I am occasionally asked how to dovetail. It is a bit of a cheeky question and it would take me several months or more full time to teach this properly. Sometimes people seem to forget I am running a business.
I have been making dovetailed planes for over 25 years now and I still keep trying to improve my system. Another plane maker described my dovetails as made on the CNC and are very cold and clinical – is this how one would describe a precision job? Then guilty as charged.
Here are some photos of part of the dovetailing process.
![Holtey A28 b](http://www.holteyplanes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Holtey-A28-b.jpg)
![Holtey A28 c](http://www.holteyplanes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Holtey-A28-c.jpg)
Sometimes it is frustrating that I have to do this much work before closing a plane up. The pictures above show a Boxwood spacer which supports the sides whilst peining the dovetails. Sometimes I use aluminium for this process but as I am only making 6 planes it doesn’t have to do much work. Also the sides of the plane will not be scratched when removing the spacer. A lot of work for a piece of tooling which will be discarded after six uses.
![Holtey A28 d](http://www.holteyplanes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Holtey-A28-d.jpg)
Showing everything in place ready for clamping in the vice. Note that the clamping plates support the dovetails as well. There is no movement and everything stays true to size.
![Holtey A28 f](http://www.holteyplanes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Holtey-A28-f.jpg)
This is the first stage of peining. You will see that the peining looks quite messy and untidy as I am stuffing the extra brass into the voids.
![Holtey A28 e](http://www.holteyplanes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Holtey-A28-e.jpg)
The last stage of peining the dovetails is the sides. Again the assembly is clamped in a precision vice with a spacer plate between the uneven peining on the underside so true reference is maintained.
The use of bimetals will show up any untidiness.
Easy isn’t it