a year or two". ;-)

I tend to put things "somewhere safe" and then...

It's age. Things disappear. I didn't start doing this until I reached 13 or so,
so it definitely is age related.

Charlie Self
"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not
hereditary." Thomas Paine

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:17:41 -0500, "D. J. Dorn"
wrote:

Well, me and the dovetail jig spent about two hours getting aquainted again
so that I can do four drawers. I have the time invested once again and will
go ahead and do it this way but that's it - I've really had enough spending
three times the time setting it up as doing them. If it were straight
half-blind dovetails, it wouldn't be so bad, but no - they are rabbited
dovetails with 3/4 and 1/2" material. Between getting depths correct and
even, getting guides set so sides match fronts, etc - it's a PITA. Each
time I tell myself that I understand it and can do it again, but not having
as good a memory as I think I do, I have to start over with the learning
curve.

I don't really have a choice with a chest of drawers because of the strength
of the joint, but I'm going to learn another way. Cutting by hand isn't
really an option because chisel work hasn't been a real strong suit - gotta
use power of some sort I guess. Anyone else get frustrated with dovetails?

Don


What kind of jig are you using?

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:17:41 -0500, "D. J. Dorn"
wrote:

Cutting by hand isn't
really an option because chisel work hasn't been a real strong suit

Hand dovetails are sawn, not chiselled. The trick to doing them is to
always do them _fast_ and "right first time" - not to faff about with
a chisel afterwards, trying vainly to adjust the fit. Then work on
getting your accuracy better, with practice. Your first batch _will_
be bad - but persevere.

If you can afford the time, make yourself a workshop cabinet with
dovetailed drawers. Get the right saw, then cut them by hand. By the
time you've built a few drawers that way, then you'll be knocking them
out in no time and you'll have lost your fear of the hand-cut
dovetail.
--
Smert' spamionam

Andy Dingley wrote in message . ..

Hand dovetails are sawn, not chiselled. The trick to doing them is to
always do them _fast_ and "right first time" - not to faff about with
a chisel afterwards, trying vainly to adjust the fit. Then work on
getting your accuracy better, with practice. Your first batch _will_
be bad - but persevere.

If you can afford the time, make yourself a workshop cabinet with
dovetailed drawers. Get the right saw, then cut them by hand. By the
time you've built a few drawers that way, then you'll be knocking them
out in no time and you'll have lost your fear of the hand-cut
dovetail.

I agree with Andy. Unless you are doing a lot of work for a living, I
think it's nearly as easy to cut them by hand. And there are some
kinds of dovetails you can't do with a jig, no matter how good the jig
(for example, a compound miter dovetail, or any dovetail with very
thin pins).

(note: This is just the perspective of an amateur, and I only need to
make a few joints at a time. If I were a pro faced with making 50
drawers on an assembly line, my perspective would no doubt be
different).

So use a drawer joint cut on a router or shaper instead. Your project, your
choice.

One-offs by hand are the best way to go. For multiple - gimme a jig every
time - and applied fronts.

"D. J. Dorn" wrote in message
...
Well, me and the dovetail jig spent about two hours getting aquainted
again
so that I can do four drawers. I have the time invested once again and
will
go ahead and do it this way but that's it - I've really had enough
spending
three times the time setting it up as doing them. If it were straight
half-blind dovetails, it wouldn't be so bad, but no - they are rabbited
dovetails with 3/4 and 1/2" material. Between getting depths correct and
even, getting guides set so sides match fronts, etc - it's a PITA. Each
time I tell myself that I understand it and can do it again, but not
having
as good a memory as I think I do, I have to start over with the learning
curve.

I don't really have a choice with a chest of drawers because of the
strength
of the joint, but I'm going to learn another way. Cutting by hand isn't
really an option because chisel work hasn't been a real strong suit -
gotta
use power of some sort I guess. Anyone else get frustrated with
dovetails?

Don

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:17:41 -0500, "D. J. Dorn"
calmly ranted:

Well, me and the dovetail jig spent about two hours getting aquainted again
so that I can do four drawers. I have the time invested once again and will
go ahead and do it this way but that's it - I've really had enough spending
three times the time setting it up as doing them. If it were straight
half-blind dovetails, it wouldn't be so bad, but no - they are rabbited
dovetails with 3/4 and 1/2" material. Between getting depths correct and
even, getting guides set so sides match fronts, etc - it's a PITA. Each
time I tell myself that I understand it and can do it again, but not having
as good a memory as I think I do, I have to start over with the learning
curve.

Write the figures on each piece of the drawer, with circles and arrows
and all that fine stuff, D.J.


I don't really have a choice with a chest of drawers because of the strength
of the joint, but I'm going to learn another way. Cutting by hand isn't
really an option because chisel work hasn't been a real strong suit - gotta
use power of some sort I guess. Anyone else get frustrated with dovetails?

