Want to learn!

Re: Want to learn!

Jack from Maine

>There is alot to learn.Start a particular project and work on gathering tools and information to perform that particular task.

The dovetail is a simple joint.Easy to learn how. The only difficult part is learning to use the tools properly.Marking,sawing to a line,chopping and paring with a chisel. This is easily learned with a little practice.

Visiting here is a good start. You can learn alot from the people here.I have. Good luck and have fun learning.---Jack

Re: Want to learn! *LINK*

Harold Blair

>I cut lots of dovetails by hand. The best instructional video available (IMHO) is Rob Cosman's. Good instructions/techniques and excellent advice.


Rob Cosman's Hand Dovetails

steps to fine woodworking

Bill Tindall, E. TN

>Learning to make nice things of wood is not something one is likely to be able to do with little effort.

1. sign up for an adult ed or similar general woodworking class.

2. Join a club and attend meetings.

3. Pick a simple project and make it. Stretch a little on each subsequent project and in a few years you will be making nice things, especially if you have the opportunity to find a mentor near by to help you, particularly by setting standards. A mentor(s) will move you up the learning curve much faster than you will move on your own. There is very much to learn.

Re: Want to learn!

paul womack

>A class is most helpful, since you'll have immediate access to a full range of tools, and a "master".

Lacking those, I would recommend English books from the 1930's. During this period woodworking was a popular hobby in the UK, with men spending hours in their garden sheds, working with hand tools due to budgetary and space constraints.

The books aimed at this market are (thus) exactly what you want.

In particular I would recommend either "The junior woodworker" or "cabinet making for beginners", both by Charles Hayward.

This man was editor of the prime UK magazines of the period, "The Woodworker".

On an unrelated, if you intend to work only with handtools, it'll be a while before you're joint making. The ability to perform accurate stock preparation must come first, which means you'll need a bench and well tuned saws and planes.

For further book recommendations, try this old thread from the OLDTOOLS list

BugBear

Thanks for the help!

Nathan Berton

>Thanks everybody for the information, everything you've said has been very helpful.

Re: Want to learn!

glh

>I was (and still am) in the exact situation. I use mostly videos and books. You really need both. Books are good about describing and, in some cases, illustrating techniques. However, the videos all you to actually watch someone doing it, but invariably some little nuisance is overlooked in the video, perhaps due to time constraints. Books are good are filling in the details.

I have a large, in fact, too large collection of videos. On dovetails: Rob Cusman has 2 videos available from Lie-Nielsen Tools, Jim Kingshott has one video (Dovetails Made Simple), Frank Klausz (available from Lie-Nielsen also) has one, and Tage Frid has one. All are about handcutting dovetails. The Frid video is too short to be much help to someone starting off. Any of the other three are good. Frank Klausz is unique in that he doesn't use a dovetail marker to lay out the dovetails. This may not be the best way to begin, but his video is very good. Rob Cusman' video, Handcut Dovetails, is very good, but I prefer the Kingshott video because it's a little longer and he does a bit more explaining. I'm sure others would have a different opinion and I don't think you'd go wrong with either of those three videos.

Note also that Lie-Nielsen also sells a couple of other good hand tool videos. Rob Cusman has one on Handplanes and Sharpening and Mario Rodriquez has one on handplanes also. Both are very good.

Re: Want to learn!

Ernie Miller Topeka

>I thought there was a good web page on cutting dove tails but can't seem to find it. Try a search. on dove tails. They are a simple joint to make and if you know the basice and have marking tools layout tools a saw and a chisel you can learn to make them I suggest that you get some 1/2" popular and and make some practice joints. if you have problems or need help come back and ask specific questions and some one here will push you in the right direction. If money is a problem books or tools then go to your local library and check out the books and videos. read them watch them and learn and spend the book money on tools. Your taxes pay for the library so take advantage of all they have to offer. I would suggest that you not try and learn on pine. it is a very hard wood to use.

Re: Want to learn! *LINK*

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>The best site I've found on making dovetails is Jeff Gormans; and it's also a generally excellent site on woodworking. I visit it all the time, learn more every time.

Pam


Jeff Gorman's site

Re: Want to learn!

Ernie Miller Topeka

>THanks Pam That is the one. Great site well laid out.

Walk yourself to the library

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Ben Franklin had the right idea: buy the books once, let people share them.

You'll find lots of books in your local library, and it's not hard to skim the table of contents to determine how much hand tool content a book has. If you're lucky, your local library will have some of the older books Paul Womack, aka Bugbear, mentioned.

Books have the advantage over web browsing that they're more consistently coherent, although some of the good sites, like Jeff Gorman's, mentioned in another post, are very good in this respect as well.

You may eventually want to buy some of the best books you find, which is fine; the library lets you test-drive them before putting money on the counter.

Bill, who would suffer mightily if libraries went away.

Sharpening

Jim in Burlington

>Learn how to make your hand tools sharp it takes time but Leonard Lee's Bood or video is great. Buy some cheaper grade woods and everyone makes mistakes chalk it up to practice and have some fun making stuff.

Re: Want to learn!

Alan Hamilton

>Nathan,

As soon as you can, look at Saint Roy of Underhill's books: the Woodright's Shop series. I checked one out from the library, and less than a week later I owned each of his books. They are wonderful.

They contain much, much more than instruction on techniques and methods--though there is plenty of that. He writes about finding and buying old tools and putting them back to use. His books contain all sorts of projects for all levels of skill.

But what keeps me re-reading the Woodright books is that they are an inspiration. He eschews modern tools for lots of reasons, and he lucidly explores explains all of them. He certainly conveyed his passion to me; his love and devotion to a simpler and--at least to me--a more rewarding kind of wood working.

Alan (not really meaning to preach; but did it anyway)

re: sharpening

glh of Nashville, TN

>Definitely, you can't do spit with hand tools unless you can get them sharp. Sharpening is THE basic skill in hand tool use. If you can't sharpen, a $300 plane will outperform a $30 for about an hour or so. If you can sharpen, you will see why the $300 plane costs 10 times what the $30 plane did. Unfortunately, I've found this out by experience.

Dovetail Central *LINK*

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>Here is a link to a web page on which the owner has compiled a bunch of links to a variety of dovetail making resources.


How to Hand Cut Dovetails