I am stuck in the no man’s land of trying to decide whether to cut dovetails by hand or with a jig. I’m a hobbiest and will soon embark on building a 7-drawer dresser. I doubt I’ll be doing much production work but I only have weekends during which to work. I tried to cut a few dovetails by hand the other day and I found that sawing the lines was quick and easy but removing the waste with a chisel was time consuming. I’ve heard that some use coping saws to remove waste but that seems equally time consuming and you still have to do a lot of paring. Any suggestions?
Replies
Check out Tage Frid's video: Handcut Dovetails. It shows a chiseling technique that is very fast. It is made by Taunton and is availble at woodcraft etc....
Well, one reason why I hand cut dovetails is becuase woodworking for me is a respite form the chaos of the real world. I do not care about the length of time it takes. I like working the wood and using sharp well honed chisels. Add to that the personal satisfaction one gets in the look of their own hand cut dovetails on the pice being made. Every set I make are better than the last.
But if you are looking for speed, uniformity, well then sure go for the jig !
A coping saw does speed up the process for sure. Purists tell you a coping saw is only for coping but again do what YOU want to do.
That is my 2 cents.
Your choice should depend on what you want to get out of the project. It sounds like there'll be a learning curve either way you go. Using a jig is not as straight-forward as the sales guy would have you believe. There is a lot of setup and planning to get things to line up nicely and fit. Also, unless you go with a high-end jig, the height of your drawers will be dictated to some extent by the jig, so be sure to include that element in your design.
If you opt for router DTs, when you are done, you'll have DTs that look just like the ones you see on store-bought unfinished furniture (again, unless you opt for a high-end jig), several hundred dollars in new tools (jig and bits, etc.), and some new know-how in using your router to make DTs. The next time, it'll go a bit faster. (BTW, I know some guys who do this a lot keep a router dedicated to this job and leave the bit in and the depth set permanently so they don't need to do setup each time, since it's tedious.)
If you opt for hand-cut DTs, it will take a bit longer (I can do a hand-cut drawer in oak in about an hour for through DT's, about 90 min for drawers with 1/2-blind fronts -- I could do 7 in a full day, whereas it would probably take about a half-day to set up the jig & router & cut the joints on 7 drawers -- but see below with respect to what you might expect time-wise) and you will end up with DTs that are clearly handcut and some new skills using marking guages, saws, and chisels. You probably won't need to buy several hundred dollars in new tools.
I almost always handcut DTs. I always find myself opening the drawers on my pieces to check out my own work -- even years later -- since I enjoy seeing the scribe lines and the variations inherent in every handcut joint. I never do this with machine-cut joints.
Using a coping saw to trim is only necessary if you use really hard wood, like red oak. If you use soft wood like poplar or pine (which Frank Klaus recommends), you can skip this step. Even so, it only takes 2 or three minutes to cope-trim each joint.
BTW, I was astounded to read earlier posts that some allow up to 8 hours to build and fit a drawer. If the case is built square first, you can cut your stock to very accurately fit the opening and there is almost no subsequent "fitting" involved. Building a drawer with handcut DTs in an hour is what I usually plan. That said, several years ago when I was teaching my wife this skill, it took her half a day to do her first drawer for a kitchen cabinet. By the time we were through with the project, she did the three drawers for the last cabinet in half a day.
If you do plan on handcut, you'll do yourself a big favor if you get Frank Klaus' video and watch it about 5 times before you start. Frank allows 45 min. for each drawer, and my guess is, for Frank, that includes a coffee break! A big part of Frank's method is not wasting a lot of time with guages and rules. It works. Really well. (And it looks good to boot!)
I've tried jigs and they can be very finicky to set up. If I were going to produce many identical dovetailed items, I would think more about using a jig. For one-of-a-kind pieces, however, learn to cut the dovetails by hand efficiently and you will never regret it. I suppose that's why it's called woodworking. Good Luck!
