Hi All,
I decided, for reasons I can not explain, that I need to be able to do my dovetails by hand. Not that I can't do them by machine: I can. I have 3 machine systems. But I need to......
I decided use the Veritas dovetail guide (Veritas, which makes things much easier. Free handing the cuts was just a god awful disaster.
After the guide, the most important thing that I have learned is that it's all about the chisels & chisel work. The right type of chisel. You need a set of good robust chisels, that you can beat with a mallet. You need a pair of skew chisels, left and right skew. You need paring chisels. Some dovetail chisels would be a good idea.
And they have to be SHARP.
All of the instructions I have say to use a coping saw to remove most of the waste wood. Nope. A small band saw is the way to go. Much faster & easier.
When doing the final cuts against the depth line, the chisel really needs to be held at a 90 degree angle to the wood. I found that using a square piece of wood, scrap maple, works very well for this task.
And the stubbornness to keep at it. For a long time. I am working on roughly my 10th box worth of corners, and they are finally starting to come out "ok", though I would not brag about them to anybody but my wife.
Have fun if you choose to go down this road.
edg
I decided, for reasons I can not explain, that I need to be able to do my dovetails by hand. Not that I can't do them by machine: I can. I have 3 machine systems. But I need to......
I decided use the Veritas dovetail guide (Veritas, which makes things much easier. Free handing the cuts was just a god awful disaster.
After the guide, the most important thing that I have learned is that it's all about the chisels & chisel work. The right type of chisel. You need a set of good robust chisels, that you can beat with a mallet. You need a pair of skew chisels, left and right skew. You need paring chisels. Some dovetail chisels would be a good idea.
And they have to be SHARP.
All of the instructions I have say to use a coping saw to remove most of the waste wood. Nope. A small band saw is the way to go. Much faster & easier.
When doing the final cuts against the depth line, the chisel really needs to be held at a 90 degree angle to the wood. I found that using a square piece of wood, scrap maple, works very well for this task.
And the stubbornness to keep at it. For a long time. I am working on roughly my 10th box worth of corners, and they are finally starting to come out "ok", though I would not brag about them to anybody but my wife.
Have fun if you choose to go down this road.
edg
