Thanks for the video. Interesting but above my skill level. I'd like to say is thanks for showing a video where everything doesn't turn out 100% perfect on the first try. I think there are too many videos that are not as honest. Everything is a learning process and minor mistakes and imperfections will happen. Thanks again.
I have to agree with you there Peter, it's often more instructive to see where things can go awry so we can maybe be more careful or even improve a design.
I really like that you show the reality of coming up with these things. Sometimes it takes a few tries and sometimes they don't turn out perfect but you find out what will work better on the next one. Other videos just show the finished perfect project and they don't explain WHY you did what you did to get the finished product. Thank you for showing the process.
Walnut is terrible for splitting in my experience. I'd use a closer-grained wood for the spline. Also, you'll have that same problem with adjusting the bit height every time. After you get it dialed in on your test piece, rout a very shallow groove on the end of your jig; you can then use this to adjust the height every time in the future so it's easy and you get the same every time.
This approach will not work for my 1/2" MDF jig and 1/2" stock thickness. My bit height was slightly less than 1 3/32". Another subtle detail is that my 1/2" dovetail bit with 1/2" shank requires that extra material be removed to accommodate the bit shank. I view this approach as adding decorative detail to a miter joint that is already strong enough for a small box.
Thanks! I now have a good reason to purchase a pneumatic brad nailer, I tend to use screws in my projects, and a reason to plumb my woodworking area for air too. After seeing this, and the jig is probably what prevents tear out on your project, I realize when cutting down the keys level to the project I need to back the cut with a sacrifice piece of wood. This will make the use us the flexi-flush cut saw a little more difficult but will ultimately produce a tear-out free cut. In another CZcamsr’s video his method on a 3/4” measured board was to know the size of the dovetail bit, 1/2” and take 1/2 the cut from either side, 1/8” or 1/8+1/8+1/2=3/4”. It worked well for him the first time! In the real world that 3/4” might be nominal (a word I hate) and the math could be messy. However that’s why we have jointers, planers and, if we are lucky (I am not), drum sanders.
Love this guy !!! He even shows his mistakes and does not sweep it under the carpet. Learn from your own mistakes AND from others mistakes. Colin, i hope you are a woodworking teacher out there.
I think the chip out comes from sawing from the inside to the outside, the pressure of the saw makes it brake away. If you saw from the outside to the inside there is support all the way. Great idea though. Loved it. Thank you.
To prevent tear out I would using a chisel and make a sweeping paring cut from the corner edge of the spline towards the board. In essence you are nicking it. Then I would make a knife cut across the spline for the saw before sawing it off. Just a thought.
Another fine video. Your videos are entertaining as well as informative. You asked for ideas, so here are a couple. First, do not cut the spline on end grain wood. When you tap it into the slot, it WILL fracture. Use long grain. Second, set your bit to cut about 2/3 of the way through the corner of the box. Then measure from the peak of the corner to the bottom of the dovetail slot and set your router bit to that dimension plus 1/8 to 3/16 inch deeper than that to cut your spline key. Third, when you cut the keys, cut them perpendicular--don't try to get the angle right. This gives you a flat surface to tap them into the slot. Cut them all the same length and you can use the table saw (with a spacer under the box) to trim off the excess close enough to sand the remainder. This eliminates chip out. I made my first dovetail splines today and these are things I learned. Thanks again for your fine videos.
Hi Colin: Nice jig. However, I have two suggestions: 1. Use runners on either side of that jig so that it will be more stable while pushing it (you can even add a handle); or, make it so that one end is boxed over & runs over the fence when pushing, again better for stability. 2. Use a regular router bit to make the initial cut in order to hog out most of the material then follow that up with the dovetail bit to make the final cut.................. Steve
Nice video Colin. When trimming dovetails, plugs, etc. I use a plastic spacer (cut from any bottle with a flat side) then the trim saw. For final trimming, I use a hand plane starting from the outside. No chip out. Btw, the DowellMax jig you use is great. Some years back in one of your videos you used it which prompted me to get one. Wow, that thing is expensive but worth the investment.
