A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I completed 30 days of “daily dovetails.” Go through your scrap bin and mill two boards that are around 4-5″ wide, 3/4″ thick, and a few feet long. Every day, use the boards to hand-cut one dovetail joint. When complete, cut the fitted joint off and write the day number in pencil. With every joint, go for speed first and quality second. That’s not an excuse to make crap joints but rather it’s permission to not worry about perfection. Do this for 30 days, and you will see a great improvement!

It’s been two years or so since I last made a hand-cut dovetail joint. I figured that because this box will likely be abused riding on the back of my four-wheeler, a strong joint, such as a dovetail joint, would be appropriate. Four 11-3/4″ dovetail joints will wrap this box.

A first for me is cutting dovetail joints in wet lumber. This material is a few days off the sawmill and very wet. Cutting it with a hand saw was a good learning experience. Because of the moisture, the wood feels very sticky and isn’t the easiest to cut. I cut both tail boards at the same time, and boy, did I have to push to make the cuts.