Favorite tool for cleaning out tight dovetails?

[Tom Bain]

I’ve been practicing my dovetail cutting skills for an upcoming project and realize I need a better tool/method for cleaning out the tight inside corners. My bevel edge Japanese chisels are just too chunky to effectively get in those spots. Soooo, what do people prefer and why … thin paring chisel, fishtail chisel, skew chisel, purpose made dovetail chisel, something else entirely?

[Maurice Mcmurry]

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I don't cut many dovetails. I occasionally get to make a bow tie loose tenon. I do the final clean up with an X-acto fitted with the chisel blade.

[Michael Fross]

For me it's a fishtail chisel. I tend to cut more through dovetails than 1/2 blind, but when I do, the fishtail comes out.

[Tony Zaffuto]

For blind, a fishtail chisel. For through, usually nice fit right off the saw, however, I take a lot of care to shoot all edges square, exact layout, sawing in a Moxon.

[mike stenson]

Annother fishtail chisel user for non-through dovetails.

[Ben Ellenberger]

My smallest chisel is 3/16. It’s just a bevel edge chisel, but seems to work fine. I don’t try to cut pins any smaller than 1/4” at the base.

[Andrew Hughes]

I have a small DT chisel. I like to mark the pin boards off my chisel I want to use. I also leave enough space for my thinnest paring chisel.

Good Luck

[Eric Brown]

I also like the fishtail chisel for non-through dovetails. I have two sizes but use the larger one more. Much handier than two skew chisels but the size might be an issue with very narrow dovetails. I also like the dovetail chisels from Tools for Working Wood with the rounded backs. Very comfortable. Use of denatured alcohol also helps.

[Jim Koepke]

Skew chisels work for me in cleaning out the corners of dovetails.

1:2%22 & 1:4%22 Skew Chisels.jpg

These were all made with duplicate chisels. On of the 1/4" chisels was purchased from a junk store for a buck or two. The other was given to me by a person from whom a bunch of molding planes were being bought. It had a beat up socket.

The 1/2" chisel, second from the bottom, had a badly mushroomed socket but there was barely enough left to fit a handle.

jtk

[Kent A Bathurst]

...........take.... care to shoot all edges square....

I have a Moxon-ish vise. You've hit my problem area - what do you mean by "shoot" them square? Is there some particular technique I am missing? Or is this simply "pay closer attention"?

[Jim Koepke]

I have a Moxon-ish vise. You've hit my problem area - what do you mean by "shoot" them square? Is there some particular technique I am missing? Or is this simply "pay closer attention"?

I can't answer for Tony, but in my experience having the sides and ends square to the faces and each other make it easier to end up with boxes, drawers or cabinets that sit flat on a table, inside a frame or when hung on a wall.

It is possible to join non-square pieces using dovetails, but that is a whole different way to layout and cut dovetails.

jtk

[Tony Zaffuto]

I can't answer for Tony, but in my experience having the sides and ends square to the faces and each other make it easier to end up with boxes, drawers or cabinets that sit flat on a table, inside a frame or when hung on a wall.

It is possible to join non-square pieces using dovetails, but that is a whole different way to layout and cut dovetails.

jtk

You said it better than me, Jim! Amazing that taking a few minutes extra early on, saves much more time later.

[Ron Brese]

18 degree skews work well.

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[John Kananis]

He means you should use a shooting board to square the ends. A quick search here will give you an endless amount of results on shooting boards/planes.

I have a Moxon-ish vise. You've hit my problem area - what do you mean by "shoot" them square? Is there some particular technique I am missing? Or is this simply "pay closer attention"?

[Kent A Bathurst]

He means you should use a shooting board to square the ends. A quick search here will give you an endless amount of results on shooting boards/planes.

Thanks, John - I mis-read his comments.

I'm all over shooting. 3 different sizes/functions. A small one that runs a LN 140 skew block; a "normal" with a 62 LA jack - 2 blades, 2 angles for end v face; and a loooong one that is really a jointer/width-sizer with an LV shooting plane.


My problem is always making my saw cuts normal/perpendicular to the wood face, so the pins mate up square with the tails. There might be a secret club on how to do this properly.