Sliding dovetails... to glue or not to glue

You have the right idea, pin or glue at one end only.

-- |Statistics show that 100% of people bitten by a snake were close to it.|

Slide 3/4 of the way home, then apply glue to the remaing 1/4 of the tail. Then tap it with a rubber mallet to fully seat it.
If you sand the buried part of the tail, it will assemble easier.

-- Willie, Washington "If You Choose Not To Decide, You Still Have Made a Choice" - Rush

if possible, pin with dowel in middle, that way the wood can move in either direction

-- Crashn - the only thing I make more of than sawdust is mistakes

What Willie said.

-- He who dies with the most tools... dies with the emptiest wallet.

Watched Garrett Hack build a small tool cabinet on video over at Finewoodworking.com and he pretty much did what Willie said.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

Thanks guys for the responses. Going to assemble today, will post pics when completed.

-- John, BC, Canada

Here’s the result. I didn’t use any glue in the DTs as they were a very tight fit, but I did pin them with a small dowel (which is glued in).

-- John, BC, Canada

Smashing now you can dissasemble when moving them if needed love those shelves. Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Looks great ! My only quibble would be that the pin should be quite close to the front so that all the movement is all backwards and the fronts stay flush. I tried this joint on an old growth Douglas Fir bookcase. I found the edge grain fir didn’t exactly slide easily, making for a fairly hair-raising assembly !

-- Dwight - "Free legal advice available - contact Dewey, Cheetam & Howe""

I made a bookshelf with sliding dovetails without glue ( http://lumberjocks.com/projects/13162 ) It is solid and I had no problems with it.

Beautiful work!

Really COOL!

Thank you.

I really don’t think they ‘needed’ glue…

-- Have Fun! Joe Lyddon - Alta Loma, CA USA - Home: http://www.WoodworkStuff.net ... My Small Gallery: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?ppuser=1389&cat=500"