Wow.
I need lots of practice. Today I marked several L-to-R pins on a scrap piece of poplar and set out to practice the cuts I did so poorly last time I worked on pins. Here's the end of the board after the cuts (including one R-to-L cut just for fun):
L-to-R.jpg
Overall not horrible, but it's pretty clear some of the cuts are not parallel to the others. Let's call it Problem No. 1.
But wait, there's more. Look down the face:
L-to-R result.jpg
Augggggh. A much bigger problem.
They say, "buy this saw and you'll be doing perfect dovetails on your first try." Hah. One thing I can say is the saw cuts straight in the direction I point it in.
I need a coach. This is going to be a skill that is a challenge for me to adopt. I'm hoping to lessen Problem No. 1 by using Cosman's saw-tooth marking knife method, where the knife actually starts the kerf for you on the end of the pin board. But it's clear that will only take me part of the way. Until I can put Problem #2 behind me, there will be no actual dovetails cut in my shop.