I'm writing this to give the next guy ideas that may help. Those of you who are already expert will not get anything out of this. (Though you might be able to straighten me out if I've taken a wrong turn in technique!) Please understand this is just my experience and that yours may vary.
Background. A few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to learn to cut Dovetails better, with the ultimate goal of a near perfect fit right off of the saw. I got on this kick because I bought a lovely LN tapered DT saw a couple months back. After using it a while, I wrote a "chop the waste vs saw the waste" thread. Coming out of that, I decided to bite the bullet and buy the Knew Concepts Fret Saw. That saw really was a game changer for me. I recommend it if you can spare the money to get one. After reading a dovetail thread here that recommended it, I bought a copy of The Complete Dovetail by Ian Kirby. I also read a Chris Schwartz blog one of you posted about cutting "a dovetail a day". I combined the two approaches, using Kirby's method to repeatedly cut practice dovetails as suggested by Schwartz.
Getting to the point: Here's what I've learned so far, after 31 pairs of dovetails in 2 weekends:
* Practice really does make perfect. The last 9 I've cut - including a box I just finished - were spot on. The previous 22 were spotty - some good, some downright cruddy. I couldn't get consistent.
* Lesson #1: If your tails are not square and flat, your joint will have gaps. If the tail is even a 32nd inch out, you will have a gap. It MUST be square right off the saw or you have to pare it flat/square with a chisel.
* Lesson #2: After practicing, I discovered that the way I was starting my saw cuts was impacting my ability to cut the tails square. I've read again and again to start a western saw on the push stroke, not the pull stroke. But when I followed Kirby's advice and started the kerf on the pull stroke, I could perfectly cut to the perpendicular layout line; i.e., my line of cut got perfectly square. I realize this is bad technique, but it just worked better for me. All I'm saying is "try it" if you too have a problem cutting to the perpendicular line. YMMV. (Edit: What I'm trying to say is that I have better control following the perpendicular layout line if I start on the pull stroke.)
* Lesson #3: When marking the pins, put a non slip mat under the tail board. That really helped.
* Lesson #4: When marking the pins, use a knife, but DO NOT score a deep groove. The saw falls into that groove and your pin comes out too narrow. (This experience is probably unique to me only. But it bit me several times until I figured it out.) Instead, I mark the pins lightly and run a sharp pencil down the groove. I cut the pin so that half the pencil line shows on the finished pin.
* Lesson #5: Tap the joint together with a cross peen hammer, instead of a mallet. I thought Kirby was nuts. But as I was dry fitting the joints, I could easily feel and hear when a pin was too fat and needed paring. This really reduced my splitting the wood.
* Lesson #6: If you get the tails square and the joints properly cut/fitted, the 4 sides of your box just pull together and it comes out beautifully square - without diagonal clamping. This was truly pleasing to watch and experience.
I'll be making a ton more dovetail boxes to really lock in the skills/techniques. Might add new lessons here if I get more. But I hope some of this helps someone else some day.
Fred
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Originally Posted by Shane MacMillan
