Dovetail saw

Re: Dovetail saw

Jack Guzman from Maine

>Try it.It may work for you as is.A rip cut is ideal but you can cut dovetails with a crosscut backsaw also.I have an inexpensive new crosscut saw,an english made antique that was filed rip and an LN.I have used all three to cut dovetails no problem. The cheap one takes a little more work but it still cuts straight.---Jack

Just use it.

Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA

>Rip teeth are harder to start than crosscut teeth.

So much harder that for me, it's better to experience a microsecond of inefficiency making each of those tiny, half-inch cuts than to risk scratching the work by a saw skip during the start.

Re: Dovetail saw

Alan Hamilton

>Ty,

Because I'm (almost) always a rebel: get the saw resharpened with rip teeth--or do it yourself, it's not that hard to file proper rip teeth.

Why? When I began, not knowing better, I bought a "dovetail saw" that had crosscut teeth. After I got a proper dovetail saw I found the difference remarkable. In hardwood especially my crosscut-tooth saw wanted to follow the grain--and did. No matter how much I practiced and concentrated I couldn't get that $#@%ing saw to cut straight. I wound up with some very discouraging, sloppy dovetails. I've no such troubles with my rip-tooth saw. The difference is like night and day; my proper dovetail saw goes in a straight line; and the quality of my dovetails increased enough to encourage me to keep trying.

It's tough enough to learn to saw dovetails without having to fight an uncooperative saw. Spend the few dollars it will take.

Alan

Re: Dovetail saw

Hank Knight from SC

>If I'm not mistaken, Cooke's sells refurbished saws. Since he's in your town, you might stop by and see if he has a good inexpensive dovetail saw for sale. You can probably pick one up for a lot less than you'd pay for a new Adria.

Just a thought.

Can't cut straight? It's likely the saw, not you.

Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA

>http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/readarticle.pl?dir=smalser&file=articles_405.shtml

Cutting straight and true has nothing to do with the type of teeth, and often little to do with you.

If it consistently drifts to one side, then lightly stone that side of the saw until it cuts true to the line.

Between Pete Taran's article and mine, you'll do well to learn to file your own saws. All saws, save those with disposable blades, will soon be worthless if you aren't willing to teach yourself how to file them, because there are few local shops who do these any more, and do them without shortening their life by years by cutting an 8th off the blade to shear in on a machine, rather than file by hand, new teeth.

But saw filing is literally child's play that any woodworker can and should learn in a few hours.

Re: Dovetail saw

mikew

>As Bob said, just use it as is. Chances are it will cut faster and it will definitely start much smoother.

The smoother you can start the better the chances you will follow your layout lines.

I file all my joinery saws my version of a cross-cut, as well as recommend to my sharpening customers to try it. None have ever asked me to change them back to a true rip. It cuts faster and smoother.

In my best Eddie Murphy impression...Trust me .

Mike

Re: Dovetail saw

Dan CLermont in Burnaby

>I have had a couple of saws sharepend at Cooke's and they came back in good confition.

Cooke's does sell saws so if it were me and I didn't want to spend the money on a nice dovetail saw like the Independence or Adria I would keep your current saw as a tenon saw and then either buy an old Rip dovetail saw or save your money for a nice new one

Dan CLermont

Re: about Cookes

les winter

>I used Steve Cooke to fix up a few saws which were beyond my ability to sharpen. Steve is a woodworker too. He will test your saw to make sure that it tracks well before returning it to you. And yes he has some backsaws for sale; I was at his shop yesterday. You cannot go wrong there.

good luck

Les

Forget Cookes

Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA

>I'm sure they are great folks, but you have to learn to do it yourself if you expect to be really effective with them. You gonna send your last saw out for filing in the middle of a job? Or own two of everything?

Re: Forget Cookes

les winter

>Well, given my choice, I'd rather have Steve Cooke sharpen my saws. I have the files, and the vise, and I even learned how to do it from Mario Rodriguez. I don't enjoy it.

Further, when learning a new skill, it's nice to have the tools functional to begin with. Learning to sharpen and cut dovetails on your own at the same time is asking a lot.

Just my way of looking at it.

regards

les

Re: Forget Cookes

paul womack

>Further, when learning a new skill, it's nice to have the tools functional to begin with. Learning to sharpen and cut dovetails on your own at the same time is asking a lot.

Agreed. Bob's right in the long term, but your viewpoint is perfectly sensible when learning.

BugBear

Re: Dovetail saw

Felix B.

>Hey Ty, how is it going?

Cheers,

Felix

Re: Just use it.

Charles

>God Bless You... a voice of reason....

Re: Dovetail saw

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown PA

>I can't offer any sage advice on saws, and not much on dovetails either. But, I do have something to say based on juggling, of all things. An old addage when learning to juggle is "If you don't throw, you can't catch". Too many people worry about the throw, and never get to it. Like the dovetails, if you spend too much time worrying about the saw, you'll never actually cut any dovetails, which makes them really hard to learn. Over the weekend I cut my own first dovetails by hand - used a cheap Stanley dovetail saw (filed for crosscut, I think). Yeah, they look like crap but they fit, which made me happy! I just cut a whole bunch of practice pieces and figure I'll cut a whole bunch of dovetails until they start looking and fitting better.

Oh, don't forget about those chisels. They do have to be sharp.