Dovetail Tablesaw Blade

[Howard gorm]

I was thinking of getting one. What brand blades do you use and is there anything particularly tricky about using them? Thanks

[Mark e Kessler]

I have a ridge carbide ground to 14 deg. Nothing tricky at all about using them,

[Edwin Santos]

I have the Ridge Carbide ground to 9.5 degrees. I use it on a tablesaw sled I made for cutting dadoes, which means the kerf in the sled is large enough to accommodate the blade tilt.

The RC is an excellent blade. Forrest makes dovetail blades too.
But if you wanted to save some money AND if you have a good local saw sharpener, they should be able to take any rip blade and grind it for you to your specified tilt and angle.

[Charles Lent]

If you mean a circular saw blade that will cut dovetails, it won't work. Even though the teeth are tapered in the shape of a dovetail, the cut made will be straight sided and square. As the teeth rise up into the cut and then down into the table of the saw, the wider top of the dovetail teeth will cut the kerf that width, so the result, even with tapered teeth, will be a narrow kerf DADO.

A dovetail router bit is the best way to cut dovetail slots because it remains in the wood at the desired depth through the length of the cut.

A regular circular saw blade in a table saw can be set to make a straight sided cut at an angle. You can cut one side of a dovetail slot, and then turn the workpiece around and cut the other side of the dovetail, then set the blade at 90 degrees and clear out most of the waste in the middle of the dovetail slot, but the remainder will need to be removed with a chisel and mallet.

Charley

[Marc Fenneuff]

If you mean a circular saw blade that will cut dovetails, it won't work. Even though the teeth are tapered in the shape of a dovetail, the cut made will be straight sided and square. As the teeth rise up into the cut and then down into the table of the saw, the wider top of the dovetail teeth will cut the kerf that width, so the result, even with tapered teeth, will be a narrow kerf DADO.

These guys are using regular saw blades with the teeth ground to the angle needed (for a flat bottom), and making multiple passes to remove the waste. Pretty slick.

[Jared Sankovich]

If you mean a circular saw blade that will cut dovetails, it won't work. Even though the teeth are tapered in the shape of a dovetail, the cut made will be straight sided and square. As the teeth rise up into the cut and then down into the table of the saw, the wider top of the dovetail teeth will cut the kerf that width, so the result, even with tapered teeth, will be a narrow kerf DADO.

A dovetail router bit is the best way to cut dovetail slots because it remains in the wood at the desired depth through the length of the cut.

A regular circular saw blade in a table saw can be set to make a straight sided cut at an angle. You can cut one side of a dovetail slot, and then turn the workpiece around and cut the other side of the dovetail, then set the blade at 90 degrees and clear out most of the waste in the middle of the dovetail slot, but the remainder will need to be removed with a chisel and mallet.

Charley

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[Derek Cohen]

Keep in mind that, unless you add a jig to ensure spacing, the set up with a table saw takes more time and effort than simply using a dovetail saw. :o

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tom Bender]

Worth doing if making a lot of identical drawers. Would work out well if you set up two saws.

[Edwin Santos]

Keep in mind that, unless you add a jig to ensure spacing, the set up with a table saw takes more time and effort than simply using a dovetail saw. :o

Regards from Perth

Derek

Have you ever tried it?

[Scott Clausen]

Keep in mind that, unless you add a jig to ensure spacing, the set up with a table saw takes more time and effort than simply using a dovetail saw. :o

Regards from Perth

Derek
I often think machine tool set up and sneaking up on a fit requires a lot of time.

[Derek Cohen]

Have you ever tried it?

No need. I can run off dovetails with a handsaw … and fast enough not to consider a machine. Plus I can choose the dovetail ratio I think suits the piece best.

Four of these sides were done in quick succession, with mitres at all corners …

https://i.postimg.cc/8kZMMZtt/11.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/Rh99nGt9/13.jpg

How do you do half bind drawer fronts with a table saw blade?

https://i.postimg.cc/C5HyMFMv/D2-24.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jacques Gagnon]

Nice work Derek.

[Scott Clausen]

You can't argue with that logic Derek, very nice work there!