Try them by hand. Those jigs take longer to set up than it takes to
do things by hand for most projects. A COD might take longer due to
all the drawers, but that's good practice which won't go away for
the next time you need it. Toss the jig and get Klausz' "Dovetail a
Drawer" video. It's Neander all the way and you'll never look back.

--
"If the promise of the Declaration of Independence is ever to be fulfilled,
it will be the Libertarian Party which fulfills it. If the Constitution is
ever again treated as what it calls itself "The Supreme Law of the Land"
then it will be the Libertarian Party which forces it to be treated that
way. The Republicans and Democrats won’t do it. So the future of the
Libertarian Party is tied to the future of America. If we go down, it
goes down with us. If America gets itself back onto the right course,
it will be our hands on the tiller." --Michael Badnarik

snip

Toss the jig and get Klausz' "Dovetail a
Drawer" video. It's Neander all the way and you'll never look back.

I dunno - I bought that video about 5 years ago. It's great. Looked at
it over and over and over - still trying to figure out the "monkey"
analogy. Dense I guess.

It's not totally neander - uses a TS to cut & dado the sides.
Something to aspire to tho. I'm always lookin' back at it!

Got a PC dovetail jig - works ok, but it is a PITA to set up and get
exactly right (like equal tails on top/bottom/left/right).

I always wanted to get a dedicated router/bit/collar/jig combo to
eliminate some variables - leaving only stock thickness to worry about.
Since I only do a few drawers a year, I haven't done that.

I keep thinking that I should just get a simple "drawer" lock bit -
after all - who would ever know or care?

We all know the answer to that don't we?

Lou

loutent wrote in :

snip

I keep thinking that I should just get a simple "drawer" lock bit -
after all - who would ever know or care?

My neighbor has a simple "drawer lock bit", purchased based on the demos
and articles. Took Forever and a half to make two simple matching drawers
with that thing. And it's not like he's short on gear, either. I think
he's got one of everything that Incra sells...

The problem is, as someone mentioned earlier, that production methods mean
setup times and testing and consistency that the hobby shop user isn't
likely to view as an effective use of their time and materials. We're just
not doing 300 drawers before the morning break, or working with the setup
guides cut to 1/128" accuracy.

All the more reason to design for 'tweakability' in the product we're
building.

Patriarch

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 05:29:08 GMT, patriarch
wrote:

My neighbor has a simple "drawer lock bit", purchased based on the demos
and articles. Took Forever and a half to make two simple matching drawers
with that thing.

Those are great - my favoured way of making drawers quickly

The trick is to spend forever and a half setting them up, then to
machine a setting block at those settings. Next time you use the block
to set them up correctly, first time.

--
Smert' spamionam

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 13:27:21 +0100, Andy Dingley
wrote:


The trick is to spend forever and a half setting them up, then to
machine a setting block at those settings. Next time you use the block
to set them up correctly, first time.

This tip is good for any router bit. I have a block with 8 different
sizes of chamfers, rail and stile blocks, raised panel blocks, etc...

Barry

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 05:29:08 GMT, patriarch
calmly ranted:

loutent wrote in :

snip

I keep thinking that I should just get a simple "drawer" lock bit -
after all - who would ever know or care?

My neighbor has a simple "drawer lock bit", purchased based on the demos
and articles. Took Forever and a half to make two simple matching drawers
with that thing. And it's not like he's short on gear, either. I think
he's got one of everything that Incra sells...

The problem is, as someone mentioned earlier, that production methods mean
setup times and testing and consistency that the hobby shop user isn't
likely to view as an effective use of their time and materials. We're just
not doing 300 drawers before the morning break, or working with the setup
guides cut to 1/128" accuracy.

All the more reason to design for 'tweakability' in the product we're
building.

OR, one could do the initial setup, make a decent set of drawer
sides, and

1) measure the cutter height
2) mark it on the board
3) save the piece for use as a template.
Repeat for each thickness board you will cut.

OR, simply cut a miter a board properly and save that as a Go/Nogo
gauge. Set up the router/table with that as the height guide. It
oughta be good to within 0.010", don't you think?


--
"Excess regulation and government spending destroy jobs and increase
unemployment. Every regulator we fire results in the creation of over
150 new jobs, enough to hire the ex-regulator, the unemployed, and
the able-bodied poor." -Michael Badnarik

VOTE LIBERTARIAN ON NOVEMBER 2, 2004 OR YOU WON'T CHANGE ANYTHING.

I just bought an Incra jig ultra, haven't tried it yet but looks very
promising. Reasonably price compared to the high end dovetail jigs.

