Making a Sliding Dovetail Breadboard End

[WDH]

In a previous post, there was a question about how to attach a breadboard end to a table top or chest top.  I am making a couple pf blanket chests, one out of Eastern Red Cedar and the other out of Cherry.  For the top, I am attaching breadboard ends using sliding dovetails to help hold the top flat and to form the rim of the top.  The top is 7/8" thick.  The sliding dovetails are made on a router table for the slot and the Leigh D4 router jig for the dovetail pin. 

The dovetail pin (male) portion is on the end of the chest top.  The slot is made on the breadboard piece.  Here is a pic of the top with the dovetail pin and the breadboard end sliding on the dovetail.



Here is a pic of the top in the Leigh jig with showing the dovetail pin.
 

To cut the sliding dovetail, the router is equiped with a guide bushing and a 1/2" dovetail bit.  The jig has a black plastic guide that snaps on the jig fingers to guide the router bushing.



Here is a pic of the unfinished cherry top with the breadboard end in place, ready for sanding.
The miter joint at the corner where the breadboard meets the front is glued only at the miter and for an inch or so along the breadboard end.  A plugged screw in a slotted hole at the other end of the breadboard keeps things nice and tight.  As the top expands and contracts, the top's dovetail pin slides in the dovetail slot of the breadboard preventing the top from cracking or splitting.

[Patty]

Very nice tutorial, thank you.

The chests are beautiful, too! 

[metalspinner]

I like how you offset the tail on the edge.  That gives the breadboard piece a little bit more bulk so it won't split as easy. ;)

[WDH]

Thats right, Metalspinner, the dovetail pin is not symmetrical on the end of the chest top.  You want to offset it so that the pin starts at the bottom of the top.  With a 7/8" top, that leaves 3/8" of wood at the top of the dovetail slot, and that is plenty strong.

[SwampDonkey]

Nice work WDH, thanks for demonstrating.


I still gotta get my big router fixed.  :

[WDH]

Progress on the chest I am making for my youngest daughter (age 17).  The top is complete.  The joint turned out just as I hoped.  Here are a couple of pics of the top.  Rough sanded, but unfinished.





I purposely added some of the creamy sapwood on the breadboard, because I like the contrast.  Here is a pic of the grain of the top.



This was an exceptional tree.  Over 150 years old and growing on my property.  I have been watching it and thinking about some furniture for years.  Finally sawed it up 18 months ago.

The chest will not be totally clear, but almost so.  Here is a pic of the dovetail side of the carcass going together.



Here is a pic of the chest with the top on.  The carcass dovetails have not been glued.  I still need to mill the groove for the bottom, cut the top to size, and attach the base moulding.  Overall dimensions:  Height 20", width 20", length 42".



For the base moulding, I plan to dovetail the joint at the bottom corners where the bottom moulding meets.  I could miter that joint, but the dovetail gives it a classy look.  Getting there .

[SwampDonkey]

That sure is nice.  Mom has a chest made from ERC and my bathroom closet is lined with it. I can still smell the aroma from the cedar. When ya starting my decan's bench?  ;D ;)

[WDH]

That sure is nice.  Mom has a chest made from ERC and my bathroom closet is lined with it. I can still smell the aroma from the cedar. When ya starting my decan's bench?  ;D ;)

When I find out what a decan's bench is, I will surely start one .

[SwampDonkey]

It's a type of chest set by the main entry of the house. You store your extra shoes or winter coats in it, and it has a seat back on it. You sit down on it to change your slippers for your Sunday go to meeting shoes.  Or trek through the forest shoes. ;)

Spelled: deacon's bench.  Makes it easier to search the web.  ;D

[Norm]

Very nice WDH!

Your daughter will cherish it forever.

[Dodgy Loner]

I remember you telling me about that150-year-old cedar, but that wood is better than I could have imagined!  I bet it was a pleasure to work with cedar that clear.  I wouldn't mind knotty cedar so much if the DanG wood didn't tear out so bad around the knots.  I'm sure your daughters will love those chests.  You set a high standard with the walnut chest you made !

[TexasTimbers]

That's super nice WD. I too like the contrast of sapwood with heart.

That was a nice job on the dovetail joint. Do you think the miters are going to open up when the top expands?

[metalspinner]

WDH,
How do you like the D4R?  Did you run some test scraps at full width, or just jump in with the project.

[SwampDonkey]

I bet that tight grained stuff will not move as much as you think.

[WDH]

Kevjay, the miter is glued. The trim piece on the front is glued all along its length since the grain is all in the same direction.  Then, the side breadboards are glued to the front piece.  The glue extends about 2" down the side breadboards.  That locks the miter tight.  Any movement of the top is then transfered to the back end of the breadboard, and the miters at the front corners never open up.

