first successful dovetail

[Brandon Speaks]

So while I feel I have been gaining proficiency in a number of skills, dovetails seemed to allude me. Not that I have done a bunch but I have probably done 10-12 corners with really cruddy results, to tight in some spots, gappy in others. What drove me nuts it that in general I think I am decent at sawing, this just was not working though.

This morning I watched Frank Klausz's video on you tube though and decided to try pins first. This was first shot with no marking other than the baseline and done in less than 10 minutes. Think I can work with this and start building the skill. For some reason this method feels 100 times more intuitive than tails first that I had been trying. The baseline needs a bit of clean up for final fit, but this is not bad for right off the saw and no pairing (given that it is my first try at this method anyway).

http://i63.tinypic.com/acxzwk.jpg

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Brandon, those look better than many of my early dovetails.

Pins first or tails first, which ever works best for you is the best way.

One thing that may improve your dovetails is to make the base line just a hair further from the edge than the thickness of the mating piece. This will cause the pins and tails to be proud a hair. It is easy to plane or pare this down to a smooth surface.

In some cases it actually can enhance the looks of a piece to have the tails and/or pins left proud by 1/16" or more and rounded over. It can add a tactile feel to a piece.

jtk

[Brandon Speaks]

I totally agree with that. In this case I had been planing my stock smooth on the earlier attempts and my gauge was set for that, on this one it was purely an experiment I didn't think would work so I didn't bother. Also there was still a tiny bit of a belly on these from chopping which made it more apparent.

Working on a box now which I believe will have them proud just a touch.

I have been saying for awhile that I want to take a focused weekend and learn dovetails well, just never really committed to it. This week I had to put my dog down, he was my best hunting dog, the first dog I got myself as an adult, and the only dog left that I got before I was married. I really want to make his urn myself, I could always turn it, but a dovetail box feels like the right answer. My goal now it to knock out a box or two a day for practice for the next week. By next weekend I want to be able to make the urn. I have some maple, cherry, and wallnut that was locally logged and milled not far from one of our hunting spots and will use some combination of that.

[Jim Koepke]

Sorry for your loss.

Our animal friends often mean more to us than some of our human friends.

We recently lost a cat that adopted us. He was our friend for a good 25 years, which is pretty long for a cat.

jtk

[Mike Brady]

So while I feel I have been gaining proficiency in a number of skills, dovetails seemed to allude me. Not that I have done a bunch but I have probably done 10-12 corners with really cruddy results, to tight in some spots, gappy in others. What drove me nuts it that in general I think I am decent at sawing, this just was not working though.

This morning I watched Frank Klausz's video on you tube though and decided to try pins first. This was first shot with no marking other than the baseline and done in less than 10 minutes. Think I can work with this and start building the skill. For some reason this method feels 100 times more intuitive than tails first that I had been trying. The baseline needs a bit of clean up for final fit, but this is not bad for right off the saw and no pairing (given that it is my first try at this method anyway).

http://i63.tinypic.com/acxzwk.jpg
Seconding Jim's comments: Your sawing seems good, but more care with layout and marking will make a big difference. You can see that when tracing the tails onto the pin board you probably had a shift that caused the layout to be off slightly. You can avoid that happening by clamping the pin board in your vise and then using a hold fast to secure the tail board exactly where you need it to trace the tails onto the pin board end grain. This frees up both hands for that job. A really good start! Practice, practice, practice.

[Andrew Seemann]

It is hard to put a dog down, the wife and I had to do that with our first dog in January. It was the right decision, just a very difficult one.

I do like Frank's video on dovetails as well. It is good to get the perspective of someone who did it for a living in basically a production shop. Sometimes I think some of the other videos out there are done by people who want to do things the most most complicated way possible. I ran a across a quote somewhere that basically said "while the hobbyist delights in time taken and processes multiplied, the professional just wants to be able to eat and make the rent." I like how Frank says "If you are going to make a good living at this, you have to be fast, not just do good work".

[Jim Koepke]

You can see that when tracing the tails onto the pin board you probably had a shift that caused the layout to be off slightly. You can avoid that happening by clamping the pin board in your vise and then using a hold fast to secure the tail board exactly where you need it to trace the tails onto the pin board end grain.

Mike, that is all well and good, but it seems you may have missed part of Brandon's post:


This morning I watched Frank Klausz's video on you tube though and decided to try pins first. This was first shot with no marking other than the baseline and done in less than 10 minutes. Think I can work with this and start building the skill. For some reason this method feels 100 times more intuitive than tails first that I had been trying.

Though having things clamped in place when working pins first is also a good idea.

jtk

[Marshall Harrison]

Congrats. You never forget your first hand cut dove tails.

Back on Badger Pond I met woodworker whose wife ran a Bed and Breakfast outside of Hiawassee Ga. My family spent two weeks in a log cabin they had on the property back in '98 or '99. I spent a lot of time with him in his workshop and he taught me how to hand cut dovetails. I remember going with him to a lumber yard and buying some wood to bring back with me. I wish I could remember his name. Maybe if he came over to SMC like a lot of us did and he reads this he will speak up.

[John Redford]

Nice job. They get easier each time.

[Steve Kaminska]

First let me say I have yet to cut a dovetail joint I feel worthy of posting to this forum...

Second, I have found that the board needs to be as square, flat, and parallel as you can get it before beginning the joinery.

Your posted dovetails look a lot like mine, where I determined the board to be "close enough" rather than "yep that's square."

Third, condolences. My wife and I recently had to put down a cat that we got together when we started dating. He would have been 20 this August. I'm not a cat lover, but there was an abnormal amount of sawdust in the air that day. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Jim Koepke]

First let me say I have yet to cut a dovetail joint I feel worthy of posting to this forum...

Don't be shy, some of mine were posted looking like smiling a gap toothed kid.

jtk