Magnetic Dovetail saw guides

[Prashun Patel]

Imho it is harder to place the saw properly than it is to saw straight. Practice free handing vertical cuts. It gets easier with practice and is a valuable skill to develop.

[Patrick Chase]

Imho it is harder to place the saw properly than it is to saw straight. Practice free handing vertical cuts. It gets easier with practice and is a valuable skill to develop.

Yeah, I used "straight" as a shorthand for "along the desired line". As you say "straight" is easy unless the saw is poorly sharpened.

[Paul Sidener]

I have the Dave Baron guide. I used it on just one project. I didn't care for it. Dave used a Japanese saw with it, I have back saws. The problem with back saws is depth of the cut. I was putting dovetails in 3/4 inch stock, so you need a tenon saw that cuts at least 3 inches. My tenon saw is tapered. That caused me to remove the guide, before finishing the cut. You could see where I removed the guide on the dovetail.

[lowell holmes]

Did you ever hear "Hold the saw like you're holding baby bird". In other words, hold the saw loosely and let it track in the kerf. Try it, it works.

[Paul Sidener]

Did you ever hear "Hold the saw like you're holding baby bird". In other words, hold the saw loosely and let it track in the kerf. Try it, it works.

I do, and it works when you saw continuously. When you stop sawing, and peel the guide off the saw. Then start sawing again, you can see where you stoped and started again. The magnets on the Dave Baron guide are very strong. I couldn't get the guide off, without stoping. Like I stated earlier Dave Baron suggests using a Japanese saw, my guess was it was for that reason.

[Megan Fitzpatrick]

I tested the Barron – it works as advertised and I do think it's a great way to get good results if you're new to sawing. But in the long run, as was mentioned above, learning to saw to a line – any line – is key to great work! http://www.popularwoodworking.com/to...dovetail-guide

[lowell holmes]

https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=s...etail%20marker

Check this link. You should find something you like.

[Chris Parks]

I do not have a guide. Does anyone else find it funny that we try so hard to make hand cut dovetails look machine made and the machine side try's to make them look hand cut. Maybe the machine side will find a way to introduce some over cuts and the hand side will come up with a three sided chisel to make the perfect imprint.
Jim

I have often asked the same question, do as Frank Klaus does, no mark out at all apart from depth and the first board cut is used as the template for the second. marking out DT's to precise measurements seems to defeat the object of looking hand made.

[lowell holmes]

I mark my dovetails with a pencil and saw free hand with a dovetail saw. A small, sharp saw helps.
I have a Lie Nielsen dovetail saw. I've had it for 15-20 years. I have their dove tail, carcass rip, and carcass crosscuts saws.

They were expensive, but amortized for 15 years, not that expensive. Buy a poor tool, weep , and it gets discarded.