Metalspinner, the D4R is a fine piece of equipment.  You set up the jig to get the spacing that you desire.  Once you are happy with that, you go ahead and cut the tails.  In this chest, the tails are on the ends of the long side (the 42" side) of the chest.  Then, you flip the finger assembly to cut the pins.  I used a test board 6" wide to get the fit just right (the pins are on the short side pieces, and these sides are 20" in width).  So instead of cutting a test piece 20" wide, I cut a partial test piece that was 6" wide to get the jig adjusted so the the pins can be joined with the tails with a tap with a mallet or the bottom of you fist.  Not too tight and not too loose.  You want the joint to kiss all the way until the pins seat.  That took about 4 trials with the 6" wide pin test board to get it just right.  After that I cut the pins on the side pieces and do a dry fit.  What is shown in the pics is the dry fit.  I have not glued the carcass together yet.  I am still working on the bottom.

The trim on the bottom of the chest will be dovetailed as well rather than attached with miter joints.  Here is a pic of a walnut chest I made last winter with the dovetailed bottom trim.  If you look at the bottom left of the chest, you can see the dovetail joint on the bottom trim piece where the side joins the front.  There was a good bit of curl in this walnut.  The pic does not do it justice.  The flash from the camera gives it a false color and does not show the true nature of the finish.  My photography skills are poor .
 

[Dodgy Loner]

The flash from the camera gives it a false color and does not show the true nature of the finish. My photography skills are poor .

You're right WDH, I've seen that chest first-hand, so I can say without a doubt that your woodworking skills far outweigh your photography skills ;D.  But don't worry, your photography skills are just good enough that we can see what an excellent woodworker you are .

[TexasTimbers]

letting the rear miters open is the age-old, tried and true method to keep the front miters closed when you want a flush top lid without a floating panel. For that application I haven't seen a method I like better but am always trying to come up with something. I guess it's called an engineered panel. : Shhhhh. ;)

[Dodgy Loner]

WDH can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe there is a rear miter.  The breadboard ends are just flush with the back (a least until winter time, of course)

[WDH]

That is correct, DL.  There are no rear miters on these chest tops.  Just two side breadboards and the front piece that forms the overhanging lip of the lid.  So there are no back miters that have to deal with the wood movement of the lid.  That makes at easy to deal with the wood movement. 

However, like you said kevjay, if there was a back trim piece so that there were 4 miters, 2 in the back and two in the front, the frame and panel with the panel floating in the frame is about the only way you can manage the wood movement.

[SwampDonkey]

I've seen them mostly like WDH's method, or no dovetail breadboard edge at all. Mom's has no breadboarding. It has two drawers on the left hand end of the front panel and two 'falsies' on the right hand end.

That's a nice chest WDH. Oh, I said that before eh?  ;)

[WDH]

Well, the chest is complete through the final sanding.  The finish has yet to be applied.  I will apply the finish once the humidity abates a little bit. 

When my daughter saw the carcass of the chest, I was proud of the mostly clear heartwood.  She looked it over and said, "Where is all the pretty cream colored wood?".  After being so gently admonished, I made certain to include the creamy sapwood in the trim.

The chest is rather plain, but that is how she wanted it.  Who am I to argue with a woman who knows what she wants ???.



The inside has a sliding tray for small items.

[Radar67]

That's a nice looking chest Danny. Now, a question, haven't you learned yet that you can never please a woman?  :D :D

Stew

[metalspinner]

I have to admit it...
I misread the start of this thead way back and this whole time I thought that chest was cherry. :-[ :D  I can't believe how nice that cedar is. 8)

[Left Coast Chris]

WDH........... your photography is great compared to mine.  Fantastic chest too!  I have been struggling with my pics for posting.  It seems that after croping, sizing to 400 pixels, then compressing 100 percent then decreasing jpeg quality to get to 15,000 byts storage size they are always fuzzy.  Yours look GREAT.   What is your secret? ??? ???

[WDH]

Stew,

After 53 years, I have learned that they (the fairer sex) are usually right.  The contrast with the dark heart and the creamy sap with cedar is unparalled.  Who can argue with that (even if she is a young woman of 17 years?)?

Metalspinner,

As I said earlier, this was an exceptional forest grown Eastern Red Cedar.  19" in diameter and over 85 feet tall.  I had been watching it for 25 years (I bought the property in 1980) thinking all along of what I might do with it.  I decided it would reign on in the form of chests for my daughters or some other noble purpose.  I found out that when I felled it, it was going doty in the heart, so I harvested it at the full extent of its functional maturity.  I counted the rings up to the dote, and I estimated that it was a seedling about the time of the Civil War.  The good thing is that I have the wood for several more chests from this tree 8).