Swelling Dovetails? – Question of the Week
This week’s question comes from Ben who asks: Why do my dovetails dry fit perfectly – but when I go to glue them up, they no longer fit flush? It’s cheap pine (this is a test project) – and I’m using a dovetail jig: if that helps? Any suggestions?
And this was my response:
Hey Ben. My guess is that the dovetails are sucking up some moisture from the glue and swelling a bit, leading to a change in the actual fit. That means that if left alone for some time, the swelling would go down and they might get close to flush again. That being said, I very rarely shoot for perfectly flush dovetails anyway. I always aim to have my dovetails a little proud. This way, after the glue dries, I can flush them to the surface. If you aim for perfectly flush, you might wind up slightly under, which means you now have to sand or plane the entire board to get a flush fit, which of course brings with it a whole series of problems. But if you aim to be slightly proud and you wind up a little short of your target, the worst that can happen is the dovetails will be nearly flush. And if you are slightly over your target, a few extra swipes with the block plane are all you need to remedy the situation. Hope that helps.
*** Anyone else have some slick tips for perfectly-fitting dovetails?***
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