Thread: Dovetail practise

I am sure some of you will remember this classic line from a very popular movie...'wax on, wax off'. A bit the same really... and good advice.

Originally Posted by Ari2

I am sure some of you will remember this classic line from a very popular movie...'wax on, wax off'. A bit the same really... and good advice.

If that means "Don't over-intellectualise a process", I couldn't agree more. I'll leave it to you to figure out which camp I'm in, Paul.....

Well Grasshopper, I guess practice does make perfect

TT

No thanks on that!

If I haven't cut any dovetails in a few months, I will pick up whatever saw I'm going to use and cut slowly on the first cut to make sure the saw is tracking well. There is never a time in this world that you're obligated to overcut or blow through a mark (as in, it's not like we're some helpless group of folks who can get out of practice and then just can't help making an accident scene.

A better tip would be to mark all of the lines if you haven't cut in a while. Practice cuts like that are for people who are just learning to hold a saw, or someone testing a newly made saw to make sure it cuts to a mark at speed.

Originally Posted by D.W.

No thanks on that!

If I haven't cut any dovetails in a few months, I will pick up whatever saw I'm going to use and cut slowly on the first cut to make sure the saw is tracking well. There is never a time in this world that you're obligated to overcut or blow through a mark (as in, it's not like we're some helpless group of folks who can get out of practice and then just can't help making an accident scene.

A better tip would be to mark all of the lines if you haven't cut in a while. Practice cuts like that are for people who are just learning to hold a saw, or someone testing a newly made saw to make sure it cuts to a mark at speed.

Amen.

Mark clearly. Saw to the mark.

I just dive in. Motor memory lasts a long time, and a little visualisation beforehand (which we do automatically) is all that is needed to kick it in.

Regards from Perth

Derek

As Derek says, 'muscle-memory' is your friend. I always make the tail cuts first (to marked lines). These don't need to be spot-on for your front line, since you are going to mark the tails from them, & any error will be too minor to notice. By the time I've made a couple of cuts, hand & eye are talking to each other again, unless the saw is sorely in need of attention, or I'm having a particularly bad day, in which case, it's time to stop & sharpen (or go & mow the lawn if the latter case!)

However, we are dispensing this wisdom as a bunch of relatively experienced woodworkers. I can remember a time when I struggled to make dovetails that didn't look like I'd put the wrong boards together. There is a learning curve, so if you can't reliably saw to a line, then you do need to practice 'til you can (or get yourself a decent saw!).

Cheers,

As I am just starting the journey on hand cut dovetails, I value all the advise I can get. I have found to my horror that watching youtube has not helped me to cut a straight line or to cut to the mark ( I have also found that the cheap vice I bought will not hold the work steady enough to to do either of the above. Thirdly, I have found that really good lighting is a must so that I can actually see the scribe marks I have made in the work although at this stage in my journey I do not need much light to see the gaps between pins and tails.
Aaaah well back to the store to get some decent lights and a good vice, then practice practice practice.
Thanks guys, maybe one day I will even put a photo of my work on here )

For beginning hand cut dovetails, don't forget the paper templates at:

Hand Cut Dovetail Templates for Beginners. Metric and Imperial

They can make it easier to mark the cuts out.

I re-read the article Paul posted as I had forgotten what the theme was. Gad, I do not cut that many dovetails in a year that it is an instinctive process. I also do not practice sawing beforehand. I just saw, even when months have passed. What I consider to be important is that my marks are clear, and that I can saw to the marks. Sawing to marks is about sawing in general, not just dovetails. Having a sense of vertical, or any other angle, is something that is acquired over time from planing and chiseling, as well as sawing. Whatever you do is training for dovetailing.

So, those of you who have procrastinated here can take away that you are probably better prepared for the task than you realise. Mark and saw to the mark.

Here are two recent articles I wrote:

Through dovetails - http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnitu...ovetails3.html

Half-blind dovetails - http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnitu...hBlueTape.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by Bluey999

.....I have found to my horror that watching youtube has not helped me to cut a straight line or to cut to the mark ( .....

Yep, and watching Federer hasn't done much for my tennis game, either....

Originally Posted by Bluey999

.....Aaaah well back to the store to get some decent lights and a good vice, then practice practice practice.
Thanks guys, maybe one day I will even put a photo of my work on here )

I reckon you will, & maybe sooner than you think. As Derek says, it's really all about sawing some clean lines that follow the marks. Mind you, that's not as easy for me as it once was, either - darn marks get fainter & fainter, even though I'm pressing harder on the knife!

Cheers,

A 62-picture extravaganza ... "A Guide to Hand Cutting Dovetails" by Joe Laviolette

https://imgur.com/a/PfYDg


jv y7oRYQi.jpg

I have just had a look at the articles by Derek and the blue tape is a brilliant idea, if I can't see that I will just give up )

Derek's articles neatly distill (for me anyway) all the best tricks and lurks to cutting good dovetails - anyone new to the game can read these and save themselves several years of trial and error.

I came across that idea of placing a small square on the work to sight the chisel angle in a Robert Ingham book some years ago, and have used it ever since. Works a treat..

I must admit that, if it is a few months since my last dovetail, I like to do a practice joint to make sure that the muscles are remembering what they're supposed to!

Since I hate the thought of doing a job that has no purpose, usually that practice joint is for a workshop jig or fitting that I have thought of. I just save it up for when it is needed. So far I haven't run out of things to make . One of my favourites is based on a jig that Bob Wearing wrote about - a very simple jig to hold blades to the grinder. It's just an L bracket with a slot in the short part of the L which means the jig can be moved back and forward (ie closer or further away from the wheel). The blade is just held on the top of the L with the correct amount projecting onto the wheel. I have even found that a honing guide of the Eclipse or Record kind can be used as a stop on the blade to keep the blade at the correct distance from, and square to, the grinding wheel.