Really Thin Pins

[Mark Roderick]

I'm building a jewelry box based on an article in Fine Woodworking a few years ago. The author cut the tails by using the same saw kerf for adjacent tail cuts, if you see what I mean. It's a very attractive design element resulting in extremely narrow pins, and I'd like to take the same approach. My problem is that the gap between adjacent tails is so narrow I can't even fit my thin marking knife between them, so I can't mark the pins from the tails. Any suggestions?

[Gary Herrmann]

Is your marking knife as thin as an xacto?

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Mark

I doubt that one can go thinner than these:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Joints/Dovetailing/3.jpg

You need a thin marking knife - slightly thinner than a saw kerf. I make them out of HSS jigsaw blades.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Joints/Dovetailing/Canyourmarkingknifedothis.jpg

There is a tutorial on my website.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Joints/Dovetailing/cabinetwip3.jpg

The other way to get really skinny dovetails is to cut them pins first. Then you can use any knife you like!

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

One way to mark thin pins is to use what is called a pounce bag.

It is just a small cloth bag filled with chalk powder.

Chalk powder should be available at most hardware outlets. It is used in chalk lines.

I do not know if one can still get Bull Durham tobacco, but that is about the size of bag one would want.

Set the tails over the pin board and clamp it in place. then just start hitting it with the chalk bag.

This can also be used to transfer patterns. Sign painters use it all the time. The image is drawn on tracing paper and a pounce wheel is used to go along the lines to poke holes along the pattern. Then place the pattern where it is wanted and pounce away. For window work, it is placed on the opposite side of where one is painting.

jim

[Robert Rozaieski]

You can also use your saw to mark the pins. Place the tail board over the pin board BEFORE removing the waste between the TAILS. Then, use the dovetail saw in the kerfs defining the tails to transfer the kerf positions to the pin board.

[Alex Shanku]

You can also use your saw to mark the pins. Place the tail board over the pin board BEFORE removing the waste between the TAILS. Then, use the dovetail saw in the kerfs defining the tails to transfer the kerf positions to the pin board.


I dont see how this could work. Would you not be "marking" your pin 2 kerfs too thin?

[David Keller NC]

Alex - If you've any of Roy Underhill's Woodwright's Shop books, he's got pretty good photos of this technique - you simply place the sawn (but not chiseled - just the tails sawn down to the baseline) tail board over the pin board in a 90 degree orientation as you would if you'd chiseled the waste and were now going to use a marking knife, set the toe of the saw into each kerf and onto the end-grain of the pin board, and draw it back toward you.

One trick with using this method is to be careful to only do this once or twice with light pressure - you only want to mark the pin board, not kerf it. If you bear down hard enough to kerf the end grain of the pin board, it will be difficult to make your saw track over a bit from this line, and especially on a jewelry box where the joints will be closely examined, you might choose to saw slightly away from the line, and pare back to it for a perfect fit.

[Mark Roderick]

Wow, those are some great ideas. Thank you very much.

[Robert Rozaieski]

I dont see how this could work. Would you not be "marking" your pin 2 kerfs too thin?
No, you are only marking the outside of the pin (i.e. where the saw tooth meets the wall of the tail) not sawing the pins. When you saw, you saw to the waste side of the mark like with any other marking technique. As David mentions, you need to mark lightly so you do not leave a saw kerf or else your pins will be too thin.

[Al Navas]

I'm building a jewelry box based on an article in Fine Woodworking a few years ago. The author cut the tails by using the same saw kerf for adjacent tail cuts, if you see what I mean. It's a very attractive design element resulting in extremely narrow pins, and I'd like to take the same approach. My problem is that the gap between adjacent tails is so narrow I can't even fit my thin marking knife between them, so I can't mark the pins from the tails. Any suggestions?
Mark,

Bob Zajicek, the owner of The Czeck Edge (http://www.czeckedge.com/), created the Kerf Kadet (http://www.czeckedge.com/knives.html) knife just for a situation like this. I use it for all my thin pins. The blade is 0.029" thick, which is likely to be more than adequate.

.

[Mark Singer]

You can do it tails first. I use a utility knife to clean out the tails... usually there is not much to clean.

[Alex Shanku]

Alex - If you've any of Roy Underhill's Woodwright's Shop books, he's got pretty good photos of this technique - you simply place the sawn (but not chiseled - just the tails sawn down to the baseline) tail board over the pin board in a 90 degree orientation as you would if you'd chiseled the waste and were now going to use a marking knife, set the toe of the saw into each kerf and onto the end-grain of the pin board, and draw it back toward you.

One trick with using this method is to be careful to only do this once or twice with light pressure - you only want to mark the pin board, not kerf it. If you bear down hard enough to kerf the end grain of the pin board, it will be difficult to make your saw track over a bit from this line, and especially on a jewelry box where the joints will be closely examined, you might choose to saw slightly away from the line, and pare back to it for a perfect fit.


Dave and Robert,

Thanks. Makes perfect sense now.

[Eric Brown]

You might consider a Kerf-Starter from
http://glen-drake.com/
It cuts a kerf groove the same size as the kerf of your saw (they have several sizes). I know it sounds excessive, but used in conjunction with their feeler gages, you can offset your boards boards for the clearance you want between pins and tails. You end up with beautiful cuts and the only paring is where you remove the waste. They have a video showing the technique.