The path to the Dark Side

[Scott Wigginton]

Dovtails lead to Mortise & Tennon, M&T leads to hand planing, hand plaining leads to the dark side

During a shop visit I gave a fist try at hand cutting dovetails with a Wenzloff DT saw. With the addictive poison fully ingrained into my bloodstream I couldn't resist the urge to pickup a LN Progressive Pitch Dovetail saw.

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Here's my first two cuts in some 3/4" red oak. I failed to take into account the size of my smallest chisel and screwed the sides up pretty good trying to chop out a smooth bottom :o

Got LOML approval by telling her I needed it to assemble the drawers for my girls matching beds. I just didn't tell her I could've also done it with pocket holes or other power tool methods :rolleyes: At least it'll give me plenty of practice :D

[gary Zimmel]

Welcome to the dark side Scott.

Congrats on the the new LN dovetail saw.
Make sure to keep it away from the other hand tools.
They have a nasty habit of multiplying when your not looking.....

[Richard Gillespie]

Just watch out for the planes, they multiply like rabbits.

[Brian Kent]

Beautiful tool. I am glad you are doing a project that will give you lots of god practice. Welcome to the shadow world.

Brian

[John Keeton]

I failed to take into account the size of my smallest chisel and screwed the sides up pretty good trying to chop out a smooth bottom :oScott, obviously at this point you will NEED a new set of Blue Spruce dovetail chisels in order to appreciate full performance from that new saw:D I mean, it's like having a new tablesaw without a blade, or a new router and no bits - you get the picture. And, you will need a new plane to smooth out those dovetails. And, then.....

Well, need I say more?

[Scott Wigginton]

Scott, obviously at this point you will NEED a new set of Blue Spruce dovetail chisels in order to appreciate full performance from that new saw:D I mean, it's like having a new tablesaw without a blade, or a new router and no bits - you get the picture. And, you will need a new plane to smooth out those dovetails. And, then.....

Well, need I say more?

John, I at least have to make the effort to sharpen up my Marples before digging my hole any deeper ;)

Not gonna be an easy sell trying to spend as much $$ on one 1/8" Blue Spruce as I did for my entire Marples set :eek:

[Tony Zaffuto]

Why are you calling the "Side of Truth and Justice" the dark side? Just kidding, as many of us have shops that use both hand and (some) electrons.

T.Z.

[David Keller NC]

Scott - Welcome to the slippery slope. I spent roughly 12 hours this weekend hand-dovetailing an eastern white pine chest for some molding planes that I could've cranked out in a couple of hours with table-saw produced rabbets and glue. Crazy, no?

A comment about using your new saw, though - if you're new to hand-cut dovetails and are building your skills, oak is not a terribly good practice wood. While cheap, it splits/splinters easily, is relatively hard (and so harder to saw - there's no reason to make it harder than it has to be when you're starting out), and the grain structure makes it more difficult to see knifed lines.

For practice purposes, eastern white pine or poplar from one of the home improvement centers is a much easier route to learning to hand-cut dovetails.

[Scott Wigginton]

David, I'll be using poplar for the girls' beds & drawers so that'll be my primary test wood.

The red oak was just a short I grabbed outta my scrap bucket.

[Dan Sink]

Beautiful tool. I am glad you are doing a project that will give you lots of god practice. Welcome to the shadow world.

Brian

I agree with Brian that God is surely a neanderthal woodworker. The neaderthal way will get you to heaven. Well, that or two out base hits.

[Mark Singer]

Good move to our side. Hand joinery will greatly elevate a woodworkers skills and the final work. With time you can choose the joint you want to use and not the one you know how to make. Its like a Picasso sketch compare with a drawing made by a computer and printer.....in one small word... "art "

[David Gendron]

Scott, If I can give you a little advice with your new saw(I have the same)Use wax(parafin wax is good) on the blade, it make it cut more smoothly! I use past bees wax, that I also use on the bottom of my planes, it work realy well!
Practice makes good!
David

[Scott Wigginton]

Scott, If I can give you a little advice with your new saw(I have the same)Use wax(parafin wax is good) on the blade, it make it cut more smoothly! I use past bees wax, that I also use on the bottom of my planes, it work realy well!
Practice makes good!
David

David, I buffed on some Minwax Paste Finishing wax (not sure if this is parrafin or bees or something else)

Is a 4" extra slim taper file all I need to get started sharpening?

I hand file my chainsaw regularly when in use (tho not exactly precision work) and have an old cheap backsaw I can get some good practice on before this one needs it.

Thanks

[David Gendron]

I try to sharpen a panel saw once and did an ok job even if as an arborist I had my share of chain saw sharpening and I think it is a lot different. For a good saw, I almost rather sending it out to sharppen. At least to get the right tooth shape to start with...
I had a saw resharpen by Mark at Thechno primitive and it's amazing how is the difference compare to the one I did sharpen... How ever I want to learn and get better!
David

[Zahid Naqvi]

Dark side? what dark side? this is the bright side my friend, wait till you see the other side :eek:

Welcome to the club, you will enjoy the tools the more you use them.