Although it is a lot of work cutting those dovetail splines the effect is worth it in the end. Thanks for sharing this with us Colin I'm going to make one.
Thank you for emphasizing the shortcoming of this idea. It's pretty and effective but like you said when you factor in the grain and how small "pointy" that corner is stuff happens. Thank you for good overview of this method!!!
Hey Colin you can completely eliminate any chance of blowing out your dovetail by making some relief cuts on top of the joint before flush cutting it. I have done a ton of dovetail splines and I’ve had them blow out before when I just used a flush cut saw.. but never when I relieve the tension on top first with a push or pull saw. I think it’s pretty similar to blowing out the backside of plywood with a forstner bit if you go all the way through but not if you finish the hole from the other side.
Hey Angelo. Japanese saws cut by pulling not pushing . I can see a lot of short comings but he did a good job . This is coming from a furniture maker of 52 years
Interesting although I very much under-use my routers. Seems to me that instead of trying to trim so close with the handsaw leave more material hanging out a bit then use a belt sander to knock it down some? I often finish up splines like that with very little chip out, but whaddo i know? Heck, I can't even spell whaddo right. ;) I probably ought to use my routers more often. After all, I did spend good money for them only to collect dust. I bought one specifically for making floating tenons, but I end up using my old handy Stanley #59 and dowels instead with great results..
Colin, I think I would cut the dovetail spline material a tiny bit oversize with the miter saw or bandsaw before glueing them in the sand or hand plane them flush. Just my opinion. Great video! Thanks for sharing.
Always enjoy these videos. Simple answers to difficult questions. This one. Left me questioning the ease though with the difficulty in making the splines to fit the cutouts. Also a quick suggestion. Use your pocket hole rig to do the dowels. Use dowels to fit instead of screws. Just an after thought that maybe helpful in the future.
Had the same problem with chip out on the splines. So cut them a little proud and finish with sandpaper. It is more work, but it will help with chip out. As suggested below, a round over can also solve the problem.
Once again I learn something new. I made a jig just like the one you made, except I didn't cut the bottom off which made the bit stick up way too far. The jig worked fine, but it would have worked better had I cut off the bottom. I ended up using a table saw to cut the splines, start big and shrink it a little bit at a time. I cut the splines about 1/8" long and sanded them flush with an orbital sander, no splintering that I can remember. Colin, was the dowelmax?
Bien, Traducción; plantilla de enrutador que es ideal para hacer splines de cola de milano. Agregar detalles a las esquinas de las cajas puede hacerlos más atractivos y hacer que la plantilla de ranura de cola de milano no sea difícil, cortar los insertos deslizantes de cola de milano para que encajen y luego recortarlos cuidadosamente al ras es clave para obtener buenos resultados. Gracias Señor
I have tried using angle braces like you did for a square glue up and found that the ones I purchased from Jevons Tool Company (made in USA) were really not that square. The legs on mine are 6" long and when I put my good quality 12" combination square on them, there was a gap of about 1/64" at the 6" location. This translates to an angle of about 0.15 degrees. This could have an impact on the ability to get a good fit of the dovetail spline.
just a thought but what about trying to use a tiny drill bit and tapping relief holes at the exit points of where the flush cuts are made after all you can't tear out\ blow out material that is not there. Not a concept I've tried but it may be worth consideration. either way its a cool jig
Use a straight bit the same diameter as the base of the dovetail bit, set at the same height as the dovetail bit. Save lots of wear & tear on your dovetail bit as it's cutting about 35% less material.
You can't use a tilted blade to cut the notches on the table saw? Routers blow out too much for this application. I'd run it over the table saw then use the same angle for the spline cuts as well.
