Utilitarian Moxon vise.

Workmate jaws - home made I assume

Martin

That will be my next tool upgrade project. My workmate is over 30 years old. The jaws are still in good condition. However those jaws in your first picture are just so self evident for my needs.

I've never seen it done

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I keep in mind Alan Batty's description of drawer making in a British factory where his quota was completing 6 drawers per day. I'll believe someone has a better way when they are claiming 7 drawers a day.

If I understand what you are saying, either in theory or from experience I can't tell, is to independently mark both tails and pins to the requisite 0.002" spatial accuracy by some means that remains unimaginable to me. (needs for accuracy is doubled in this case because of error summing on the two independent cuts)

Such a goal would likely be so daunting to a beginning woodworker they would dismiss dovetails forever. An experienced woodworker would have the joint made in the time it took to do this high accuracy marking, I guess, giving that I don't know how to accomplish the task.

The slow step in dovetail making is not marking and sawing, it is waste removal. In experienced hands the first cuts, be it pins or tails, are done by eye. Transfer of this result to the mating board takes seconds if clamps are eschewed . The benefit of your proposal remains elusive, maybe because I don't understand it.

Re: Workmate jaws - home made I assume

William Duffield

Yes, the WorkMate 400 jaws were a previous project, necessitated by my having left the workmutt out in the rain.

The new top is 8/4 hard maple. Note that I made the front jaw about a half inch too deep, and then had to cut some clearance arches for the cranks to get it to open full depth.

I later replaced the masonite bottom shelf with some T&G bamboo flooring. This supports more weight, in the form of sandbags, to help keep the workmutt from walking around while doing heavy work on the metabench. The workmutt is still no replacement for a sturdy workbench underneath, but it is handy for demonstrations away from the shop.

Re: Funny.......

David Weaver

Am I correct that you're suggesting a marking reference of template that marks both parts before cutting any?

Re: Funny.......

mark hennebury

Yes,

i came up with a method of marking both parts of a dovetail joint with a high degree of accuracy and precision, and it is fairly quick and easy.

It requires a simple jig that i made. I haven't done any dovetails for years, but i will try to make a jig and do a video at some point in the near future to demonstrate.

In the meantime, entertain the possibility, and think about how it could be done.

I'm thinking....to no conclusion

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

The minimum need: Mark a variable number of tails and pins, more or less equally spaced, on any height drawer. Size and angle does not have to be variable.

Something akin to the Keller template could be fashioned, for one size of drawer height. A jig that accommodates any number of tails and drawer heights has not come to mind yet. Hints?