Tablesaw dovetails

[Leigh Betsch]

Anyone ever use the Forrest dovetail sawblade and cut dovetails on thier tablesaw? Seems to me if you use a dovetail blade on a table saw and an Incra fence it would be a very good way to cut thru dovetails.

[Chip Lindley]

... a very good way to cut thru dovetails.

No, Never used this method for thru-dovetails! Router with Dovetail Bit (when guided securely) seems like a much simple solution to me!

Even though the Forrest *dovetail grind* blade reportedly leaves a flat bottom when at a pre-determined angle, multiple cuts (left and right) would have to be taken to clean up the bottom and make it Flat, once cheeks are cut to exact width.

Your method seems expensive (specialty blade), and very labor-intensive, with *iffy* precision, when the workpiece must be flipped end-for-end to cut left/right cheeks. AND, a sawblade cannot cut stopped through-dovetails, only end-to-end through dovetails.

[Phil Thien]

Not sure what Forrest blade you're speaking of. Have a link?

[Jamie Buxton]

The tablesaw approach does offer the possibility of narrow pins -- much narrower than can be achieved with a router bit. However, considering that you're going to have to chop out the waste between the saw cuts, you might could make the cuts with a standard blade, and use the chisel to clean up the tip of the cut at the same time.

[Julian Nicks]

I've got the solution. A couple chisels, and a backsaw. Done deal.....No electrons need to be harmed in this simple process, and the pins can be any size you can imagine.

[Jamie Buxton]

Not sure what Forrest blade you're speaking of. Have a link?

It is a version of the Woodworker II. http://www.forrestblades.com/woodworker_2.htm#custom down near the bottom of the page.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Leigh, FWW mag did a story on that several years ago. They did not use an Incra, IIRK, but at the time, I thought it looked like a really good quick way to make accurate dovetails. The author just used a miter gauge with a sacrifical fence attached. Time flies, that story may have come out 7 or 8 years ago? I always wanted to try it, but haven't got around to it yet. Let us know how it works?

[jerry nazard]

I used to use the tablesaw quite a bit for dovetails, but long ago changed to something faster. If you must involve a machine in the dovetail process, I have found that the bandsaw is your friend.

[Leigh Betsch]

Well, I already have the Incra fence on my router table, and use it for dovetails now. The only thing I don't like is that the 90* slide that attaches to the fence is not as precise as I would like and it causes some wobbling when I slide it thru the bit to make the cut, and I have to be careful not to get chip out with the router bit. So with a dead accurate MM slider in the shop (no wobble) and a Incra fence on the router table and a pair of WWII's (no chip out) hanging on a hook, one needing to be resharpened, I got to thinking that if I mount the Incra on the slider and have one of the WWII's resharpened with a dovetail grind I might wind up with a better dovetail process than the router set up I now have. I do see that one disadvantage of the table saw set up is that it would require four precise setups and cuts, one for each side of the pin and tail. Accuracy with the router set up is pretty much locked in when you use the Incra templates and indexing system. Maybe I'll give it a try on box joints first since I can pretty much do that anytime without regrinding a WWII to a dovetail cut.

[jerry nazard]

Leigh,

Are you designing a production run setup, or a shop system for "everyday" dovetails?

-Jerry

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

It is easy.
You need two custom ground blades.
The custom grind will allow you to cant the blades off at some pre-determined angle ( the angle of your DT) and also give you a flat bottomed cut.

I see no reason why you can't make your own blades if you are wiling to hand file a couple of old school all steel blades. The problem will be finding a ten or so inch blade that is also not carbide tipped. If it's carbide you'll have to pay a grinder to do it.

And you don't need any factory jug. Hell you can do it to your own scribe lines just like if you were hand cutting 'em. Or you can make a rig similar to one you'd make for Finger joints.

[Doug Shepard]

Here's a link to the FWW Steve Latta article,
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=2748

[jerry nazard]

[QUOTE=Cliff Rohrabacher;1124013]It is easy.
You need two custom ground blades.

Why two blades?

[Leigh Betsch]

Just another twist on everyday dovetails.

[Leigh Betsch]

I'm thinking one blade also. Just flip the stock for the "other" side. Am I missing something?

[jerry nazard]

Just another twist on everyday dovetails.

OK. I see where you are coming from. I used to use the tablesaw quite a bit, but now usually go to the bandsaw if I'm going to use a machine. Using the tablesae, if you are chiseling waste, a beveled blade is not absolutely necessary, but if I had one, I'd use it.

If you do purchase a beveled Forest blade, please post a report. I am getting to the point (and age) that the finished joint is more important to me than the method used to cut it. I'm not saying no to hand cut dovetails, just not all the time.

-Jerry

[Leigh Betsch]

I went and one it. Ordered a new Forrest WWII with a 11.5* dovetail grind. I'll start to mount the Incra on the TS tonight. This may not be the smartest thing but I done but I just have to give it a go. Any thoughts on the 11.5*? I could have orderes 7,9 or probably any other angle.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Leigh, I personally like the higher angle look. When I just lay them out without a gauge, I think they always error to >9 degrees. I guess if you want to do some of those really skinny tails (I think those look silly), 11.5 may be a bit much?

You wouldn't be building drawers for a nice cherry dresser by any chance would you?

[Leigh Betsch]

More like procrastinating building the cherry drawers. Gotta get the Incra mounted to the MM saw first ya know! I cut a few trial joints with my TS tonight and a square blade just to check the angles. I think 11.5 looks about right to me. I tried a couple of hand cut dovetails. Forget that, God made electricity for people like me.

[Leigh Betsch]

Ok I tried cutting dovetails on my table saw and I don't like it. I bought a thin kerf WWII dovetail grind, spent a week building a jig to move my Incra fence from my router table to my MiniMax table saw, and farted around another week trying to come up with a workable process. Well I can cut excellent tails, super smooth cut, accurate spacing, and not too complicated. But to cut the pins I have to change to a dado blade, angle jig to cut one side then angle the jig the other way to cut the other side. Each time I angle the jig I have to re-reference. And then I have to remove the waste between the cuts with the band saw or chisel. So it's just to much screwing around. My goal was to gain the benefits of the MM slider, WWII cut, smooth cut and Incra accuracy. In the end I didn't achieve any of these goals. The slider is a pain cause the wagon is in the way of being able to see the cut line, the WWI gives a great cut but I still have to use a dado blade and a chisel on the pins, and the accuracy of the Incra is lost by having to re-reference for each side of the pin cuts.
But not all is lost, I do like the system for nice tail cuts, I can use the WWII as a normal blade and eventually have the dovetail angle ground off and I wanted to mount my Incra fence to the MM anyway for thin ripping with the slider. But now I'm going to search a bit or post another question about using a band saw for dovetails......