Dovetail progress

[Phil Mueller]

Thanks to all for the tips on sawing, dovetailing, and pointers from build threads. I think I'm finally making some decent progress on dovetails...not perfect, but getting there. The left was attempt #2 or 3. The right is about #20.

332964

I'm in the process of making a low profile 3 drawer unit for plane storage. Only 11 more dovetails to go!

[Sean Troy]

Nice. I plan on learning hand cut dovetails in the near future. Few other things to do first. I need to set a lot of practice time aside.

[Brian Holcombe]

Nice work Phil! Great progress.

[Robert Engel]

Its very rewarding to know one's skill level is rising.

Are you using a pencil to mark them? Just remember leave ALL the line.

[Jim Koepke]

The progress is looking good.

One of my epiphanies was to cut the back dovetails first. The warm up helps before cutting the ones someone will see.

jtk

[Phil Mueller]

I mark with a knife and then highlight with a .5 mechanical pencil.
Jim, doing the back ones first is a great suggestion...thanks.

If I've learned one thing, it's to go slow. The videos of Rob and others doing dovetails in less than 3 min is fun to watch, but not reality for me.

[Brian Holcombe]

Do it without the pencil when you transfer marks. I layout with a pencil for tails and marking gauge to mark my baseline. Then transfer with the knife. The pencil will do you a disservice there as it will add a chance to second guess your line.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Do they hold well? If so, then good job! :D

You want to improve them? Here are some things to do for practice.



Mark a bunch of vertical lines on a board. I prefer to use a knife, but, use whatever.
Cut a bunch on the left side of the line
Cut a bunch on the right side of the line
cut a bunch that split the line.


You will want to make sure that these cuts are perpendicular to the board. So, if the line is on both sides of the board, you want it on the same place on the front as the back. In your dovetails, you can check to see if the cut is perpendicular.

This seems to me to be one of the hardest things; cutting exactly where you want to. If you can't, then you will not do a good job with dovetails unless you spend time paring to the line after the fact.

Other items I won't discuss here:



removing the waste
transfer your marks
Knowing exactly where to cut after you transferred your marks.
Paring to fit (if you are not rob cosman who can go from saw-cut to assembly in one shot.
Fixing gaps and mistakes after the fact (if it is important enough to do so).


Keep cutting, that is how you improve

Now, be sure to show us your next dovetails...

[Chris Hachet]

Nice work...

[David Eisenhauer]

Looking very good Phil. I improved when I started checking for completely square cuts with a square. Hopefully, my hands/arms/body is learning where "square" is.