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Step 12Mark the pins on the guides
The guides need to fit inside the holes you just made. I know, it seems silly. Why not just make the notches the same size as the guide? I have two answers for you. The first answer may be a load of male bovine feces, but the extra edges made by cutting a pin (the "cheeks") give extra support to the joint. If you're holding up some heavy books, this might make a difference. The second answer is more in the realm of reality. If you outline a notch the size of the guide and you screw it up, it's there for the whole world to see, and your great grandson will definitely NOT take this piece to Antiques Roadshow. If you cut the notch just a bit smaller, and then cut a pin in the guide to mate up with it, and you screw either of those up, it's hidden and nobody but you and the supreme being of your choice will know about it.
Anyway, since we hand cut the notches, we can guarantee that they are not exactly the same as each other. That's why I've labeled mine as "A" and "B". I also labeled each guide as either "A" or "B". The "A" guide goes in the "A" bookend, and the "B" guide goes in the "B" bookend. The label scheme isn't important here. You can use one/two, black/white, Friday/Smith, whatever.
Start with A. Lay the guide down onto the bookend and next to the notch so that the dovetail pin is below the notch. Mark the top of the notch onto the guide.
Turn the guide upside down onto the workbench and lay it next to the notch. Mark the width of the notch here. You'll need to eyeball it to be center, or you can measure the width of the notch, the width of the guide, subtract the two, divide the result, and set your combination square to that length and mark from each edge. Good luck.
Use the combination square to find the depth of the notch. Mark this across the top of the guide. You should now have marks that outline the pin that will go into the notch.
Anyway, since we hand cut the notches, we can guarantee that they are not exactly the same as each other. That's why I've labeled mine as "A" and "B". I also labeled each guide as either "A" or "B". The "A" guide goes in the "A" bookend, and the "B" guide goes in the "B" bookend. The label scheme isn't important here. You can use one/two, black/white, Friday/Smith, whatever.
Start with A. Lay the guide down onto the bookend and next to the notch so that the dovetail pin is below the notch. Mark the top of the notch onto the guide.
Turn the guide upside down onto the workbench and lay it next to the notch. Mark the width of the notch here. You'll need to eyeball it to be center, or you can measure the width of the notch, the width of the guide, subtract the two, divide the result, and set your combination square to that length and mark from each edge. Good luck.
Use the combination square to find the depth of the notch. Mark this across the top of the guide. You should now have marks that outline the pin that will go into the notch.
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