I thought I would try making TS cut dovetails.  I used a special grind (10-deg) TS blade, an Incra HD 1000 miter gauge, and a flush trim router bit.  I made a sled which attached to my miter gauge.  Using a marking gauge, I laid out the tail height on a sacrificial board a smidge higher than the material thickness, tilt my TS blade 10-deg, and raised the blade to the desired height.  I ganged my L/R drawer side boards and cut the tails simultaneous. 

 

Because the tails were symmetrical on the front bd and the rear top bd, the tail cutting went fast.  I clamped a block to the sled to allow me to make repeat cuts by flipping and rotating the boards between cuts.

 

 

After the tails were cut, I laid out the pins, the same way you  would if the dovetails were cut by hand except, I used a 0.5 mm  mechanical pencil instead of a marking knife.  I did not need a knife kerf and the pencil line is easier to see.  Sorry no pic.

 

Now, I changed out my blade to a flat bottom blade and set the height the same height as the special grind blade.  Using the Inca miter gauge rotated to 10-degree, I started to cut the pins.  After the pins are cut to the initial setting, rotate the miter gauge to minus 10-degree and cut the other side.   Do not change your set-up. When cutting the pins always error on not cutting enough material. 

 

 

I used a coping saw to rough cut the pins and then cleaned-up the bottoms using a ¾” dia. flush trim router bit.  My initial fit-up revealed that I had 3 pins which needed more material removed.  Because I was using a miter gauge, I could re-cut either side of the pin.  I use a pencil scribble to mark where the pin material had to be removed.  You may see a #1 and #2 marked on either side of the pins.  These markings helped me use the correct miter gauge setting.  Because I used symmetrical set-up/cutting to make the tails, I used symmetrical set-up/cutting to cut the pins wherever possible.  Because of this technique it appears in the pics that I was off my line when cutting the pins, but the fit-up reveals something different.  In some locations the pins did not need to be marked.  As I gain experience using this technique, I will learn where to mark and not mark.

 

The pics of the tails and pins are from my 2nd effort and before glue-up.  Sorry, I did not get many set-up pictures.  The holes that are in some of the pieces are for Blum Tandem undermount draw slide attachment.  For me, I’m sure this technique is faster than cutting them by hand.  I am pleased with the results.  Danl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks! Did you have to have a blade specially ground or are they available for purchase?

26 minutes ago, lew said:

Thanks! Did you have to have a blade specially ground or are they available for purchase?

I had made a special grind 10-deg dovetail blade.  You  can order right or left tilt grinds.

W.D. Quinn wanted $119 plus 3 days.  Forrest wanted $185 plus 6 months.  I purchased the Quinn blade.

Danl

Thanks!

Great job on the jig. A bit more than I want to get into so I will just use my old PC jig.

Thanks for posting your dovetail adventures.  Helps show that determination and clever thinking can make the best of the tools we have.   Dovetails I've seen done with jigs (like PC makes). on a router table with careful setup, on a CNC that has the ability to clamp board vertically, and hand cut with some chisel work.   Now the list grows to include using the table saw and a special blade.   I'll confess I've used a jig saw before but the outcome was less than desirable. 

 

With your 10 degree blade I can envision a jig with some built-in spacing mechanism to help automate the stepover needed to make perfect fitting male and female sides.  Templates could be attached for different spacing and thickness of the boards, etc.. Use the same template on both jigs, but flipped over for each jig. 

4D

I use dovetail grooves on drawer fronts, It will never break. Also have used it on a side table top. It also is good to join legs to stretchers.

This side table has no screws except to add base leg unit.

 

 

Not really hard to do but needs a lots of tests to fit properly so keep those scraps the same size as final lumber to be used.