Nice jig and beautiful contrasting splines. I really like it. I'm afraid it is beyond my capacities at this moment. Thanks for sharing the video and the pros and contras of doing it this way. What happened to the sound between 4.21 and 5.09? Was it left away on purpose, or went something wrong when editing? (when I watched the video first time I missed the sound and started to check out if my headphones and volume on my laptop were OK)
Mark all sizes on the side of your jig so when you pull it back out you know how high your router bit should be for various cuts and what width the wood should be to make your splines
Obviously it is easier cutting the spline by pulling to the outside as the saw blade has something to ride on, but an easy solution so that you can keep that same pull is to simply clamp on a piece of wood on the backside of the spline to support that endgrain cut.
Have you tried routing the spline from and end grain board? When the spline is fit and trimmed, you'll be cutting the grain of the wood in a way that reduces chip out.
Hello Mr. Knecht , My name is Eugene Daniels. Love your videos. Very helpful and informative. I caught your video you posted on Sept. 22, 2017 Making A Dovetail Spline Jig for the Router Table. And I was very interested in the Dowel jig you were using. If I may, what is that called and can it be purchased on amazon.
garfield10000 It is a Dowelmax jig and it is really a great tool there are a bunch of how to's here on CZcams for many of its uses. The only thing that limits you is your imagination, if you noticed in the video you need to add a spacer under the jig for thinner than 3/4 material for alignment.
Thanks for the video. Just getting into building boxes, so I really need to build this jig. Are there any dimensions anywhere that I could look at? Thanks!
B0M0A0K I live in Brazil, and I sometimes have the same reaction. Watch Brazilian videos where they show you creative solutions to make things with simple tools.
I'm not knocking your videos, Colin. I think they are great. Showing what really happens is encouraging to those of us who are amateurs. Some channels make it seem so easy that we must be dunces if it doesn't turn out perfectly every time.
I'm glad you liked the video. It's difficult to find a balance between using hand tools and used power tools in my projects. I try to use power tools that most people have. Using hand tools only would be impossible for me, as I just don't have that much time for these projects.
Sir Thanks for the video but this is waste of time and too much work to make such splines, it is better i buy a box joint router bit for the router and can do the job in one go. please dont misunderstand me that i am criticizing your jig you have work hard on this jig thanks for sharing your information. all the best wishes
Thanks for the video. Interesting but above my skill level.
I'd like to say is thanks for showing a video where everything doesn't turn out 100% perfect on the first try. I think there are too many videos that are not as honest. Everything is a learning process and minor mistakes and imperfections will happen.
Thanks again.
I have to agree with you there Peter, it's often more instructive to see where things can go awry so we can maybe be more careful or even improve a design.
Thanks Peter. Sometimes things just don't work out. We're all human and mistakes happen!
Carl, I get A LOT of tips from you guys. I've improved many of my designs from viewer comments!
Peter Pasieka he
I really like that you show the reality of coming up with these things. Sometimes it takes a few tries and sometimes they don't turn out perfect but you find out what will work better on the next one. Other videos just show the finished perfect project and they don't explain WHY you did what you did to get the finished product. Thank you for showing the process.
Walnut is terrible for splitting in my experience. I'd use a closer-grained wood for the spline.
Also, you'll have that same problem with adjusting the bit height every time. After you get it dialed in on your test piece, rout a very shallow groove on the end of your jig; you can then use this to adjust the height every time in the future so it's easy and you get the same every time.
Thats a great idea man. Thumbs up!
Brilliant
This approach will not work for my 1/2" MDF jig and 1/2" stock thickness. My bit height was slightly less than 1 3/32". Another subtle detail is that my 1/2" dovetail bit with 1/2" shank requires that extra material be removed to accommodate the bit shank. I view this approach as adding decorative detail to a miter joint that is already strong enough for a small box.
Thanks! I now have a good reason to purchase a pneumatic brad nailer, I tend to use screws in my projects, and a reason to plumb my woodworking area for air too. After seeing this, and the jig is probably what prevents tear out on your project, I realize when cutting down the keys level to the project I need to back the cut with a sacrifice piece of wood. This will make the use us the flexi-flush cut saw a little more difficult but will ultimately produce a tear-out free cut. In another CZcamsr’s video his method on a 3/4” measured board was to know the size of the dovetail bit, 1/2” and take 1/2 the cut from either side, 1/8” or 1/8+1/8+1/2=3/4”. It worked well for him the first time! In the real world that 3/4” might be nominal (a word I hate) and the math could be messy. However that’s why we have jointers, planers and, if we are lucky (I am not), drum sanders.
