Just a quick post. In addition to the mortise and tenons, I have continued on with my dovetail practice. I hope I’m reaching a significant milestone because I cut one of my best dovetails yet. It was tight (except for one small corner) in all places. A joint like that would be one that I [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Dovetails’
More dovetail practice – oak
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I have taken a path to practice hand cut dovetails. In the first round, I worked with poplar.
Now, I’m down the path of using oak. My first attempt (back before Thanksgiving) was a disaster. I had forgotten how easy it is to split oak and I did split the [...]
Back to practicing dovetails
I’ve mentioned in the past that I am practicing hand cut dovetails (see Practice Update). Our family had a run with the flew so it’s taken a few weeks to get back into a normal groove. I haven’t been to the shop in almost 3 weeks – not good. I’ve cut up some blanks. This [...]
Dovetail Practice – an update
OK, I’ve been practicing…and practicing…and practicing…and…
Here are some of my test samples:
I’ve tried both tails first and pins first. Pins first is frustrating. I find that I make many more errors with pins probably due to assumptions and skipping steps. For instance, when I make tails first, I mark the waste before I cut. I [...]
Dovetails – Tails vs Pins
As I noted in a previous post regarding my Handcut Dovetail Hopechest class, we learned about cutting tails first. I came into the class with no opinion on the old battle about cutting pins vs tails first. Even if I had, I would have probably gone with the direction from the class. What’s the point [...]
Handcut Dovetail practice
At the class on Handcut Dovetails that I attended at Northwest Woodworking Studio, for the first half of a day, we used a simple technique to practice cutting dovetails. Gary, the instructor, used the analogy of a muscisian or a runner warming up and I think that fits well.
All that is needed is blocks of [...]
