Hand Cut Dovetailed Box for Beginners
Josh Cohen
$950 AUD
Presented by Simeon Dux
Most people, I’m sure would feel that hand cut dovetails are a daunting prospect and way beyond their skill level. Yet hand cut dovetails still represent around the world a standard of excellence that is easy to recognize by everyone. Moreover mortice and tenons and dovetails are still the most common form of joinery for every piece of furniture.
You will be directed to the MindBody booking page.
In this 3-day class, you will learn how to cut three groups of dovetails with accuracy and confidence. The ‘through dovetail’ is usually used to join traditional carcasses & boxes and often seen at the back of a drawer. The ‘half blind dovetail’ is also usually seen in box making & traditional carcasses and is often seen at the front of a drawer. Lastly, the ‘through dovetail with a mitred front edge’ is also often seen in slightly fancier boxes and cabinets.
You will be taught an easy to follow process that with practice, guarantees perfect dovetails every time. We will discuss the most appropriate uses of these types of dovetails in many types of furniture.
Lastly, and perhaps best of all, on the last day of the course, you will get to make a beautiful box out of Walnut, dovetailed by yourself, following the steps you’ve been practicing over the previous two days. All the components will be pre-cut for you, so all you need to focus on is the joinery.
We guarantee that you will come away from the class with all the skills required to master the hand cut dovetail and a beautiful hand crafted box!
When
Fri 10th to Sun 12th October 2025
9:00am to 5:00pm
(3 Days)
Location
Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking.
14 Cottage St, Blackburn
After 30 years watching our Maple grow from a sapling to a 10-metre tree, we decided it was too large for our suburban block and it needed to be felled. We didn’t want to see it cut up as firewood or mulched so we looked into what would be involved to make it into furniture. After several phone calls, I was directed to Alastair Boell who would be able to ‘slab’ the tree for us. Alastair visited us on a rainy day in May 2020 and advised us on what could be done. Alastair was encouraging and supportive of our idea, commenting that he wished more people would do what we were considering. Six months later, after COVID lockdown ended and the top part of the tree had been removed, Alastair visited again with his portable milling machinery. It was a great experience and I was able to be involved by stacking the ‘slabs’ in our patio where they would remain for up to 2 years while the timber dried out. I learned a lot about timber that day; Alastair's excitement of seeing ‘figures’ in the beautiful, creamy white timber was contagious as each slab revealed a new slice of our much loved tree. I am so glad we decided to take this direction. Alastair's care in providing an excellent service was evident throughout the process - he kept me informed of any delays, arrived when he said he would, included me in any decisions and cleaned up afterwards. It has been a very positive experience.
DENISE LYONS - SEPTEMBER 2020