Thread: I'm back, with more hand cut dovetails...

It has been awhile, but I finally decided to scratch that itch. You know the one. The one that can only be satisfied with a bit of fresh cut saw dust breathed deeply....


Ahhh...... Good medicine. Think I just may need some more of that. Lots more.


This is a box I was inspired to make yesterday by my finally getting around to finishing up my new marking knife. I took a scrap piece of board, ripped it into six pieces and went at it. The pieces for the marking knife had been laying around for over a year (I had the blade custom made by a local garden tool/knife sharpening shop, who was kind enough to throw in the wood for the handle. Don't know what it is, but is very hard, and really dark). You can see the knife in the pictures.

The box joints were made with nothing more than the tools seen (except for the marking gauge which scribed the line for depth of cut). The pencil was used only for labeling the four corners A-B-C-and D. each board A-B, B-C, C-D, D-A.

I cut my sockets first, by eye. I picked up my dovetail saw and guessed what would be a good distance from the edge - cut the outermost left cut, then the outermost right. Then worked my way in left, right, left, right till I reached the center of the board. The angles for the joints were all done by feel: square the saw across the edge of the board, angle it left or right, and go for it. (ala Frank Klauss, if I remember right).

After I chopped out the sockets, I laid the board on the bench over my vice as shown in the picture to scribe my lines. I prefer this method since every other way I have tried the boards end up sliding or moving before I get all the lines scribed. Once they have shifted, I never could seem to get them lined up perfectly and would end up with pins that didn't quite fit in my sockets. Using this simple method the tail board and the one that will take the pins are held just the way I want them untill I finish all my scribe marks. The new scribing knife works like a dream.

The rest of the process was pretty standard. If anyone wants info on making the 45 miters at the top of the box with out drawing or scribing any lines, I'll be happy to explain. It's really quite simple. Now that I figured out the technique, I'm glad I didn't splurge for the dovetail jig I was SO tempted by in the early days. Though, with the way I love my gadgets and tools, its still tempting to pick one up anyways...

Cheers. It's good to be back.


Everyone else here seems to be posting really beautiful well thought out projects, while just about every one of mine so far has really been nothing more than an exercise in technique. I think I got the hang of it now. I just have to figure out what my first real project will be....

...and come up for a use for that new box of mine. Any suggestions?