As an outgrowth of my dovetail guru question I thought I'd ask about my stumbling block. It sounds silly but clearing out the waste has been what has traditionally given me trouble. I have tried both using a fret saw and a chisel only. I went through a full package of Pegas blades and didn’t get a saw done when I used my fancy Knew Concepts fret saw.* Chiseling: the first time I gave it too much Welly one joint and went paste the baseline. Then I used a different wood** to go to soft pine and it crumbled like anybody’s business. It just seems that though I know how I should do it, I always screw up in some small (or large) way.
Help me Obe Wan?
* I got lots of suggestions of what I was doing wrong but it was beyond me to actually make my hands do what I needed. I do now have a coping saw and wooden turning saw.
** It was very thickly planed 4/4 birch. This is also what I tried the fret saw on.