When I cut dovetails, I increase my efficiency by gang-cutting them, clamping two boards back to back while I saw down the sides of the tails and use a coping saw to remove the waste. This means that one of the show faces is facing away from me, and I have sawn past its baseline occasionally, especially with the coping saw. So now I place a bathroom makeup mirror behind the boards so I can monitor the saw on both boards, front and back. Since I started using the small mirror, I haven’t cut past any baselines.
From FWW #267
Drawings by Dan Thornton
More on FineWoodworking.com:
- Fixing Mistakes: How to Replace a Broken Dovetail Pin
- The 5-Minute Dovetail – Joinery practice is a woodworker’s warm-up
- Half-Blind Dovetails – Cut perfect joints efficiently by hand
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