Custom Project

Progress on the Candle Rack

Well, its been slow, but progress is being made on the candle rack - or is it a candle shelf, or candle cabinet? I dont know what to call this thing. Hmm. Its a candle thing! Maybe candle thingy sounds more precise...

Anyway, I started the dovetails on the candle thingy. First, I did the layout for the tails where one side joins the bottom. I used a marking gauge set just slightly more than the thickness of the pin board (bottom) to mark the baseline for the tails. Then, using a small bevel gauge (visible in the background), I just eye-balled the tails. I added the variations in the middle just for fun.

Its always temping to skip the "mark the waste with an X" part, but dont do it! Just trust me on that one.


After marking the tails, I ripped the lines with my dovetail saw. I should probably say I ripped using the lines as rough guides. It doesnt really matter if you saw to the line or not on this part, but it will later. Up to this point, this was my standard approach, but now I wanted to try a couple of new techniques.

Normally, I rip the tails with my saw, then move directly to removing the majority of the waste with a coping saw, clean them up with chisels, and then use the dovetails to layout the pins. The first new technique I tried helps with aligning the tail and pin boards for a more accurate transfer. This is the well known "shallow rabbet" technique. Basically, I just planed a very shallow rabbet on the inside of the tail board. When it was time to align the two pieces, the rabbet catches on the edge of the pin board and keeps everything square. It worked great and I liked it.

The second new technique was a different way to transfer the shapes of the tails to the pin board. Before I cut out the waste between the tails, I transferred the layout with the saw itself, running the front teeth (or tooth) down the kerfs in the tail board. Id read about this in books, and seen Roy do it, but Id never tried it myself. It worked okay - I think the juries still out on this one. I wasnt totally happy with the quality of the lines I created. Not enough pressure, and the line was very faint - too much pressure and the line was clear but there was some tearout in the face of the pin board. I need more practice before I decide if I like this one or not.

Here is a shot of the tail board aligned atop the pin board:


And heres a shot after the transfer of the layout using the "saw in kerf" technique:


After those two experiments, it was back to my standard routine. I used a coping saw to remove the waste between the tails:


And then chisels to pare to the baseline:


After that I repeated the same process with the pin board - although this time the lines really are important. You have to stay on the waste side of the line or you will have gaps in the final product. Watch, Ill demonstrate that pitfall. I believe in being thorough :)


It came out okay - if you look closely, youll see a couple of gaps where I wasnt careful enough with the sawing of the pins. Wait, I mean, youll see a couple of spots where the new "saw in kerf" technique really let me down. Yeah, thats it!

The dry fit:




Not too bad - it should look pretty good after gluing and cleaning it up with a plane. Just three more to go and then on to the dadoes etc.