[Mark e Kessler]

I find it much faster than hand saw, if i am doing one or two drawers I don’t bother but if there are a lot the saw wins. I only like the 14deg looks wise the setup is quick, i only lay one out with pencil marks by eye then set a stop make all your cuts, move stop cut some more…repeat until done…

[Edwin Santos]

I find it much faster than hand saw, if i am doing one or two drawers I don’t bother but if there are a lot the saw wins. I only like the 14deg looks wise the setup is quick, i only lay one out with pencil marks by eye then set a stop make all your cuts, move stop cut some more…repeat until done…

The table saw method is considerably faster. There seems to be some confusion here on what the ground tablesaw dovetail blade actually does. The setup at the table saw involves setting the blade height, cranking the tilt to the correct angle, using one stop block and a clamp. In total it might take one minute max. Even the fastest dovetailer that ever walked the face of the earth would not be able to cut a tail board as fast as this method. I would estimate both sides of the tail board take about 30 seconds after setup.
No need for the fret saw because almost all the waste has been removed.
It makes no difference whether we're talking about through dovetails or half blinds. The tails are still cut the same way. The table saw is not used for the pins. The pin board is scribed and cut in the traditional way (although there is a novel way to use a small flush trim router bit to clean out waste and eliminate chiseling)

But it's true, the ground table saw blade is indeed limited to the one angle. Although you could set a different angle, or use a standard grind blade, but the blade would not be cutting tight into the acute corner so there would be more chisel clean up.

Big Disclaimer: this is not to say that any one method is "better" than another. Even faster doesn't necessarily mean better. It comes down to personal preference, skill level, time availability. Some craftsmen prefer hand tools, nothing wrong with that. Others prefer machines, nothing wrong with that. For some time is precious. For others results are all that matter. It really comes down to what's right for each woodworker. Working towards Derek's hand skills is a great goal if the traditional hand approach is appealing.
I believe in being open to new and novel methods, and if I like them better, I adopt them. I've been cutting dovetails for over 20 years, but I've learned new approaches in the past two years that have permanently changed how I do it. It's enjoyable to mix it up sometimes too.


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[Howard gorm]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions

[Jacques Gagnon]

Edwin,

Interesting comments and beautiful craftsmanship.

Regards,

J.

[Bob Riefer]

I'm in the process of building 5 dining chairs right now, with each chair featuring a single large dovetail on both sides of the connecting piece that joins the front legs to the rear legs.

I used a delta tenon jig to hold the connecting pieces on end while I cut the sides of the tails consistently by setting the table saw blade at the preferred angle. Then, using the table saw sled (and blade back to 90 degrees) I made the shoulder cut. Almost zero cleanup needed afterwards.

For the sockets in the front / back legs, I returned to the table saw with the blade at the same preferred angle. Using some stops to ensure cut placement, I nibbled away. Flipped the piece the other way to finish nibbling from the other side.

Since I was using a regular combo blade (ridge carbide) the bottoms of my sockets were ridged a bit. I just ensured that depth of cut was such that I could clean up with a sharp chisel after. A blade meant for this task would be better I'm sure, but this wasn't bad at all.

I ended up cutting 20 tails and 20 sockets in about 1.5 hours. The time spend felt reasonable to me, and the results were very consistent.

[Tom Bussey]

I looked at Edwin's picture of his dovetails and thought his post was off target from the original post because it doesn't look like one could get a table saw blade through the opening for the pins. To me they appear to be hand cut. Then I read his post and I agree with everything he had to say and what he wrote is well written.

I cut a lot of dovetails on my table saw. Enough in fact to have made 3 sleds. One for the pins and two for the tails. I cut all the angles at 10 degrees. A 1 to 6 ratio comes out to be around 9 1/2 degrees. I use a full 1/8 blade and remove the waist with a 1/8 wide band saw blade. To me I do not feel it is worth over a hundred dollars to get a special ground blade just to take care of a 1/8 inch tringle at 10 degrees. I would also have to change out the blade to cut the pins. A 1/8 rip blade works for both. My rip blade is a Freud 24 tooth blade with a flat top. which is great for pins.

In the picture below both the tails and the pins were cut on the table saw. The waist was removed on the tails with the band saw the waist on the pins was also removed a cut at a time on the table saw. A piece on the ends was glued back on so they it appear to be half blind.

If you are doing a batch of drawer, of which I have 20 coming up, the band saw with a sharp blade can do a wonderful job if cleaning up the small triangle because the are drawers and will be closed most of the time anyway a small overcut will not be noticed.

But personally today I do a 3/8ths finger jointed drawer. I put on my Dato blades, put on the sled, set the blade height and cut.

So, personally I do not feel it is worth well over $100 dollars to buy a specialty blade to do one operation that can be accomplish in 30 seconds with a chisel. But I would use the money saved to buy a fish tail chisel from LN to make the small chisel work easier and because it can be use in more applications .

[Richard Hutchings]

But personally today I do a 3/8ths finger jointed drawer. I put on my Dato blades, put on the sled, set the blade height and cut.

So, personally I do not feel it is worth well over $100 dollars to buy a specialty blade to do one operation that can be accomplish in 30 seconds with a chisel. But I would use the money saved to buy a fish tail chisel from LN to make the small chisel work easier and because it can be use in more applications .

I need to try your method of drawer building with finger joints. Next time I build a drawer.