Dove Tail Question

[Johnnyy Johnson]

I have seen many pictures and Youtubes on dove tails. They all have the scribed line at the wide end. Why is care not taken to prevent this line from showing? I think is to stop the wood from splintering, but why does it show between the tails?

[Terry Beadle]

The scribe lines are optionally kept. Most hand cut dovetailer's keep the scribe lines as they are an indicator of the care and craftsmanship taken by the creator. If you plan carefully and make the sides lightly proud of the front and back on through dovetail drawers ( for example ), then you can easily plane the scribe lines from the sides of the drawers as you fit the drawer to the carcass.

David Charlesworth recommends a knife bladed marking gauge. You can set this kind of marking gauge to a very fine scribe line indeed. In dovetailing, you also have to mark the sides of two of the boards in a box, so marking lines will show on them until you cut them and then pare with a chisel to them.

An old school famous craftsman named Jim Kingshott would skip the areas where scribe lines were not needed but this is not normally done except in exceptional pieces that the additional man hours is put in. It's not much, but it can make a difference if you don't mark long enough tail ends and have to remark etc.

I say, keep the scribe lines. They prove you didn't use some machined jig.

Happy shavings !

[Chris Padilla]

Cut the pins first. ;)