thiccpaws#Woodworking nerds,
Can I get a dovetail bit in metric, or are they exclusively imperial?
rag. Gustavino BevilacquaBeing in Europe, I'm aware only of metric bits.
But if I need a drill bit slightly larger than 6 mm, I go for a ¼" one on eBay, because if I ask a 6,35 mm drill bit in local shops they say it's a very special (= expensive) pro order.
Anyway a good practice for dovetails is to cut separately the sides, to avoid to have a side cut in climbing mode, which could splinter.
@GustavinoBevilacqua So they exist? but I'm not having any luck on Aliexpress. I'll have to reconsider a few things.
Anyway a good practice for dovetails is to cut separately the sides, to avoid to have a side cut in climbing mode, which could splinter.
I'm not sure I'm following. I'm too new to woodworking and youtube isn't helping much, because apparently woodworking is a usian hobby and they all speak imperial. I'll learn the hard way — experimenting, making mistakes, and wasting money.
Also, in the U.S. wood is far cheaper than in Europe!
Take a look here, they are based in Berlin:
https://www.fine-tools.com/
@GustavinoBevilacqua Thanks! I'll bookmark it.
Yeah, my budget is 1.000 € to make 18 drawers with plywood. I'll try to stretch it as much as possible!
Yeah, my budget is 1.000 € to make 18 drawers with plywood. I'll try to stretch it as much as possible!
B. Garfoot 
@thiccpaws Are you asking about shank size, i.e. you need an 8mm?
Either way, look into Whiteside:
https://www.whitesiderouterbits.com/search?page=1&q=dovetail
@bgarfoot No, not shank size. I'm talking about the widest area of the bit. This one says 9.52 mm which is odd metric. It's obviously a 3/8 of an inch. I was wondering if instead of 9.52 mm I could get a 10 mm bit. I don't seem to be able to find any on Aliexpress.
@thiccpaws Hmm. Might be better off using a smaller bit in two passes if you need exactly 10mm.
The metric dovetail bit set that I have still lists all large diameters in imperial, even for 8mm bits.
PalmAndNeedle@thiccpaws Why? The exact dimensions of the pins and tails are immaterial to the function of the joint
@PalmAndNeedle True but it doesn't sound natural to me.
Hey, can you pass me the 8 mm bit? 👍
Hey, can you pass me the five sixteenths of an inch bit? 😅
@thiccpaws sounds like a you problem 
Both cut wood the same way. That said I suggest you learn to cut dovetails by hand. Not as hard as it looks, and once you can do it on simple 90° corners, all you need to do to cut dovetails on single or double inclined corners is wrap your head around how to mark them properly. The process of cutting and fitting is the exact same.
Doesn't work with a router. They can only really do plumb and straight. Everything else is a royal headache.
@PalmAndNeedle I don't see it as a me problem. If you had the chance to read some instructions in German or in Amazigh, which one would you choose? I'm sure Amazigh is also a suitable language to communicate, but for those of us who aren't fluent, it's a headache. For me, imperial sizing is Amazigh — very exotic but I'm not really sure what all these numbers are.
And while I'd love to have the room and time for woodworking, right now my goal is to complete 18 drawers, and doing it by hand is not an option. Maybe one day.
@thiccpaws you can buy a chisel that's 25mm wide or one that's half inch. There is a difference. Theoretically. 0,4mm.
For all intents and purposes that is completely irrelevant because it is below the production tollerance of most any kind of woodworking. Same for that bit.
Now, if you want to build 18 drawers out of ply? Skip the dovetails, make finger joints on the table saw. Doesn't even have to be finger joint size really, about a cm in width, you can make them 5 to 10cm wide.
@thiccpaws Dovetails are great for solid timber because they can deal with extpansion and contraction with moisture changes. One of the major development vectors for plywood as a stable, isotropic sheet good was the desire to build furniture with simpler joinery that can be cut with machines.
@thiccpaws Ply is actually kinda bad for dovetails because the small triangles of the tails break out and chip much easier than in solid timber because the fibers of the layers running perpendicular to the edge contribute very little in strength in that specific application.
@thiccpaws Also not everything that limps is an analogy.
It's not another language. The math is the same, it's just base 12 instead of ten. You can build from plans dimensioned in imperial without reading english, all you need is a ruler with imperial scale.
@thiccpaws
Paul Gartside, my favorite boatbuilder and yacht designer, works and publishes in both systems, specifically for amateurs, and his advice is pretty clear: don't attempt to convert plans from metric to imperial, or vice versa. That way lies madness. Either you end up with impractical "unround" dimensions, or you are redrawing the plans from scratch with stock dimensioned in sensible widths according to the new system, which is a fool's errand for anything more complex than a box.
Paul Gartside, my favorite boatbuilder and yacht designer, works and publishes in both systems, specifically for amateurs, and his advice is pretty clear: don't attempt to convert plans from metric to imperial, or vice versa. That way lies madness. Either you end up with impractical "unround" dimensions, or you are redrawing the plans from scratch with stock dimensioned in sensible widths according to the new system, which is a fool's errand for anything more complex than a box.