Dovetail template set

[Christophe Mineau]

Here it is, Christmas has already passed and now I can safely show my recent works, as they mostly were presents for my family.

I have made a special present for my daughter who has just turned 20 the very day of Christmas. She is studying cabinet making and I chose to make her a nice set for dovetail making.

Here are the dovetail templates I have made for her and how I made them.

I was particularly inspired by the solid brass templates made by Derek Cohen and shown here, on his Website, but I have the chance to have a mill in my shop, so I used it, as well as my CNC for engraving works.
I will start from an angle brass bar, 40mmx40mm, 4mm thick.

It all begins with some CAD drawings. I will make all the pitches from 1:4 to 1:8, as well as a right angle square.
All the necessary angles and dimensions are quoted.


I have used my nice tilting vise, which I tilt along the X axis to the desired pitch angle.


I rough out the milling using an end mill, and I finish out with a fly cutter.


All faces are angled, including the top face which show a perpendicular face looking from above.
The squareness is double checked and adjusted if necessary by tilting along the Y axis using gentle taps with a small hammer.


Here is my engraving setup on my CNC bed. I use two 123 blocks stacked and screwed down to the bed slots. The work piece is
clamped on the 123 blocks using a C clamp.


And here is the finish product after some polishing with steel whool :

[mklotz]

Magnifique travail comme d'habitude.

[Christophe Mineau]

Merci Marv ! cela me fait plaisir, et bravo pour le français !
A bientôt

[Philip Davies]

They look really splendid! You must be very proud that your daughter is going to become a fine craftswoman.

[Brendon]

Greetings! Christophe,
And may I wish you a Happy New year.
That is a wonderful set of Dovetail guides.
All the Best,
Brendon

[DIYer]

Thanks Christophe Mineau! We've added your Dovetail Template Set to our Woodworking category,
as well as to your builder page: Christophe Mineau's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Dovetail Template Set by Christophe Mineau

tags: dovetail

[Christophe Mineau]

Greetings! Christophe,
And may I wish you a Happy New year.
That is a wonderful set of Dovetail guides.
All the Best,
Brendon

Hi Brendon, happy to read you there !
Same for you, I wish you a happy new year, and as I tell everybody, may 20 22 not be a 20 20 too

How are your fine planes going ?
Read you soon !

[Brendon]

Thank you Christophe,
The last few years have not been great for me since 2016.
I have had a number of years of poor health and then in 2020 my wife decided to end our marriage
so I have had many problems.
But now my health is good again and by end of next year my divorce should be finalized.
So, I am in good form now and building a new workshop.
Once my divorce is finalized I hope to have time to get back to making again.
It is all part of the journey through life but I am upbeat and looking towards the future.
I am happy to see that you are still making beautiful things.
My best wishes to you for the New Year.
Brendon

[wizard69]

Splendid work on those templates. They are almost too beautiful to use.

By the way you should tell your daughter that we are all waiting to see what she crafts with this set. Just tell here the whole planet (no pressure) is waiting to see what see can make.

[Christophe Mineau]

Well, I'm afraid she wouldn't agree, she don't like pressure too much, it sometimes cuts down your capabilities ...