Recent content by MDE

The jigs are at an angle to cut the pins. If you have a tilting table which tilts in both directions, this is unnecessary.

The reference by galleywood is to my website perfectdovetails.co.uk, which is free (but there is no video as yet). The bandsaw is great for cutting through dovetails and the perfectdovetails method allows you to cut matching pins and tails quickly and accurately. Lap or half-blind dovetails...

I think long and slow in the oven is the way. I had to bin some cascamite recently as it had gone off, but only after several years. I really like it for complicated glue-ups. Also great for mixing with sawdust and knot filling a wood floor. Btw, I'm not sure polythene bags are impervious to...

I'm fairly certain that Ercol were using solid elm for table tops at the time (perhaps the company can help?). The main difficulty may be in how deep the stain has penetrated. I have restored a dark Ercol dining suite (from an earlier era - oak, not elm) and it was time consuming, but not too...

When I get time, I think it would help to make a video. However, I don't have much experience in doing that, so it will be a bit of a learning process too. Meanwhile, I have tried to document the method as thoroughly as possible so that others can follow it. I hope that it is sufficiently well...

It did take a while, but I used the opportunity to perfect my method of making dovetails with a bandsaw. I can now do a set of dovetails to any design really quickly and neatly. The results of these efforts are now available for all to share (and feedback please) at...

Chest of drawers - using fiddleback sycamore from a condemned tree in my garden. Most of the timber was rotten and fit only for firewood, but there were some very nice bits. 10 drawers all with dovetails front & back - phew!

Or is that a tiger amongst the doves? 1/16" - do you mean that? It sounds incredibly small for a bandsaw and 1/8" seems to be the general minimum.

Certainly agree with that. Normally I use a 1/2" 6tpi blade. I was wondering about going up to 10tpi. If instead I go to 5/8", then 6tpi seems to be the max. Also I am currently using the Tuffsaws "premium" blade as it is supposed to be thinner (so I thought it would be better for my "skinny...

I've been using a bandsaw to cut dovetails successfully for some time. I've noticed that some blades cut straighter and smoother than others. In straight-grained light timber it is never much of a problem. However, I have some hard and twisty fiddleback sycamore which even my best blade...

Melamine-faced mdf or similar seems to work well. I picked up some spare kitchen splashback which has a hard smooth surface, is stable, but easy to work giving a good fit in a slot.