How about a small round over bit and eliminate the chip and add an additional geometric enhancement?
Love this guy !!! He even shows his mistakes and does not sweep it under the carpet. Learn from your own mistakes AND from others mistakes. Colin, i hope you are a woodworking teacher out there.
Thanks! I only teach woodworking online ... I'm retired in my real world job ;)
Well Sir, please keep those videos coming. I've learned a truckload of stuff from you.
I think the chip out comes from sawing from the inside to the outside, the pressure of the saw makes it brake away. If you saw from the outside to the inside there is support all the way. Great idea though. Loved it. Thank you.
To prevent tear out I would using a chisel and make a sweeping paring cut from the corner edge of the spline towards the board. In essence you are nicking it. Then I would make a knife cut across the spline for the saw before sawing it off. Just a thought.
Another fine video. Your videos are entertaining as well as informative. You asked for ideas, so here are a couple. First, do not cut the spline on end grain wood. When you tap it into the slot, it WILL fracture. Use long grain. Second, set your bit to cut about 2/3 of the way through the corner of the box. Then measure from the peak of the corner to the bottom of the dovetail slot and set your router bit to that dimension plus 1/8 to 3/16 inch deeper than that to cut your spline key. Third, when you cut the keys, cut them perpendicular--don't try to get the angle right. This gives you a flat surface to tap them into the slot. Cut them all the same length and you can use the table saw (with a spacer under the box) to trim off the excess close enough to sand the remainder. This eliminates chip out. I made my first dovetail splines today and these are things I learned. Thanks again for your fine videos.
Thanks for the great tips and thanks for watching!
loved it Colin! fun vid.
Hi Colin: Nice jig. However, I have two suggestions: 1. Use runners on either side of that jig so that it will be more stable while pushing it (you can even add a handle); or, make it so that one end is boxed over & runs over the fence when pushing, again better for stability. 2. Use a regular router bit to make the initial cut in order to hog out most of the material then follow that up with the dovetail bit to make the final cut.................. Steve
King's fine woodworking has such a jig build.
Nice video Colin. When trimming dovetails, plugs, etc. I use a plastic spacer (cut from any bottle with a flat side) then the trim saw. For final trimming, I use a hand plane starting from the outside. No chip out. Btw, the DowellMax jig you use is great. Some years back in one of your videos you used it which prompted me to get one. Wow, that thing is expensive but worth the investment.
Totally agree. Dowelmax is so worth it
Hardnox thanks for the tip
Thank you for your time Colin.
You're welcome Hugo!
Although it is a lot of work cutting those dovetail splines the effect is worth it in the end. Thanks for sharing this with us Colin I'm going to make one.
Thanks for watching. I'm glad you liked the jig!
Thank you for emphasizing the shortcoming of this idea. It's pretty and effective but like you said when you factor in the grain and how small "pointy" that corner is stuff happens. Thank you for good overview of this method!!!
Hey Colin you can completely eliminate any chance of blowing out your dovetail by making some relief cuts on top of the joint before flush cutting it. I have done a ton of dovetail splines and I’ve had them blow out before when I just used a flush cut saw.. but never when I relieve the tension on top first with a push or pull saw. I think it’s pretty similar to blowing out the backside of plywood with a forstner bit if you go all the way through but not if you finish the hole from the other side.
Hey Angelo. Japanese saws cut by pulling not pushing . I can see a lot of short comings but he did a good job . This is coming from a furniture maker of 52 years
Interesting although I very much under-use my routers. Seems to me that instead of trying to trim so close with the handsaw leave more material hanging out a bit then use a belt sander to knock it down some? I often finish up splines like that with very little chip out, but whaddo i know? Heck, I can't even spell whaddo right. ;)
I probably ought to use my routers more often. After all, I did spend good money for them only to collect dust. I bought one specifically for making floating tenons, but I end up using my old handy Stanley #59 and dowels instead with great results..
