Old and Blind?

[Tom Winship]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has trouble seeing marks made with a marking knife for cutting dovetails. What do you do to help see them?

[mike holden]

Tom,
Chalk scrubbed across the lines, then wiped with your finger will make the lines more noticeable on all but the whitest woods. Pick up a box of colored chalk for those. A pool cue chalk would work too, also you can get half-round chunks of blue chalk at the BORG near the chalk line areas (not sure what they are designed for, but they will work great for this)

Chalk Lines.JPG

Best,
Mike

[Roger Benton]

Tom I'm 33 and 20/20 and i still need tricks to help see these sometimes.

After striking the lines with a knife i sand a sharp flat tip on a pencil and go over the marks.

In one of his videos, Rob Cosman has an adjustable long armed reading lamp attached to the bench that can be positioned over the vise to help see.

I think I read about Tage Frid using a small mirror laid down in front of the work to bounce light up on the marks.

It seems lighting is a big factor, try installing a small dedicated lamp directed at your vise from overhead.

[Archie England]

for me,

it's either cut the line deeper or get out and trace over the lines with .5mm pencil. I'm less confident following a pencil line. The extra cut makes starting my saw easier and typically with less starting chatter.

just my $.01 worth....

[Ken Werner]

Side lighting casts a fine shadow that make them easier to see. Direct light overhead often makes them harder to see.

[Derek Cohen]

Good lighting: add either an anglepoise lamp or a magnifyer lamp.

Make lines visible: mark dark wood with a white/yellow pencil or run over cut lines with chalk. One of the advantages of using a dovetail angle marker, and then accurately sawing to the lines, is that you can use it later to emphasise lines on pins transfered from the tails.

Improve your eyesight: get a pair of magnifiers (glasses) - generally available in supermarkets and pharmacies for about $10-20.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tom Winship]

Mike, the half round balls of chalk are/were used to coat a "chalk line" that wasn't in a reel. My dad used to do that for a long run on a slab. Didn't know they still make them. Thanks for the tip.

[David Nelson1]

Better than that get a large maginier with a 30 watt floreseant bulb I have one clamped to my dining room table a few in reserve for the shop. Yeah I'm a redneck.

[Tom Winship]

David, I didn't think there were rednecks in Maryland but I see you are from Southern Md.
I do have a large magnifying lamp. I guess pride was in my way?

[Rick Rutten]

The 5mm mechanical pencil trick works for me. It is really helpful to get the :"Poly-lead" to keep it from breaking. The Schwarz put that tiip in one of his blogs and it really helps. Regular 5mm lead break when you look at it.

Rick

[gary Zimmel]

For me it's also the lighting. I have an adjustable lamp attached to my bench.
Does the trick for these old eyes...

[Eric Brown]

You could use the Glen-Drake kerf starter instead of the marking knive and have a groove for your saw to literally fall into. Very accurate too.

As for the pencil tricks, consider using different colors also. I like orange better than red on walnut. Sometimes I use white.

Eric

[Adam Cherubini]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has trouble seeing marks made with a marking knife for cutting dovetails. What do you do to help see them?

Tom,

How do you think guys worked before glasses were cheap? How do you think they worked without electric light. In Northern areas, winters have short, often dreary days.

Having worked in shops without electricity, and now loosing my much appreciated near sight, I've found good deep marks are really helpful. I believe that my tools will find them if I am gentle enough to allow them.

My advice is to mark your dovetails well, always saw the corners out, and keep a very light grip on the saw. I have done demonstrations where I saw with only 2 fingers or close my eyes. The saws wants to do as little wok as possible. Folks that have trouble holding their lines are often forcing their saws to go astray.

Try using "the force" and see how you do. BTW, I hate any sort of woodworking mysticism. I believe the Lord guides my hand, but not my saw. You need a good knife line for that. A little fleam can help as well. It would be nice to hear what my friend Mike Wenzloff thinks about this. Mike?

Adam

[David Nelson1]

David, I didn't think there were rednecks in Maryland but I see you are from Southern Md.
I do have a large magnifying lamp. I guess pride was in my way?

Besides rednecks we have a whole nother class of folks down these parts. The heath dept got on board and made em put a bridge in over the Patuxent River from Calvert and St Mary's counties. Before that bridge was constructed it was a day trip to get to the other side of the river by car. Of course a boat in warmer months and a tractor or farm truck in the winter (if the river was frozen)was the only way to get there. It greatly improved the gene pool on the St Mary's side, well actually both sides.

[Tom Winship]

LOL! Sound like it could be some East Texas in there. (Before anyone gets upset, my mothers roots were in East Texas).