# Dovetail practice wood



## tas121790 (Sep 19, 2010)

I took a woodworking class at a community college and the only wood we had to use for dovetails was warped construction pine from menards. It would frequently split and break and i was wonder if there was a better wood to use for practice that was reasonably priced whether it was hardwood or another variety/grade of pine doesn't matter. I also understand that the first time making dovetails isnt going to turn out well, i just want a medium that allows good results and allows skill improvement.


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## barryvabeach (Jan 25, 2010)

+1 on Poplar. Pine is just too soft and crumbles easily, poplar is a dream in comparison.


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## Cosmicsniper (Oct 2, 2009)

+2 on Poplar.


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## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

Poplar again… Pine is a BAD lumber to use for dovetails. I have tried, repeatedly, without success, to cut clean dovetails in pine. It blows out worse than cutting DTs in plywood….


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

I would go down to your local lumberyard and see if they have some PC Maple, I get it for 1.40 a BF. If you have a lumber yard near you go check it out and see what they have.


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## Lumber2Sawdust (Jul 22, 2010)

I was in a class with Rob Cosman in December. He actually makes everyone start cutting dovetails with pine when he teaches a dovetail class. The biggest reason he does that is because pine is soft and will show your mistakes (if you are practicing, you WANT to see mistakes). One of the bad habits people develop is to lever the chisel against the board when chopping out waste. The result is rounding over the edges of the join, making it look sloppy. Similarly, if you are blowing out the board when chopping dovetails your technique needs some work.

If you have the tools to do it, make sure your boards are flat, wherever you get them from.

Poplar would be a good second choice, but I would recommend whichever is cheaper.

good luck


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

The pine should not have been quite that bad. It must have been salvaged from beatles or fire??


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## tas121790 (Sep 19, 2010)

"Similarly, if you are blowing out the board when chopping dovetails your technique needs some work." 
This certainly doesn't surprise me, we spent all of 4 hours learning about dovetails, never once learned about proper chisel technique (or sawing for that matter). Half way thought the semester i concluded that im going to have to just sart reading up and teaching my self.

Thanks for the replies.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

That is a good point. A dull chisel will blow pine to smitherines.


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