Re: Dovetails according to Joyce (the furniture Jo
Don McConnell
>Wiley et al,
Just got back from spending the day with my daughter, who's visiting for a couple of days, and am really surprised by the volume of responses this topic has generated. Guess my earlier response was a bit cryptic?
In any event, no one method is advisable for every situation, so there are times when I use a marking knife to transfer marks. However, when doing drawer dovetailing for cabinet/furniture work (which I haven't done for a little while now), I continue to prefer the method Joyce describes. Some part of that may simply be because I'm comfortable with it, but I'll attempt to explain my preference as best I can.
In part, it is a matter of efficiency. The saw is the correct gauge to draw through the kerf, and it's already on the bench.
As to other aspects of efficiency, Wiley and I may be doing somewhat different types of work. There is nothing about the method described by Joyce which precludes making the tail cuts in both sides of the drawer at the same time. So there is no difference there - in fact, I've done that routinely. I guess where we differ is that, especially for drawer work, the pins in my dovetails are small enough, and the material is thin enough (I often follow the British practice of using thinner drawer sides with drawer slips), that it is as quick, if not quicker, to chop the waste out with a narrow chisel, rather than using a coping saw.
Also, I don't clamp the drawer sides in place while doing the marking. Rather, I grip the front or back in the vise, with the end sticking up level with an appropriate sized piece of timber (a wooden jack, fore, or try plane works well) laying on the bench. Then, resting the side on the timber or plane and the front/back, I hold the side in place with my left hand (I'm right handed), while drawing the saw through the kerfs. I find that having the waste still in place, with the gauge lines intact, especiallly at the ends, helps me see when I have both pieces lined up accurately before firmly holding it in place. Guess I should also add, that I'm talking about flush, or non-lipped, drawer work, here.
All in all, pretty straight-forward and efficient.
As others in this thread have surmised, the saw is drawn through the kerf fairly lightly. And, in the case of the through dovetails at the back, one does want to watch the possibility of a bit of splintering out at the arris. However, with the lapped dovetail at the front, you can slightly lift the handle as you progress, so that only the toe of the saw is in contact, and stop the mark at/near the end of the kerf. And, as others have established, one saws to the waste side of the "kerf/mark," rather than using the mark to start the cut in.
If one is going for a very closely fit drawer (by easing both sides into the appropriate side of the drawer opening and fitting the front so that it enters the opening half-way), deep marks left by drawing the saw back through the tail kerfs could become a problem. However, I've found that light marks generally disappear during the clean-up while final fitting the drawer.
Don McConnell
Eureka Springs, AR