Stay with handcut for that size project. The cost of a quality jig wouldn't be justified and the $$ is perhaps better spent on something basic you may be lacking Don't be afraid to use the coping saw to remove 95% or more of the waste, leaving very little hand or chest driven paring to remove mostly fuzz from the coping saw cut.. A very fine/narrow blade, set 90 degrees to the frame, needs zero turning room and you'll soon be sawing the waste along the scribed line. I can't recall when I last used a mallet to trim dovetails. It gets better with practice, as others have already stated. Good luck!
John in Texas
I also support handcut. It's cheaper to get set up with tools, safer for your hands, eyes, ears and lungs, and once you get the hang of it (which may take a while) it's really not so slow. When you're finished, you'll have the satisfaction of feeling more like a craftsman and less like a factory worker.
I find that the coping saw slows me down. You are correct that the joint still has to be pared after the majority of the waste is removed. This takes just as long as simply using a chisel for the whole job, assuming that you have an efficient chiseling technique. I follow C Becksvoort's method: on one side, carefully pare a little notch into the baseline; now you can chop without screwing up the baseline, so chisel down and in slightly undercutting the joint and not removing material all the way out to the end of the workpiece (kinda hard to describe--makes a "notch" against the baseline); once you're about halfway, move to the other side, and perform the same operation but go ahead and split the waste out from the end. Voila.
This method prevents a big chunk of endgrain from pulling out of the bottom of the joint as the last bit of waste is removed. Quick and easy, no coping saw. Makes nice tight dovetails, if you can saw straight.
Don't forget that you'll need good sharpening gear if you go the hand cut route.
Good luck.
Charlie
a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts,
build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders,
cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure,
program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.
- Robert A. Heinlein
My technique has been to chop down on the scribe line and then cut in from the end grain to split out the bulk waste piece by piece. I did this halfway down and then flipped the board over and proceeded likewise from the other side. Is this what you are saying to do too- or are you suggesting to make a deep notch on both sides until you break through- thus removing most of the waste in one big chunk?
- Lyptus
Per Becksvoort--and I've found this to be true--with the method you've been using a chunk of end grain will often pull out from the bottom of the joint as the last bit of waste is removed. His method avoids this, but other than that it is the same as yours and offers no other advantages. The only difference is that on the first side, you do not split waste out from the end. Chop down, then slice downward at an angle to pare out waste until you need to chop downward again. Makes a notch against the baseline, but does not remove waste all the way to the end of the joint. On the second side, you go ahead and split out the waste until the last chunk--the leftover from side one--just kind of falls out; no tearout at the bottom of the joint.Best,CharlieA human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher
a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts,
build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders,
cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure,
program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.
- Robert A. Heinlein
Thanks! That clarifies the process a lot.
- Lyptus
Hi,
Cut a hundred or so by hand first, THEN decide if you need a jig. I decided I didn't need one.
My Brother in Law decided he wanted to make a blanket chest, he researched all the jigs then available and settled on the Leigh. He made a bunch of test joints, then exactly one blanket chest, which came out great. Now it sits...
If you are a production shop I can see the investment making sense.
JMHO
David C
lyptus,
I do the dovetails the same way as you describe....I hold the stock in the verticle position in the bench vise. However, if I wanted to go fast, I'd saw to the scribe line and use my router with a dovetail bit while holding the stock in the verticle. I'd use my bench hook in the vise and have the dovetail stock flush with the top of the bench hook..
That's a great idea about routing out the waste. I need to purchase some longer dovetail router bits than I currently have but then I may give your idea a go.
I'm on the same boat as the rest - hand cut them. Regardless of how you remove the waste (chisel, router, I use my scroll saw) before paring, you will have a greater appreciation for what is possible. I recently completed a couple drawers w/ thru DTs. Although the first ones were not the best, I still have a great feeling of accomplishment. Much more than when I use my router and a jig to bust out some half-blinds.
Z
My 1 cent ;)
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