Great job , I had trouble with making the spline but woodworkers journal showed what looked like a simple way to do that
Thanks for watching!
Colin, I think I would cut the dovetail spline material a tiny bit oversize with the miter saw or bandsaw before glueing them in the sand or hand plane them flush. Just my opinion. Great video! Thanks for sharing.
love your channel very helpful and easy to follow
My solution was to cut overs zise by putting a credit card beetween the saw and material and then sand down 1/16” flush ,
Always enjoy these videos. Simple answers to difficult questions. This one. Left me questioning the ease though with the difficulty in making the splines to fit the cutouts. Also a quick suggestion. Use your pocket hole rig to do the dowels. Use dowels to fit instead of screws. Just an after thought that maybe helpful in the future.
Respect from morocco :)
Thank You!
gracias por sus vídeos de un subscriptor desde España
Had the same problem with chip out on the splines. So cut them a little proud and finish with sandpaper. It is more work, but it will help with chip out. As suggested below, a round over can also solve the problem.
Thanks for the tip and thanks for watching!
Thanks for the idea nice tips very much appreciated
You're welcome. Thanks for watching Paul!
Thanks Colin !!
Once again I learn something new. I made a jig just like the one you made, except I didn't cut the bottom off which made the bit stick up way too far. The jig worked fine, but it would have worked better had I cut off the bottom. I ended up using a table saw to cut the splines, start big and shrink it a little bit at a time. I cut the splines about 1/8" long and sanded them flush with an orbital sander, no splintering that I can remember. Colin, was the dowelmax?
Bien,
Traducción;
plantilla de enrutador que es ideal para hacer splines de cola de milano.
Agregar detalles a las esquinas de las cajas puede hacerlos más atractivos y hacer que la plantilla de ranura de cola de milano no sea difícil, cortar los insertos deslizantes de cola de milano para que encajen y luego recortarlos cuidadosamente al ras es clave para obtener buenos resultados.
Gracias Señor
I have tried using angle braces like you did for a square glue up and found that the ones I purchased from Jevons Tool Company (made in USA) were really not that square. The legs on mine are 6" long and when I put my good quality 12" combination square on them, there was a gap of about 1/64" at the 6" location. This translates to an angle of about 0.15 degrees. This could have an impact on the ability to get a good fit of the dovetail spline.
just a thought but what about trying to use a tiny drill bit and tapping relief holes at the exit points of where the flush cuts are made after all you can't tear out\ blow out material that is not there. Not a concept I've tried but it may be worth consideration. either way its a cool jig
The dowel jig is a Dowelmax, great piece of kit
Correct ... My video on it here czcams.com/video/y_CQ-RBT4rc/video.html. Thanks for watching.
Use a straight bit the same diameter as the base of the dovetail bit, set at the same height as the dovetail bit. Save lots of wear & tear on your dovetail bit as it's cutting about 35% less material.
I would cut the dovetail spline a bit proud and the sand on the disk sander to get it flush. That should solve the chip out problem
Thank you Sir! another amazing jig :-)
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Very interesting, thanks for sharing
You're Welcome, thanks for watching!
ohhhhhh very nice!!
Thanks Alex!
Well Colin it worked and looks good. Maybe if we cut the spline very very slowly. Anyway. Good job.
Thank You!
What if you sawed towards the piece instead of away to cut the dovetail?
You can't use a tilted blade to cut the notches on the table saw? Routers blow out too much for this application. I'd run it over the table saw then use the same angle for the spline cuts as well.
Cut it proud from the outside in. Then use a sharp block plane or chisel in the same direction to avoid chip out. You could cut it with a bandsaw too.
Nice jig and beautiful contrasting splines. I really like it. I'm afraid it is beyond my capacities at this moment.
Thanks for sharing the video and the pros and contras of doing it this way.
What happened to the sound between 4.21 and 5.09? Was it left away on purpose, or went something wrong when editing?
