LF: Dovetail Saw for Birthday

So far, I recommend using a subcontractor. But, I’m practicing.

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

I have 2 of Lie Nelson the straight and pistol handles. They are worth every penny.

-- WOOD/DON (...one has the right to ones opinion but not the right to ones own facts...)

I have a LV Gent’s saw, and a Freud dovetail saw, love them both. The Freud is better for my fat fingers though. I also have a cheap Marples japanese saw, that I replaced the plastic handle with a padauk/walnut one to fit my hand better. That is a sweet saw to cut dovetails with.

Tough to advise what I think is best. Try a few and pick your fave.

-- The only easy wood project is a fire

Zuki,

I would still say I prefer my 23$ dozuki saw. This saw cuts very aggressively and is light (easy on the hand). The fact that the kerf is tiny, adds to the charm. I would like to own a LN for dovetails on pieces wider than 1/2” since the small dozuki bends in the cut on wider wood.

I wold strongly advise against using any jig for aiding in cutting dovetails. While things will look better at the beginning, you will never learn to cut dovetails efficiently. To cut down the time I do not even put pencil marks on the piece, let alone setting up a jig for every step.

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

I use a Garlick and Sons Gents saw for the thinner boards, and a regular backsaw for thick stock (ie for work benches, etc). Retoothing the backsaw to about 15TPI and putting a rip profile on it made it a good saw. I have a regular handle Crown that has potential but came with too coarse a kerf and a poor sharpening job, so after I tune it up it may be good. “Out of the box” I consider it unusable for fine work, and the teeth dulled quickly in white oak. The Garlick and sons is a good cutting saw “out of the box” but also does not hold up well to really hard woods. Both the Garlick and the Crown are 20 TPI, which is pushing the limit for my resharpening with the files I now have on hand.

Go

-- Go http://ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=730

I prefer the Lie Nielsen dovetail saw. I’d rather push than pull.

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

My western dovetail saw is an Adria. It currently runs about $130, though I think it was just about $100 when I bought mine…

My Eastern dovetail saw is a Dozuki “Z” saw.

In all honesty, however, neither has been used much for cutting dovetails, but I do use them for other purposes. All things said and done, I prefer the “Z”, which I find to be an interesting statement… It cost me about 1/3 as much.

-- Ethan, http://www.merganserwoodworks.com, http://greystonegreen.blogspot.com/

I have a dozuki, too. It would be my preference. As I recall I paid about $40.00.

-- Maplewood, MN

I have my eye on the Lie Nielsen, but I have to wait till May to get mine. You know the Gramercy tools dovetail saw got a good reviiew in fine woodworking. Check out toolsforworkingwood.com

I have actually placed my order with DW. She is getting me one of these from LV

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=32929&cat=1

And some other LV stuff :-)

-- The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them