Half-Blind Angled Dovetails

[Derek Cohen]

Normand, the kerfing chisel blade is left square (like a scraper blade). No bevel - a bevel will follow and split the grain.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Julie Moriarty]

Normand, the kerfing chisel blade is left square (like a scraper blade). No bevel - a bevel will follow and split the grain.

Regards from Perth

Derek

You just gave me a good idea! (I think) Take a scraper and file some teeth at the end. Tap it lightly into the sawed slot and pull out. Kind of of like what I was doing with the woodpecker tooth on the dozuki saw. The difference being the scraper blade would allow for the first tooth to be closer to the tip.

[Vincent Tai]

Just using the scraper as is (maybe cut a kerf into a block of wood and make a tapping block to stop a hammer from damaging the scraper) would be faster. Doesn't take too many taps. The kerf is very thin, I can use my hand as the striking object for some of small (shallow) pins. I have yet to split a piece. A clamp to prevent splitting can't be a bad idea. There's a big thread about kerfing out half blind dovetails somewhere here. Lie Nielsen's YT channel has someone (Steve Latta IIRC) demonstrating using a scraper in this fashion. Hope that helps.

[Jason Lester]

You just gave me a good idea! (I think) Take a scraper and file some teeth at the end. Tap it lightly into the sawed slot and pull out. Kind of of like what I was doing with the woodpecker tooth on the dozuki saw. The difference being the scraper blade would allow for the first tooth to be closer to the tip.

Rob Cosman teaches a method like that now I think. His marking knife has a toothed blade the same thickness as his saw plate. I was supposed to be in a class with him tomorrow to learn that method, but it got postponed to October.

[Vincent Tai]

He doesn't use the knife for waste removal in half-blind dovetails, he uses it to mark out pins. The technique is to not remove the waste from the tail piece, offset the tail piece over by the width of the sawplate when transferring the tail layout to the pin board, using the special knife to create a kerf that in theory should be the exact place it can be. You place the knife in the kerf of the tail piece and drag and make/mark out a kerf on the pin board. You can use the saw itself to mark but if your saw is as heavy as Cosman's that's very cumbersome and you'll likely prick a couple fingers. If you have a light saw it is still uncomfortable but very bearable. A quick search on Youtube and his YT channel will show you a couple videos of him demonstrating this. It is a really accurate technique; I've tried it and I think for most work an experienced person will do just fine sticking with knife lines. Might be of interest to beginners tough, It's sort of hard to mess up albeit it might take a while longer.

[Derek Cohen]

I came across this video of Frank Klausz using a scraper blade to deepen a kerf (around the 7:50 mark) ...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vKuy3N..._VSOqtLF71mfiw

Notice how easily he hammers the blade into the wood. Clearly, it is very soft wood. Hard woods require a more cautious approach, which includes clamping the ends of the board, and taking small bites.

My pictoria: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...erfChisel.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

Normand, the kerfing chisel blade is left square (like a scraper blade). No bevel - a bevel will follow and split the grain.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Same answer, no bevel on the kerfing tool. Before the Ron Bontz tool came my way an old piece of saw blade was used.

My recollection is one well known woodworker uses an old piece of bandsaw blade with the teeth filed off.

jtk

[John Schtrumpf]

I came across this video of Frank Klausz using a scraper blade to deepen a kerf (around the 7:50 mark) ...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vKuy3N..._VSOqtLF71mfiw

Notice how easily he hammers the blade into the wood. Clearly, it is very soft wood. Hard woods require a more cautious approach, which includes clamping the ends of the board, and taking small bites.

My pictoria: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...erfChisel.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

Or if you watch the rest of the video. You will see that he doesn't use the scraper when doing the walnut face of the actual drawer.

[Warren Mickley]

Or if you watch the rest of the video. You will see that he doesn't use the scraper when doing the walnut face of the actual drawer.

Yes, I noticed that too. In my shop I have some real Queen Anne drawer fronts (270 years old) made of walnut. You can see that they did not use the scraper banging method. If one is better with a router than with a chisel, I can see using a router to hog waste. Otherwise I am skeptical about time saved, especially considering setup.

Maybe Frank overheard some guys say "This guy doesn't know what he is doing. Frid would have used a scraper." So he puts it in there just so you know he knows about it. I tried it myself a few times about forty years ago.