(when I watched the video first time I missed the sound and started to check out if my headphones and volume on my laptop were OK)
Mark all sizes on the side of your jig so when you pull it back out you know how high your router bit should be for various cuts and what width the wood should be to make your splines
I like this alot. Couldn't cut a dove tail to save my life...but this may be the trick.
Obviously it is easier cutting the spline by pulling to the outside as the saw blade has something to ride on, but an easy solution so that you can keep that same pull is to simply clamp on a piece of wood on the backside of the spline to support that endgrain cut.
I like to make straight splines on the table saw I have better results than the router. Thank you.
I liked it, looks nice. BTW I bought that Dowelmax awesome tool. First time I saw you use it I had to get one.
Yes, the Dowelmax is a great jig. Thanks for watching!
Just trim it a little proud, and then sand it flush.
Have you tried routing the spline from and end grain board? When the spline is fit and trimmed, you'll be cutting the grain of the wood in a way that reduces chip out.
Hello Mr. Knecht ,
My name is Eugene Daniels. Love your videos. Very helpful and informative. I caught your video you posted on Sept. 22, 2017 Making A Dovetail Spline Jig for the Router Table. And I was very interested in the Dowel jig you were using. If I may, what is that called and can it be purchased on amazon.
If u would cut from the top to the bottom it wont chip. U where cutting it side to side and it will chip.
Where did you get the drill stop you used when you were drilling for the dowels?
Cut your splines a bit oversized and then sand or plane toward the center of the box.
Nice video thanks
But, do you can explain which metal dowel jig do you have used ?
I think its nice also..... ;-)
garfield10000 It is a Dowelmax jig and it is really a great tool there are a bunch of how to's here on CZcams for many of its uses. The only thing that limits you is your imagination, if you noticed in the video you need to add a spacer under the jig for thinner than 3/4 material for alignment.
As Pat said, it's the Dowelmax. I have a full video on it here: czcams.com/video/y_CQ-RBT4rc/video.html
Thanks for watching!
Thanks Pat
Why not use a flush trim bit ?
Thanks for the video. Just getting into building boxes, so I really need to build this jig. Are there any dimensions anywhere that I could look at? Thanks!
Hey, I made this jig today. Made it a bit too wide, but it works! Thanks again, Beck
Why not cut them so they remain proud, and use a belt or disc sander to finish them flush?
Let me know if you come up with a different wood for the spline
Cool video! but why not just dovetail the work pieces and save doing a bunch of extra steps.
try teak or mahogany,,,.
It's a nice video, as always. But I didn't find it useful because I don't have all the power tools you used that would allow me to replicate this job.
B0M0A0K I live in Brazil, and I sometimes have the same reaction. Watch Brazilian videos where they show you creative solutions to make things with simple tools.
I'm not knocking your videos, Colin. I think they are great. Showing what really happens is encouraging to those of us who are amateurs. Some channels make it seem so easy that we must be dunces if it doesn't turn out perfectly every time.
I'm sure Colin will not see these comments as knocking his videos, it's just friendly feedback by two of his subscribers :-)
I'm glad you liked the video. It's difficult to find a balance between using hand tools and used power tools in my projects. I try to use power tools that most people have. Using hand tools only would be impossible for me, as I just don't have that much time for these projects.
Brain, I try to use tools most people have, whenever possible. Thanks for watching.
Listening to him talk on these videos is as painful as it was watching Bob Villa screw up stuff back in the day.
5 vids and that's enough of that...
Then don't listen to him. A man is just trying to share a video and help out some folks. Don't be a hater!!!
Sir, there is no reason to keep those loud sounds in the video so you can just mute them or make not as loud
Dmytro Slyusar Dont be rude, this is some great content
Sir Thanks for the video but this is waste of time and too much work to make such splines, it is better i buy a box joint router bit for the router and can do the job in one go. please dont misunderstand me that i am criticizing your jig you have work hard on this jig thanks for sharing your information. all the best wishes
Thanks for the comment. There are many ways to skin a cat! Maybe in the the future I'll do tutorial on your method. Thanks for watching.