Thread: Hand cutting dovetails

Cut the majority of the waste out with a coping/band/scroll saw then pare down to the line. That way the smallest chisel you'll need will be one a bit thinner than the largest part of the pin. I've seen Japanese dovetail chisels from Timbecon down to 3mm and there's no doubt other manufacturers that make similar sizes.

What Dan says is the right approach. With really small pins, you might find a jeweller's saw useful. The blades are finer than a normal coping saw blade - thinner and with finer teeth. You can cut closer to the line with this type of saw - which reduces the amount of paring you need. You can buy them from Carba-Tec et al. ("et al" in this context doesn't mean that Al stocks them in the Craporium - although he might! )

Col

I made a fine chisel from an old triangular file. See Fine Woodworking about the end of 2001 for details of tempering the steel in your oven. PM me if you can't find it and I'll post the details.

Thanks guys coping saw sound good.

Do jewlers blades fit in a normal coping saw, or do I need a special saw?
Then I'd just use the chisel to par to the lines and chop to depth.

Sounds like it'll work.


AlexS, check your pm's.


Ben.

Ben

I use a jeweller's saw to remove the waste. The throat for this is exactly the same as a fret saw, both 5" wide, if I recall correctly. The fret saw has a 12" deep body, the jeweller's saw is about 4" deep. All these figures from memory so I may be a little out. The blades are different from a coping saws' in that they are much, much finer, and they fix to the frame with clamps rather than holes. So they are not interchangeable.

As Col mentioned earlier, the blades are narrow enough to slip down the kerf, even one as narrow as that cut with a Japanese saw.

The jeweller's saw is prefered when the width of the board you are dovetailing is no more than 6" wide. After this I use a fret saw.

All this is quite fresh in my mind as I have spent today (Saturday) marking dovetails, cutting to the line, removing the waste with a saw, and paring with a chisel. One after the other, all afternoon long.

Carba-tec sells a reproduction jeweller's saw for $25. It is nicely made. I have a vintage one that I picked up for about $10 somewhere. They also sell a fret saw for $19. I saw a similar one at Bunnings for $45. Bunnings also sell the blades.

Attached below is a picture of my jeweller's and coping saws.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Oh, one more item on this topic. Bob built a beautiful coping saw he designed just for dovetails. See http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=11894

I plan to do a version of this using fret saw blades in the near future.

Regards from Perth

Derek

there is a great article in FWW a couple of issues ago about hand cut dovetail tips. it is written by the master of hand cut dovetails: Christian Becksvoort.

I don't use a coping saw but I remove all the waste using chisels. My smallest chisel is 1/8 inch so I design my dovetails so the smallest gap is 1/8 inch or greater.

Originally I didn't have such a small chisel so I got an old 1/4 inch chisel and ground it down to around about 1/8 inch width. It worked very well, perhaps this is a solution for you.

1/8" Chisel I have 2 1Mortise profile and one Bevel edge both are useful.
Rember never walk past a chisel or a plane for sale without buying it!!! LOL