--


My homepage

http://users.adelphia.net/~kyhighland/
"D. J. Dorn" wrote in message
...
Well, me and the dovetail jig spent about two hours getting aquainted
again
so that I can do four drawers. I have the time invested once again and
will
go ahead and do it this way but that's it - I've really had enough
spending
three times the time setting it up as doing them. If it were straight
half-blind dovetails, it wouldn't be so bad, but no - they are rabbited
dovetails with 3/4 and 1/2" material. Between getting depths correct and
even, getting guides set so sides match fronts, etc - it's a PITA. Each
time I tell myself that I understand it and can do it again, but not
having
as good a memory as I think I do, I have to start over with the learning
curve.

I don't really have a choice with a chest of drawers because of the
strength
of the joint, but I'm going to learn another way. Cutting by hand isn't
really an option because chisel work hasn't been a real strong suit -
gotta
use power of some sort I guess. Anyone else get frustrated with
dovetails?

Don

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 20:25:01 -0400, "Kentucky Highlander"
wrote:

I just bought an Incra jig ultra, haven't tried it yet but looks very
promising. Reasonably price compared to the high end dovetail jigs.

Lousy dovetailer, IMHE. Mine has a _lot_ of dust on it these days.
--
Smert' spamionam

Andy Dingley wrote:


[The Incra Ultra Jig is a] Lousy dovetailer, IMHE. Mine has a _lot_ of dust on it these days.

Could you explain why it's a lousy dovetailer?

-Peter De Smidt

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 13:42:40 -0500, Peter De Smidt
pdesmidt*no*spam*@tds.*net* wrote:

[The Incra Ultra Jig is a] Lousy dovetailer, IMHE. Mine has a _lot_ of dust on it these days.

Could you explain why it's a lousy dovetailer?

It's not really bad at dovetailing, just very limited for what it can
do it on.

Dovetailing (or box joint cutting) with the Incra relies on a sliding
carriage that runs on the fence. You clamp the stock to the carriage,
then make multiple passes for each tail, according to the strip and
the fence settings.

The problem is lack of rigidity in that sliding carriage. It's poorly
guided by the fence and this gets worse the wider the piece of stock
you have clamped to it. If you're making small boxes, then it's
probably fine for you. For any joint longer than 4" though it becomes
awkward, and 6" is about the limit.

I'd much rather have a long finger jig, where I can clamp the board
edges in, then move a hand-held router over them.

--
Smert' spamionam

Andy Dingley wrote:

It's not really bad at dovetailing, just very limited for what it can
do it on.

Dovetailing (or box joint cutting) with the Incra relies on a sliding
carriage that runs on the fence. You clamp the stock to the carriage,
then make multiple passes for each tail, according to the strip and
the fence settings.

The problem is lack of rigidity in that sliding carriage. It's poorly
guided by the fence and this gets worse the wider the piece of stock
you have clamped to it. If you're making small boxes, then it's
probably fine for you. For any joint longer than 4" though it becomes
awkward, and 6" is about the limit.

I'd much rather have a long finger jig, where I can clamp the board
edges in, then move a hand-held router over them.


Hi Andy,

Thanks for the reply. I can see how that would be a potential problem.

On another matter, I recently received an foul-mouthed email from
someone named Greg Millen, whom I've never heard of. In googling him, it
seems that he posts here. Since my only recent post here was earlier in
this thread, where I asked Andy to explain what he meant, I'm at a loss
as to how I offended Mr. Millen. Not that I care, mind you, as it's
obvious what type of person he is. This is just a heads up for others in
case you get a peurile message from him.

-Peter De Smidt

"D. J. Dorn" wrote in message ...
Well, me and the dovetail jig spent about two hours getting aquainted again
so that I can do four drawers. I have the time invested once again and will
go ahead and do it this way but that's it - I've really had enough spending
three times the time setting it up as doing them. If it were straight
half-blind dovetails, it wouldn't be so bad, but no - they are rabbited
dovetails with 3/4 and 1/2" material. Between getting depths correct and
even, getting guides set so sides match fronts, etc - it's a PITA. Each
time I tell myself that I understand it and can do it again, but not having
as good a memory as I think I do, I have to start over with the learning
curve.

I don't really have a choice with a chest of drawers because of the strength
of the joint, but I'm going to learn another way. Cutting by hand isn't
really an option because chisel work hasn't been a real strong suit - gotta
use power of some sort I guess. Anyone else get frustrated with dovetails?

Don

What about box joints? Easy to do, once you have your jig (don't
forget to note the required dado shims/settings on the jig!)
What about rabbet joints with reinforcing, decorative small dowels, or
brass pins ala Mr. Marks?
Then, if you don't want to buy an expensive router bit for occaisional
use, there's always creating your own locking joint, dado in the sides
and rabbet in the front. I used this on poplar shop drawers, with
maple fronts added, they are holding up well to heavy, nearly daily
use.

In 80 minutes you could have built the
four drawers with hand cut dovetails.
The best instruction I have ever found on the subject is from Taunton Press.
The
title is something like "Frank Klaus cuts
dovetails".
-Rick