Dovetail help

[Simon MacGowen]

Are the cuts straight? I think that Rob Cosman angled the boards in his vice so that he cut vertically for each tail.

Rob doesn't angle his boards, rather he angles his saw as most skilled dovetailers do. In a tradeshow demo I went to many many years ago (I don't think he does any roadshows these days), he actually advised against doing it. In his 3-1/2minute tails first youtube video, you can see him cutting all the tails with the board straight up.

Simon

[Jerry Olexa]

Good advice and good videos....Much experience here...Good information. SMC provides again...

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Rob doesn't angle his boards, rather he angles his saw as most skilled dovetailers do. In a tradeshow demo I went to many many years ago (I don't think he does any roadshows these days), he actually advised against doing it. In his 3-1/2minute tails first youtube video, you can see him cutting all the tails with the board straight up.

Simon

Interesting.... I thought that he was the one who set the boards at an angle, but that would have been in his first DVD. I would have been shocked if he did it in practice, only while teaching new sawers. I wonder who it was if it was not Rob.

[Patrick Chase]

Interesting.... I thought that he was the one who set the boards at an angle, but that would have been in his first DVD. I would have been shocked if he did it in practice, only while teaching new sawers. I wonder who it was if it was not Rob.

If you cut tails first then the angle isn't critical to fit, as any angular error is corrected when you scribe the pins from the tails. Those cuts only need to be accurate enough to look uniform, and that's a pretty low bar because the human eye isn't very good at measuring non-right angles.

In contrast, it IS important that the tail cuts be at right angles to the face, and starting on a level surface makes that easier to achieve since the saw won't tend to "skitter off" to one side or the other. That's why most teachers (or at least the ones I've experienced/watched/read) don't recommend tilting the tailboard.

[Brent Cutshall]

Welp, I'm getting keyed up sitting here. I'm a gonna go and ruin some more boards now, wish me luck everybody. Thanks all!

[Robert Engel]

IMO a few keys to good DTs:

1. Cutting square across for tails and square down for pins.
2. Leaving the line (not splitting the line).
3. A quality saw.
4. Quality chisels with low side bevel height to avoid marring the corners of the tails when paring.
5. A slight back bevel cut on tails.
6. Accurately milled parts.
7. An accurate system for lining up parts and marking (I'm not a fan of marking knives I use a sharp, flat sided pencil lead and leave all the line).
8. SHARP chisels!

I am also a fan of making a shallow rabbet on the tails.

You have the right attitude keep trying don't be so critical on yourself.

When you do get the perfect DT (and you will) try to remember what you did!!