Question on a technique mentioned in The Essential Woodworker

[jason thigpen]

I received quite a few books from Lost Art Press for Christmas (had to sneak in a stealth gloat!). Right now I'm in the middle of The Essential Woodworker. I'm reading the section on dovetailing a carcass and came across something I haven't heard of. On page 140, it discusses using a chisel to clean out the waste between tails. The book mentions how accuracy can be guaranteed by clamping a block along the gauge line, which is a technique that I use frequently. Here is where my question comes in. It talks about making a permanent aid for this purpose by gluing a piece of fine glasspaper set in slightly from the edges, as demonstrated in figure 275. For the life of me, I can't figure out what they are talking about by just looking at the figure. Can anyone provide any clarification on this? I'm stumped.

[Bill Houghton]

Haven't read this book/seen the illustration, but the author is probably talking about gluing sandpaper (glasspaper being an older British term, so called because at one time, ground glass was used for making "sandpaper") to the surface of the guide block that will be touching the work/on the bottom. This would discourage slipping as you clamp it in place.

[jason thigpen]

That sounds spot on, Bill! Thanks for the explanation. Looking back at the illustration now, I can see how that makes sense. This book does use a lot of older terminology. Everything is "cramped" instead of "clamped"! It has been a great read so far.

[Mel Fulks]

Jason,sounds like you are reading something written in England. You might come across a reccomendation to use "paraffin" on your sharpening stones,over there "paraffin" is kerosene !

[Bill Houghton]

This book does use a lot of older terminology. Everything is "cramped" instead of "clamped"!

Not so much older as a different dialect. To quote George Bernard Shaw, "The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language." Once you get used to the differences in vocabulary, occasionally sentence structure, and also occasionally humor, the British books are very worthwhile reading, often containing techniques you won't find in American books.

[ian maybury]

Another book i like a lot that covers that technique ('paring dovetails') and sets out some designs for a very carefully thought out jig for this job is 'Cutting Edge Cabinet Making' by an English maker named Robert Ingham. He was principal of Parnham College in the UK, and is well known for his precision work on very fine cabinets and boxes. He also offers some designs for 'transfer jigs' to help with accurately marking pins from tails and vice versa too - they prevent any possibility of slippage while marking through. His work is incredibly accurate....

There's photos of the jigs in use, drawings and descriptions - all in what is a whole chapter on dovetail joints and jigs. The book is published by the UK Guild of master Craftsmen. ISBN 978-1-86108-518-4

ian

[Jeff Zens]

Glasspaper is indeed the British term for sandpaper. Here is another small hint (although not from this excellent book) that will help you if you use the guide block technique. Take a sharp plane iron, and set the edge in your gauge line, with the bevel facing you. Butt your guide block up tight against the back of the plane iron, and clamp the block in place. If the face of the guide block is at a true right angle to the bottom of the block, you have positioned the guide directly over the center of the gauge line, and eliminated any parallax in your placement.

Happy dovetailing!

[Jim Matthews]

Did you also receive Jim Tolpin's update along the same lines?

The New Traditional woodworker incorporates many of Wearing's methods,
with a no-nonsense approach that doesn't use a great number of tools.

Pay close attention to marking with a knife, and using that to guide all crosscuts.
That alone was a revelation to me. So simple, rarely mentioned and amazing in effect.

[jason thigpen]

I like the idea of using the plane iron in the knife line. Seems like it would be more accurate than using a chisel due to the wider surface.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

The times I've used a paring block like that, that's what I've used to line it up, and old blade from my #7 jointer in the knife line to line up the block. I don't frequently use the block for paring, but it helps sometimes for lining up the pieces to transfer marks when things are being finicky.

I think I first heard the plane-blade-in-the-knife-line-to-line-up-the-block thing from Kari Hultman's blog.

[Derek Cohen]

I would not recommend a fence these days, although I did build a couple of jigs to do the fence thing some years ago. It is better, and simpler, to chisel a fence than add a fence.

Link to article ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/DovetailBaselines.html

Jig ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/AJigforParingDovetailBaselines.html

Regards from Perth (currently Manhattan)

Derek

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

The "chisel a fence" technique in Derek's first link is what I do these days (probably after reading Derek's site, although I can't be certain) after I realized that I really only care about the bottom of the socket being perfect as far as I might go when smoothing the surfaces down. (Wouldn't want to undercut the joint too close to the surface and then have a gap open up if you smooth down the sides of a drawer box to make the fit a little better) It's worked quite well for me, and something about having that little bit notched out seems to make guiding my coping saw easier if I saw out the waste. Maybe the saw is just wanting to pass through the path of least resistance, or maybe it's just giving me a better visual indicator to follow. I get close enough to the line now that it's usually just one or two or maybe three paring passes with the chisel to clean up the bottom of my sockets.