Some very basic wood working questions

[clear out]

you should just be able to see the narrow polished surface which was the "good" side of the knife line and that surface should be in the same plane as the rest of the cut


getting to that position is the tricky part

We were always taught to run a 2H pencil in the line and leave half the line.
This applied to handsaws and bandsaws also the bobbin and 30 inch disc sander.
The pencil was sharpened to a chisel point with a chisel and honed on some scrap 'paper.
I'll never forget our tech teacher berating some unfortunate apprentice re his slack marking out when on his demo to the assembled masses he neatly followed the grain whilst lining in a curve.
Curves were struck with the dividers with one leg sharpened to a chisel point to scribe through the grain.
Thats where all those butchered Starrett dividers come from Patternmakers.
H.

[IanW]

you should just be able to see the narrow polished surface which was the "good" side of the knife line and that surface should be in the same plane as the rest of the cut...

Hmm, while that may indeed be an admirable goal, I don't think you need worry unduly if you can't achieve such precision on your first few (hundred) saw cuts. Most cuts don't need to be perfect, you can either shoot a crosscut end to the line, or plane a rip cut to the knife lines quicker & far neater than any handsaw cut. The closer you cut, the fewer the number of plane strokes it takes, but I think in the early days of learning to saw, it's no shame to leave a bit more & have a bit more planing to do - much safer , that way.....

Cheers,

[ian]

in the early days of learning to saw, it's no shame to leave a bit more & have a bit more planing to do - much safer , that way.....

precisely !

[bridger]

since you are the one making the line AND the one making the cut, the choice is yours. if I'm marking out with a knife I aim for getting just close enough that all I have to plane off is the roughness of the saw cut. if I'm marking out with a pencil the placement of the line could be either side of the finish surface, or splitting the line. for instance if I'm scribing into a pretty wavy surface I'll start well into the waste side and fit incrementally. if the workpiece is prefinished I'll aim to remove the line with the saw/plane. if the workpiece is large I generally put the line on the material side and work just up to it.

[pmcgee]

I just read part of a text-only thread from 1996 (used to be Wade's saw page) ... it was suggested to scribe two lines - one for the proper edge and another to saw to. I guess if you did that then you would get the feel for how well you are cutting to a line without wrecking your workpiece, and could then move to cutting to a single line.

Cheers,
Paul

[ian]

the key to sawing to a line is practice.

some time ago I came across a sawing exercise for the sort of short rip cuts as required when making dovetails:

1. get a 100mm wide x 19mm thick board -- the length doesn't really matter
2. mark a line across the board 25mm from one end
3. saw a series of VERTICAL kerfs down the end of the board to the line

when you're really good you should be able to get almost 100 kerfs into 100mm
However, 40 to 50 is a good sweet spot to aim for.
Some years ago thee was a "competition" at a US WW show, the idea was to see who could saw the thinest sliver of wood from the end of a 25 x 25 stick. John Economaki (of Bridge City Tools) managed a uniform sliver less than 1mm thick A Sawing Contest (And Other Odd Stories) - Page 2 of 2 - Popular Woodworking Magazine

Once you can saw straight and vertical making the rest of the joint is pretty straight forward

[pmcgee]

1. saw a series of VERTICAL kerfs down the end of the board to the line

Ahhh ... another good point ... I was referring to sawing alongside a line rather than down to ...

I have only practised dovetails about 3 or 4 times ... having now a good feel for sawing with a handsaw it will be interesting to go back to trying it in the future.
I was particularly challenged by the diagonal tail cuts ... with the saw off vertical ... but even when I angled the board.
Might try my own reading and make two lines until it becomes more accurate.

Cheers,
Paul

[IanW]

Paul, sawing the tail cuts throws you a bit at first, but it soon becomes second nature. As with any manual art, it's mostly repetition & lots of it that make you a gun sawyer.

I don't fuss too much with the tail cuts, the main thing is to keep them square - whether you cut the line out exactly is neither here nor there - no one will notice unless you really wander off line. The pins are scribed off the cut tails, if you are a 'tails first' dovetailer, and these are the really important cuts. You need to be able to cut right to the very edge of your scribed line if you want to get a water-tight fit off-saw. When doing a series of D-tails, I always start with the tail cuts. That gets my eye/hand co-ordination up to speed for the day, so I can make a reasonable job on the pin cuts (usually.... ).

Cheers