First attempt at hand-cut dovetails.

Good intentions don’t always pan out. I watched Frank Klausz hand cut a dovetail in about 3 minutes Friday night.

It’s easy when you have done it for 40 years.

-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Hand cut dovetails are easy, unless you’re interested in things like accuracy, functionality and appearance, then they get testy. I had to do some dovetails for a class a I took and boy it was easy to watch.

-- Working at Woodworking http://www.VillageLaneFurniture.com

I’d highly recommend spending some time with some practice boards. A couple of years ago I took a workshop class at the North Bennet Street School in Boston. (I’m taking another in January and I can’t wait.) The class focused on hand tool skills starting with sharpening and moving on to practice boards and practice joints. It culminated with the creation of a candle-box/CD holder, which I still haven’t finished. One of the most valuable parts of that class was practicing hand cut dovetails – both through and half-blind. Of course having the technique described and demonstrated in detail didn’t hurt.

-- Chelle http://artsgranddaughter.blogspot.com

I’m not all that great at hand cutting dovetails either, but I agree with cheller – you have to practice alot. Start out by taking a squared pine board and cut 50 straight lines. Draw the lines first so you can see if they are straight as you cut them. Try moving your body left or right to adjust the cut. Pay close attention to your arm position, body position, cutting motion, etc.

Also, before you start cutting a production dovetail, do a few practice cuts on scrape wood to warm up.

I hope this helps!

-- Roger - Havertown, Pennsylvania

Hand cutting dovetails is hard even with the proper tools, unless you’ve been doing it for a while.
I like the idea of doing it by hand, I’m just not very good at it (yet). I’ll continue to make the
attempts though, if anything, just as a self-challenge.

Lets see some pictures!

-- Still learning everything

I’m by no means an expert but I’ve gotten acceptable results after a couple hours of practice. I’m using Rob Cosman’s technique. I highly recommend the DVD’s. Having a properly set up dovetail saw is critical. Most saws are not set up properly. Make lots of “5-minute” dovetails (one tail and two pins) which requires a minimum of chopping to practice.
This is my first attempt…
And a real project after another hour of “warm-up”...

-- Che.

Che – your first attempt looks pretty good to me! I’ll get some pictures of mine posted soon…

I’ll need to get one of those DVD’s. I have a Woodcraft store close by and they rent them there.

-- Tim D. - Woodstock, GA

Ditto on the practice.

But even the published professional woodworker who taught a class I took showed us how to create tapered shims to tap into the gaps of our dovetails – that were virtually undetectable after the glue dried and sanded flush.

My point – you have to practice because you don’t want to be spending even more time hiding your gaps. But even the hand of the “pro” wavers now and then.

-- Paul, Texas

Dovetails have brought me sorrow and delight…often in the same 15 minute period. As much as tools are important, and practice is essential, make sure your stock is perfectly square, and perfectly flat. You can have so many errors injected into your joints with poor stock preparation, that all the best tools and all the perfect practice will not compensate for.

Cheers!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I liked Frank Klauss’s comment, ‘Stop measuring and learn to saw straight.” That’s twice I’ve mentioned that recently,here, but it is profound. All the tricks in the world won’t help if you can’t saw straight. Just practice sawing a straight line across a board.

-- Thos. Angle, Jordan Valley, Oregon

Absolutely, Tom. That is the biggest thing that I’ve learned. You can mark and measure and draw pretty lines on your board, but if you can’t saw straight…well, it just makes life harder than it has to be.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

I knew all the hand – eye coordination linear hand motion I learned in the pool hall would come in handy.

-- Che.

That’s the way, stroke it!!

-- Thos. Angle, Jordan Valley, Oregon

I read an article lately that stated that box joints were as strong as dovetails when tested(I wish I could remember which magazine showed the pics or was it on the internet?) . Anyway, if that is the case, then you are just a box joint jig away from happiness. Of course, I love the look and functionality of dovetails, but have found that even with a jig, they can bring you many hours of frustration.

-- Jesus is Lord!

From a glue perspective, dovetails are just fancy box joints. Dovetails on the other hand can provide a certain level of structural integrity without glue. Besides, dovetails are cool. ;-)

-- Working at Woodworking http://www.VillageLaneFurniture.com