Paper As Shim

[Meng1988]

I have everything all set to glue my dovetail but it is just a hair loose. I put one piece of thin masking tape on both cheeks and it fit perfect.

With it being such a small amount I had the idea of just using a piece of paper as a shim. Is this ok to do? Or will it weaken the joint?

[MaineGeezer]

Should be fine. I wouldn't use masking tape (and from your description I don't think that is what you have in mind), but I think a piece of paper the glue can soak into should work well.

If a dovetail is a proper fit, you hardly need glue at all, anyway. It doesn't have to do much except keep the joint from sliding apart.

[Meng1988]

Definitely not intending on using masking tape as the final solution. Was just using it to see how far off I was.

Seeing how close I was, I was about to start sharpening my hand plane to get some good paper-thin shavings. But then I wondered if I could just use paper instead.

[Diane Kauffmds]

I've found that wood shavings from planing work great. A plus is that they're already curled if you want to wrap them around the tenon.