On-line guide for hand cut dovetails?

Anyone have a pointer to descriptions for laying out and cutting dovetails by hand?

Reply to
Steven G. Kargl
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first tried dovetails by hand.

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well, I picked up their cheapest dovetail saw, a Japanese thing, for about $CDN 30 and the combination of those two items plus reading up in a few books and online gave me more than enough confidence to try them by hand.

I started out doing a bunch of joints on scrap wood before I tried them in real and went through quite a few before I felt I was ready.

I"m really not very good at most of this stuff but I've made dovetails that I'm satisfied with. I figure if I can do that, just about anyone with patience can as well.

Tanus

Reply to
Tanus

Try this online dovetail template generator

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can print the template, fold over end of wood and cut through it to form the tails.

Reply to
Blocklayer

In a similar thread several months ago, someone mentioned making one's own DT saddle. It's really pretty easy, and the practice one gets in making the angle cuts is useful when the time comes to cut the DTs. Sorry, can't find the link right now, but dags...

Reply to
Australopithecus scobis

Charlie b's got a goodun, in which he restates what he saw watching a Frank Klausz video on dovetails:

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Reply to
Enoch Root

snipped-for-privacy@troutmask.apl.washington.edu (Steven G. Kargl) wrote in news:dud87f $gn7$ snipped-for-privacy@gnus01.u.washington.edu:

Greetings....

I think this page is a good place to start...

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's a collection of dovetail links....hope this helps..

DCH

Reply to
DCH

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If a link to it isn't on his site I'm betting you'll never find it either - even with Google, Alltheweb, dogpile and the rest.

charlie b the guy who put together the stuff at

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Reply to
charlie b

"Steven G. Kargl" wrote

Try my web site - Dovetailing Detailed.

Best of luck!

Jeff G

Reply to
Jeff Gorman

Nnnnnaaaaaaawwww come on. That is soft extruded aluminum, only good for use with a pencil. Check out the Woodjoy markers, hardened steel which is good with marking a knife that has bevel(s) on one side. It's what I'll get when I start.

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Reply to
AAvK

make a cardboard or scrap wood setting template?

Barry

Reply to
Ba r r y

Here's a little calculator to size and space them. Found it in the archives.

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Tom

Reply to
tom

Try this site:

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is about hand cutting dovetails

Reply to
Kc-Mass

Thanks for the links. Now, it's time to read and make some sawdust.

Drive-by-gloat: $44.95 of my hard earned salary went towards a LN Independence Dovetail saw and an Independence Carcass saw.

Reply to
Steven G. Kargl

opaque.

Why is that a problem?

Well, for dovetails to look really nice, there has to be almost perfect symetry or they don't look right. The fit may be perfect - but if their spacing is off, and they don't have to be off by much - your eye will catch it and your brain will register that something's not right.

+-+----+----+-+ Case 1 - Symetric +--+--+-----+-+ Case 2 - Asymetric (not symetric at all)

The easiest way to get symetry is to start out marking the Centers of the PINS or TAILS (depending on if your a PINS First or TAILS First person). It's much easier to work out spacing between centerlines of PINS or TAILS than it is between left side of one/right side of another PIN or TAIL.

Find the center of the board and mark the end you'll be cutting. Do some light pencil lines for ABOUT where you want the centers of the remaining PINS or TAILS. Rember - you're going to start and end with a Half PIN.

When things look about right, use a combi-square, double end square or marking gauge to get the same distance in from the sides of the board to your centerline for each pair of PINS or TAILS.

Now we come to the shortcoming of opaque dovetail marking gauges - THEY'RE OPAQUE. That means that you CAN"T SEE your centerline OR any line behind it that you've already marked.

Ideally, a dovetail marking gauge should

  1. be transparent so you can see what's behind/under it
  2. let you mark the end grain and one side grain face at each set up location (ie - like a saddle square)
  3. have an alignment line or lines, a specific distance from the edge to be marked/scribed, which can be aligned to your centerline layout line (reread that and if it isn't clear yet it should be after you look at the dovetail marking gauge here

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polycarb marking gauge gives you EIGHT, count 'em eight, PIN or TAIL width options. The lines scribed into the polycarb are on both the sides of the polycarb to minimize parallax. Set a scribe line over your centerline and mark your stock at the outer edge of the gauge. Mark BOTH the top and one face - at the same time.

Have a look.

charlie b

Reply to
charlie b

Reply to
AAvK

Seems the owner of the site already gave that link, Blocklayer.

Reply to
AAvK

Parents and in-laws have no idea what to get for X-mas presents. Wife suggested gift certificates. Note, I said only $45 on *my* hard earned money. :-)

Reply to
Steven G. Kargl

We always gotta spend money somehow, ay? I have a sliding T bevel, an old 6" Stanley #18, I can set it on my steel protractor. Problem is the bevel's blade is really thin. The thicker bladed DT square from Woodjoy will help to keep it accurate, and already be set at the perfect angles. I think T bevels are mostly for copying miter angles, though one could be accurately set with that veritas bevel setter. The "why not" thing is, I myself still have to even begin learning all these skills 'after' my bench is built. I am here attempting to learn, getting it all into my head.

Reply to
AAvK

Reply to
AAvK

I wrote:> Here's a little calculator to size and space them. Found it in the

Yep, my bad. But do you see what the archives can do (if you're not paying attention)? Tom

Reply to
tom

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