# Help with half blind dovetails and Drawer construction - Incra System



## misterbig (Oct 22, 2013)

I have a Incra System and was going to build some pull out kitchen drawers for my pots and pans and have a question regarding calculating the drawer dimensions. Normally i use Pocket holes and cover the front of the drawer with a fifth board to cover the pocket holes.. because this drawer will be in side the cupboard I will not have a way to hide the Pocket holes… I was thinking that this would be a good project to try the Incra system out and do Half blind dovetails. I watched the video, read the book and I think i am pretty solid on how to set up the system to cut the pins and tails. the question i have though is how do you calculate the tail length to accommodate the amount that will insert in the pin board.

Eg I would like to have a 22" deep x 25" wide draw box.

the width i would imagine would be just 25" as the tails will be flush with the outside edge of the board.

the thing i do not understand is based on the patterns in the master ref guide it doesn't advise how long the dovetails will be on the tail board. I would imagine it will be a in the ball park of a half inch or so shorter then the final 22" depth.

sorry for such a basic question as i am just starting out and looking for some advice.

m


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## lepelerin (Jan 13, 2012)

cannot help I do not have an incra. Make a test piece and this will simply answer your question. This is the only advice I can give. Sorry.


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## jakep_82 (Feb 1, 2012)

It depends on the bit you're using. For a 1/2" 14 degree bit, the cut depth is approximately 1/4". The only way to know the exact dimension is to follow the setup instructions to figure out the exact cut depth. It's a simple process that require a couple small pieces of scrap and it's detailed in the book and on the video.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Half-blind tails extend around 2/3rds into the face board on drawers; the third that is not cut to accept the tails is the distance to be subtracted from the length of the drawer's sides. A way to make this happen is to complete the half-blind joints then cut the sides to the desired length from the back end afterward.

But that's input from a one that does it with hand tools and doesn't measure much of anything at all; your mileage (and preferred practice) will vary.

A look at the process I've used is here and here.


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