I always cut tails first, it is how I learned and I still do it that way.

When I first started cutting dovetails, the advice I received was that I should mark the board, then tilt the board so that I would do all of my cuts vertical. I did this for a long time. Eventually, I became impatient. I figured that it was not all that critical that my angles were perfect. I even tried cutting dove tails without bothering to mark them.

Lately, I have been doing this when I start. In this case, I marked everything using a pen.

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Next, I cut without tilting the board. It is not perfect, but I don't think that I would have done any better even if I had tilted the board.

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I choose to use my Lee Valley saw for no particular reason; I own a couple of different saws.

Next, I cut out the waste. I should probably not cut so close to the line, but it makes it very fast to clean it up with a chisel.

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Am I the only one who started by putting the board at an angle. It was probably Rob Cosman who suggested angling the board.

BTW, this is African Mahogany. The outside dimensions are roughly 20" wide x 15" tall x 16" deep.

When I mark the tails, I will use a knife since precision matters a bit more there.