Hand Tools doings #3: My first dovetails - warning - kind of ugly

I’ve never hand cut a dovetail but might just give it a try one of these days. I think you did fine for a first attempt and you definitely learned a few things now about hand cutting dovetails.

-- Paul D, Atlanta GA

You’ve gotten further than me… I have not yet tried hand cutting dovetails.

-- Chris

Paul and Chris – you should give it a try. It’s one of those things that when you finally are on the right path is pretty neat. And it’s not a bad way to spend an afternoon twiddling in the shop.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Betsy,

I am glad to see that you are making progress. I have been working on these off and on (but mostly off) for the past two or three weeks (time flies when we are having fun) and I can honestly say yours are much better than mine. Maybe Gary was right when he said that with practice your technique will improve. It seems to be working for you.

Maybe I will go in and try another set tonight after finishing these posts.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Betsy,

Unfortunately, your pins are up-side-down, you need it to lock into the tails, other than that, looks like a good start.

-- Thuan

Thuan——- YOU WIN!!!! This was a test of the emergency dovetail warning system. :-)

Knew something was wrong. Paring is not going to help that. Now all you other guys should not feel so bad.

I’m laughing at myself. Geez I thought I at least had the concept.

Thanks for being honest with me Thuan.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

ya dovetails are really hard to cut. i often have trouble with them in all my attempts too. i guess that the only way to get better is practice. keep up the good work and keep us posted on your progress.

Wait – now I’m confused. Isn’t the pin supposed to be bigger on the bottom and smaller on top and the tail bigger on the top and smaller on the bottom?

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Thuan is correct. look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Joinery-throughdovetail.gif

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Thanks. Guess it’s back to the shop to try again.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Regardless of which way they are supposed to go, you did a darned good job on your first try – especially considering it looks like oak – oak is pretty hard and unforgiving when it comes to paring and the like. Try some in poplar, or cherry – you’ll be surprised at the difference.

-- "No Board Left Behind"

Thanks Lakey. I obviously missed out on a point to two. Trying to learn on m own is tough. I’m a visual, you show me, I can do it, type of learner. I’ll be glad when my vacation comes and I can get to my hand tools class in Kentucky. Maybe I will learn something to turn on the light bulb.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

I had the same results. Part of the problem is I don’t have the right tools. I was useing a hack saw, and a dull chisle. lol. This is one skill I belive will be very hard to learn for me. I am not good with the hand cut dovetails. I always screw something up amd make it look terable. I am going to get some nicer chsles and that might change the results. Good luck. May post what my dovetail attempt looked like.

-- Tyler, Illinois

Betsy, I think there are two rites of passage for every Dovetail Cutter: doing their first one, and posting pictures of it. So well done, you’ve passed through the gauntlet.

-- Eric at http://adventuresinwoodworking.com

Betsy,

Just saw this. Bravo on your first set of dovetails – it’s the first step in trying that’s a doozie!

With that said, I believe that Thuan is correct. At first I could not tell whether I was looking at the pin or tail end of the board in the photos. The tail cuts across the thickness of the board should be straight across. Only the pins are angles across the thickness.

Without getting into any religious wars over which is right to cut first, I’m interested in what you cut first? I have done both and I seem to get better results when I do tails first (that’s also the way I first taught myself to do them). I think that it may be easier, visually to see the tails when you mark them on the board and then mark and cut the pins from them. However, there are other advantages & drawbacks to each method. I am just kind of a visual learner and when I can “see” the tails, I can visualize the joint.

I recently blogged about dovetailing the drawer onthe table I’m making. While it was not meant to be a complete tutorial, it might benefit you to see the basics of how I went about it.

One other thing. If you scale your pins (i.e. the space between the tails when you marke the tails out) to be smaller it will look much better and it will also scream hand cut because there are no router bits than can cut pins as small as those available by hand. Above all else, keep practicing and you will get better!

-- Mark, Webster New York, Visit my website at http://thecraftsmanspath.com

Well done Betsy, a good post, you have generated a lot of comments and a LOT of enthusiasm (esp in me) I have always shyed away from tryiing, but you know what, I’m going to give it a go.

Thanks again

-- Keep your tools sharp, your mind sharper and the coffee hot

I see you are using oak for your first dovetails. I suggest using a “softer” wood to learn on. I practice with poplar, it’s a “softer” hardwood. It’s easy to cut and it doesn’t cost too much.

-- Mike - http://inquisitivewoodworker.blogspot.com/

Thanks everyone for your encouragement. I’m going to try again today to see if I can get this “right.” I think I’ve got it worked out in my head, but that’s a few inches from my hands – so we’ll see.

Mark – I cut the pins first and then the tails. I’m going to try the other was around and see what that does for me to. I’ll have to check out your drawer and see if that helps me to.

Albert – that’s always a confusing point for me to. But since I’ve been trying to cut them, I can see the difference in them. But not sure I can describe it well.

Well, back to the shop. I will post my next attempt. Wish me luck!

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Beautious!

-- Check out my new website! http://www.theeasellife.com

Good attempt but the pins are upside down

-- A. Molloy

The only way I can remember which is pins and which is tails. Is this

You put a half pin on each side of the board. So the one that has wood on the outside is the pin board. They are cut straight up and down and angled to the back side of the board.

Great first try Betsy. I haven’t started my first yet, but I did buy a dovetail saw.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com