I'm trying out different methods for cutting dovetails by hand, skipping the saw guide. The usual technique involves cutting the sockets first and then using a knife to trace them onto the end of the pin piece. However, this method has its downsides. When I transfer the marks, I'm tracing the inner face of the sockets, but ultimately, I'll be comparing the pin ends to the outer face of the sockets. This means the visible alignment depends on how squarely I've cut the sockets. As someone who's decent with a handsaw but not perfect, I often end up marking both faces of the sockets and adjusting to meet those marks, which is tedious and prone to error. So, I wondered, why not transfer the measurements to the pin piece in a way that corresponds to the visible points? Specifically, I could mark the exterior face of the pins from the mouth lines of the sockets and then use dovetail and box joint markers to outline everything else. This method has worked reasonably well for me in the past. But I'm curious if there's a fundamental flaw in this approach. Is there a reason the traditional method wouldn't work as well for those of us who aren't saw experts?
1 Answer
There are a couple of reasons to be cautious with your method. If the tails aren't cut square from front to back, you'll run into issues with fit, potentially leading to gaps. When the tail board is horizontal, if the tails are wider at the bottom than at the top, you're going to have trouble getting everything to fit together. It usually takes a lot of practice to get well-fitting dovetails. The traditional way, cutting the tails square and the pins vertical, has stood the test of time for that reason. My advice? Just practice your cuts. Draw out a bunch of lines representing the tail and practice cutting those, both for the right and left sides. You don’t need a whole dovetail joint to get in the practice you need to improve your skills.
I see your point, but if I mark it differently, the tail cuts might not need to be perfectly square. Why can't we just adjust the way we mark it to simplify things?