# KATZ-MOSES DOVETAIL GUIDE



## MAS520 (Jan 18, 2017)

Does anyone have experience with this? Was it with the 8:1 or 6:1? Is one preferable to another? Thanks


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## bndawgs (Oct 21, 2016)

Jay Bates showed them off in one of his latest videos. He seemed to like them.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> Jay Bates showed them off in one of his latest videos. The 8:1 or 6:1 is just the width of the dovetails.
> 
> - Steve


No. You can make them any width you want. Those are the ratios that determine the slope of the tail sides. For the 6:1, that translates to an angle of 9.46º. The 8:1 angle is 7.12º. The greater angle is sometimes recommended for softwood to give extra strength. Either can be used on hardwood and it mostly comes down to what looks good. For thinner boards, the larger angle looks nice, since the joint is more pronounced. You can use any angle you want for dovetails, the ratios are just customary.

Those are similar in function to the David Barron magnetic guides. You can find several of his videos on youtube to get a good look at what they do for you. I'm not recommending one over the other, I just happen to know that David has good videos on their use.

I made my own by cutting a roughly 10º angle on my miter saw and embedding rare earth magnets in the faces. Does the same thing as the commercial guides and cost me maybe $2.

The guide on the left is approximately 6:1 and the one on the right is 90º:


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## bndawgs (Oct 21, 2016)

> Jay Bates showed them off in one of his latest videos. The 8:1 or 6:1 is just the width of the dovetails.
> 
> - Steve
> 
> ...


Sorry, misremembered his comments on the video. edited my response


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## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

I bought an 8:1 and tried it. My results were pretty amateurish. Found that all the sides on the stem had a concave surface. That sort of thru things off. I emailed the company and they replaced it with a new one. The difference was quite amazing. I still haven't had a chance to really put it to good use.


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