Dovetail saw - rip? crosscut??

[Bill Keppel]

I am looking to purchase a dovetail saw and noted that some are just identifed as dovetail saws, but found some listed as rip or cross cut. I would think that all dovetail saws would be rip; am I wrong? Before I purchase I would like to be clear bout the proper type of saw to purchase. Thanks!

[Alan Jones]

Definitly rip,crosscuts for some reason are available but will not do the job as efficiantly

[Jim Koepke]

Alan is correct.
The only place one would cross cut on dove tails is to cut the waste off the end of the piece with the tails.

jim

[Ryan Baker]

I expect that is because many dovetail saws are never used to cut dovetails, but are just a small saw for general use. It seems like most of the un-labelled ones I have seen are actually cross-cut.

[Keith Christopher]

With the fine tpi on most 'rip' dovetail saws it's pointless to bother with a CC dovetail saw.

[Bill Keppel]

Thanks for info!! Just as I suspected, but wanted to confirm.

[Auguste Gusteau]

Definitly rip

"Cutting dovetail pins and tails is primarily a ripping operation.".

This is what we read on all modern books, magazines and gurus blogs.

But, are we sure that this is so?

In dovetail joint you will find three kind of cut:
rip cut for the pins;
oblique cut for the tails;
and cross cut for the shoulders (the mortise for half pins).

So, theoretically, we need two saws, because only half of the cuts need a rip filed saw. For the other half would be better a cross cut filed saw.

In practice, however, I think that one is enough.

Well, guess which kind of teeth shape that, although more slowly (is the harry so important in amanuensis woodworking?) , is able to perfectly cut acros and along the grain?


Auguste who apologizes for his bad English

[Bill Keppel]

Auguste,

Thanks for your reply...good info and your English was fine. Appreciate your help.

[Richard Magbanua]

Bill, do you have particular saws in mind?

[Sean Hughto]

The only time I have seen saws advertised for dovetailing that were cross cut, was japanese dozukis. You can use cross cut to cut with the grain but it's not optimal. Even dozukis are offered in rip, and having tried both, the rip is much better for dovetails. I mean you can cut dovetails with a hacksaw, but if you are looking to cut them efficiently and pleasantly, buy a small backsaw filed rip.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/2942703239_f58725f808.jpg

[Joel Moskowitz]

The only place in dovetailing where a xcut saw might be useful is cutting the ends on the tails.

However even the best xcut saw won't leave a clean shoulder line and standard practice for better work is to either deeply score or chisel the shoulder line and then cut the waste roughly and pare to the line. And while a rip saw won't xcut particularly cleanly on the ends - since you are creating the clean shoulder using other methods it doesn't matter and the rip saw will work fine.

[Pam Niedermayer]

I've used both rip (Kaneharu dovetail) and non-rip (LV Pro dozuki, LN straight handle dovetail) saws. All of them work equally fast, as in very. The Kaneharu seems to leave slightly cleaner cuts, but really no better or faster. Fact is that cutting dovetails is a minor sawing job, not like resawing. So there you go.

Pam