Dovetail tenon offset caliper and dovetail tenon construction method

A device for measuring the offset from a tenon centerline necessary to construct a dovetail tenon to closely fit a dovetail mortise, the dovetail mortise having a pair of shoulders defining the mortise opening with a wall diverging downwardly from each shoulder, each wall terminating at the base of the mortise at an interior intersection point, the walls forming acute interior angles with respect to the base, which comprises:

• a shoulder engagement member having a shoulder engagement surface configured to closely juxtapose an edge of the mortise opening, the edge defining a reference shoulder of the pair of shoulders;
• an interior intersection point engagement member having an intersection point engagement surface configured to closely engage the intersection point which is opposite the reference shoulder;
• and
• a translation assembly being attached to both the shoulder engagement member and the interior intersection point engagement member, the translation assembly being configured to displace the interior intersection point member with respect to the shoulder engagement member along a line substantially parallel to the mortise base, the perpendicular distance between a first plane perpendicular to the displacement line, the first plane containing the reference shoulder, and a second plane, parallel to the first plane and containing the intersection point, defining the dovetail tenon offset.