Dovetail Issue/Fretsaw Question...

[Joe Leigh]

I have been practicing my handcut dovetails and I have a problem/question concerning an issue I have been noticing. In chopping out the waste for the tails on my pin board, in setting the chisel in the scribed marking gauge line, the bevel wants to push the chisel line back, making the tail socket deeper than the scribed line and leaving a gap when the tail board is fitted.

Would fret sawing the bulk of the waste alleviate this problem? Would that help cause less force back against the marking gauge line? Am I simply using too much force in my initial chop? Is this a common occurance?

[Charles Bjorgen]

When chopping out the waste, make your first cuts away from the scored line. My first efforts were just like yours. I found the following tutorial very helpful:
http://www.mikes-woodwork.com/ThroughDovetails.htm

[Chris Griggs]

Yes, cutting out the waste with a fret or coping saw will help but it will not eliminate the issue.

You can either do what Charles suggested or you can chop right in the line but your first couple chops/pares need to be light. Once the shoulder is established a bit so it can support the chisel you can use a bit more force, but if you chop to hard the chisel will always want to push back. If you pay attention to the chisel/line when this is happening you should be able see when it starts to get driven back.

I typically remove the bulk of the waste with a coping saw and then chop directly in the line. Making those initial light chops with corresponding light pares to create a decent size v-notch with a decent sized shoulder really helps.

If you have a subscription to FWW online look up Gary Rogowski's "dovetail doctor" video. He does a very nice demonstration of this.

[Derek Cohen]

I have been practicing my handcut dovetails and I have a problem/question concerning an issue I have been noticing. In chopping out the waste for the tails on my pin board, in setting the chisel in the scribed marking gauge line, the bevel wants to push the chisel line back, making the tail socket deeper than the scribed line and leaving a gap when the tail board is fitted.

Would fret sawing the bulk of the waste alleviate this problem? Would that help cause less force back against the marking gauge line? Am I simply using too much force in my initial chop? Is this a common occurance?

Hi Joe

I have an article on dovetail baselines and how to saw/pare to them: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/DovetailBaselines.html

The important strategy is to undercut the baseline before final paring ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/DovetailBaselines_html_m712ec708.jpg

This will ensure that you do not push them back ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/DovetailBaselines_html_m65f9e5ef.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Chris Griggs]

Hi Joe

The important strategy is to undercut the baseline before final paring ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/DovetailBaselines_html_m712ec708.jpg

This will ensure that you do not push them back ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/DovetailBaselines_html_m65f9e5ef.jpg



Yeah that! Derek's pics/article explain it way better than I did!

[Adam Cruea]

Yes, cutting out the waste with a fret or coping saw will help but it will not eliminate the issue.

You can either do what Charles suggested or you can chop right in the line but your first couple chops/pares need to be light. Once the shoulder is established a bit so it can support the chisel you can use a bit more force, but if you chop to hard the chisel will always want to push back. If you pay attention to the chisel/line when this is happening you should be able see when it starts to get driven back.

This is what I do. I scribe the line, lightly thunk the chisels to establish the baseline with the chisel tilted away from me so that if I do hit too hard (maybe the wood is softer than I'm expecting), it won't push back the scribe line back. Once I'm about 2 or 3 "thunks" in, then I start going to town smashing out the waste.

[Joe Leigh]

Thanks for the quick responses guys, some very helpful ideas. Nice tutorial Derek, looks like you use a fretsaw to eliminate the bulk of the waste first.

[Mike Henderson]

When chopping out the waste, make your first cuts away from the scored line. My first efforts were just like yours. I found the following tutorial very helpful:
http://www.mikes-woodwork.com/ThroughDovetails.htm
Thanks for the plug.

Mike

[Charles Bjorgen]

I'm just starting out on dovetailing and ran into this problem immediately. Someone else here probably posted your link and thought I'd pass it along. I'm still trying to figure out your system of using dividers to do the setup but I think I now understand.



Thanks for the plug.

Mike