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I have recently been involved in the restoration of a 1850ish stairway. The spindles were dovetailed into the treads before the tread endcap was installed. I have been musing about at what point the pin was cut in the spindle. Was it before the piece was turned or after. If after, how did they orient the multiple cuts to form the dovetail?A jig perhaps?One clue is that the pins were cut on the bandsaw.Any ideas?
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Bill
Not that this answers your question but when I was learning cabinetmaking, whenever doing production dovetails, we were encouraged to make the two shoulder cuts with a hand held dovetail saw & then 'hog' out the waste with a series of bandsaw kerfs, finishing off with a chisel. If you look on the bottom of the 'pin' I suspect you won't see the lathe centre marks, suggesting that the lathe work was done first. The turned spindles are easily held in a vice to cut the cheeks, and hand held to hog out the waste on the bandsaw.
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I have recently been involved in the restoration of a 1850ish stairway. The spindles were dovetailed into the treads before the tread endcap was installed. I have been musing about at what point the pin was cut in the spindle. Was it before the piece was turned or after. If after, how did they orient the multiple cuts to form the dovetail?A jig perhaps?One clue is that the pins were cut on the bandsaw.Any ideas?