I've been hand cutting dovetails today with the LV dovetail guide i got for christmas . The LV dovetail saw and guide (
formatting link
) are simply great. I've prefered to hand cut dovetails for some time cuz setting up the router and jig to do it can be a real PITA. This jig (and a good set of sharp chisels) made it much easier and more accurate than before. In fact, I dare say now i can hand cut the dovetails for a couple of drawers faster than with a router and jig, taking into account the time it takes to set the router up (although if i had many drawers to do, i'd set up the router jig). For me, the learning curve consisted of making a mark on the jig for which side to use for the pins, and which side to use for the tails. After that, i only had to make sure the teeth on the saw were pointed toward the wood before i started making the cut ;) I also got the LV sharpening jig and angle finder which i used to scary sharp my chisels before cutting the dovetails. My hand planes are scary sharp now as well. Don't know why i went so long without one of these, they are simply EXCELLENT. As some others mentioned, i too got the cabinet scraper 101 kit. To date, i've been burnishing mine with an old push rod So far, I've had a little difficulty in determining how hard and how many strokes to make with the burnisher for a good burr, but have narrowed it down and have gotten a good burr on a couple of them. I haven't spent a great deal of time messing with it yet, but the goal for tomorrow is to refine the methods until they work better. Any info would be appreciated. TIA --dave