Housed blind dovetail

I have never been accused of making things easy, so why start now? Always enjoy a good challenge and these joints do the trick nicely. They will be used on the ceiling joists to tie the cabin walls together.

Taking it a step at a time...

After cutting the joists to length the dovetail was laid out and cut. Measuring down from the top surface 4" the bottom of each dovetail was cut off flat.

Using each joist as a pattern the dovetail socket cut was traced onto the top wall log. Getting the correct depth and housing cut required some scribing and careful work with the dividers.

Just above the cut out dovetail you can see a 2x4 batter board that was placed outside the end walls. The top of this 2x4 would be the finished height for each joist. With the joist in tracing position this provided a reference point to measure down from and the depth for each individual dovetail socket cut and housing.

Walla! One down and 7 to go.

With the ceiling joists in place it was back to work on the walls. Round 11 in place and only 2 more rounds to go and the cabin walls will be done!