When making through-dovetails, I find it laborious to chisel out all of the waste between the pins, and cutting it out with a coping saw is only slightly better. With the saw I’m anxious not to cross the baseline while making the long cut, so I leave a lot on the waste side of the line to be chopped and pared. And for half-blind dovetails, the coping saw isn’t an option. Nowadays, what I do in both cases is remove the bulk of the waste with a Forstner bit in a drill press, set at a slow speed for good control. On through-dovetails this leaves a small amount to cut out with the coping saw, with a natural spot in the middle for starting the cut in each direction. For half-blinds, it leaves far less chisel work to do. I set a depth stop for drilling those. Obviously when you choose the drill bit, you need to measure on the narrower side of the waste.

—Hugh Saxton, Stockbridge, Hampshire, England

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