Page 62 - Router Boss Manual

Half-blind Dovetails

Most kitchen and bath cabinet drawers are made
using through dovetail joints with an attached drawer
front that matches the rest of the cabinetry and hides
the joinery. However, in fine furniture, the traditional
way to hide the dovetails on the drawer front is to use
half-blind dovetails. Half-blind dovetails are easily cut
with the Router Boss and the process is similar to the
technique used to cut through dovetails (see page 21).

The process for cutting the socket boards is ex- Half-blind dovetails make a strong joint and are excel-
actly the same, but depth of cut is adjusted so the end lent for use in inset drawers where the front of the
grain of the socket board (side) is “hidden” in the draw- drawer box is also the outer face of the drawer.
er front. The drawer front pins are cut with stopped cut
and a chisel is used to square up the rounded corners
left by the router bit. With the Router Boss, you can use
a smaller diameter 7- to 10-degree dovetail bit when
making half-blind dovetails so the pins and sockets
don’t appear stubby as they do when made with dove-
tail jigs that cut both the sockets and pins with a wide,
14-degree dovetail bit. A good way to select a bit is to
hold it next to the front board and make sure that most
of the bit is “buried” at the point where the pins end
(see the photo at right).

For this exercise, we’ll make a small drawer that
measures 12” long X 7” wide X 4” deep and cut a sym-
metrical pattern for the pins and sockets. Stock is 1/2”
poplar for the sides and back and 3/4” oak for the front. Choose a dovetail bit that will have most of the cutting
All parts were dimensioned and square cut prior to surface across the width of the front piece. In this case,
most of a 5/16”-dia. bit falls within the 3/4” thickness
starting. with plenty of wood left to “hide” the socket board.

Start by placing a side and end piece on edge with
the outside faces inward and drawing an X across the C
edge of the pieces so the intersection of the two lines
falls where the two boards meet.

Arrange the side and end pieces as they’ll be in the
assembled box, then label the adjacent pieces at each
corner with the same letter, starting with “A” and work-
ing around the box.

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