>Fred Woodall wrote:
>I have to duplicate a drawer that requires a little dovetail work
>that will most certainly test my skills. Before I begin wasting
>several pieces of Quartered tiger white oak I was thinking a
>few in groop might have a few suggestions on how to approach
>such a project.
 

John Coffey replies:

 

Fred,

Funny, but Fine Woodworking's latest issue deals with just

this problem, repairing broken dovetails. I have made this repair

often and differ a little with their solution. I taper the splice.

Basically, I would cut in a new piece of wood for each

missing dovetail slightly wider but basically using the existing

dovetails as layout. I would chisel in a long wedge shaped ramp,

fit a piece of wood in each splice, glue, trim and then, using the

existing tails (not the broken pins which will have been removed),

layout for the new pins. All marking is done with a knife and

carry the layout lines for the pins down the back face of the

board. Chisel to the line and they should fit just ducky.

The advantage of this splice over that shown in Fine

Woodworking is that it eliminates end grain joins thereby

eliminating a source of weakness. And furthermore, it is pretty

easy to cut as long as you have a long skinny chisel. You can

grind down a file in a pinch.  Depending on your skill, you may

be able to get well fitted splices and can use hide, Elmers or any

other wood glue. Badly fitted joins will need epoxy. I find the

Japanese Dozuki saw the best for this type of work.

Hope this helps, Fred.

John Coffey
Locust Valley, NY