The Schwarz has officially lost his mind


Eric.

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Latest issue of Pop Wood...Dovetail Ruler Trick...

 

Does anyone else find it disturbing that he's condoning NAILING a ruler to one of your boards in order to assist in transferring pins or tails...leaving HOLES in your workpiece?  I think it's ridiculous, preposterous, OUTrageous (Seinfeld characters for $200, Alex).

 

Just needed to say it out loud.  It ruined my session on the toilet this morning.

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I'm one who is pretty good at seeing and appreciating snark, sarcasm, dry humor...and at one point he completely lost me as a reader. I think it was where he was saying someone had died, and it turned out to be just an inside joke that most people didn't get. Wasn't impressed.

 

Good bench builder and writer, but probably not someone I'd want to have a conversation with.

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Hmmm, well I don't really get that impression of the man.  I think I'd rather enjoy hanging out with him and picking his brain...but I just can't get on board with mutilating a workpiece for no good reason.  I mean, how about clamping a square or some kind of jig to your board instead, if you're really having that much trouble with alignment...something I haven't really found all that difficult.

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Hmmm, well I don't really get that impression of the man.  I think I'd rather enjoy hanging out with him and picking his brain...but I just can't get on board with mutilating a workpiece for no good reason.  I mean, how about clamping a square or some kind of jig to your board instead, if you're really having that much trouble with alignment...something I haven't really found all that difficult.

 

That's why I don't know if the suggestion was real or not.

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I don't think hes suggesting this is the best way to dovetail.  I think the point was that for those just starting out, cutting a crossgrain rabbet can be tricky.  Add to that the most people don't look inside drawers to see if you crossed your baselines etc.

 

I love the rabbet trick I use it on all my dovetails, that said I have a nice moving fillister plane, and a table saw (depending on the quantity of dovetails).  Even then if i make the rabbet small enough it can be hard to use for alignment, and too big and it can look goofy.  If I only wanted to use hand tools, and didn't have a plane that could cut a nice crossgrain rabbet, I would much rather have a couple pinholes on the insides than gappy dovetails (or worse a split pin board).

 

like everything it comes down to trade offs,  gappy dovetails/headache vs a couple pin holes.  But then again, I leave my baselines (though I don't over cut on the inside of half-blinds)

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Seriously though this is the issue all mags and blogs get. How do you keep it fresh and appeal to a broad range? Not possible really. Every trick, tip or method has been done before, blue tape, ruler trick, sawdust and glue :P.  I subscribed to FWW a while back and it's ok. My favorite bit in that mag is always readers projects and it was a shame to see that missing this time. Every blog I have read (including my pile o' crap), every video I watch (including my pile o'crap) every article I read has some aspect of being recycled. But that's ok, if the fundamentals are not repeated the newb will not have much joy. And a new person engages a new audience.

 

A bit more variety would be good. I would like to to see are articles on Hammer veneering for instance, inlay, guilding perhaps. Some design stuff too, history lessons and new innovative designs. But even that would be recycled over time. I have not seen the article by Mr Schwarz so I can't even visualise what nailing a ruler to something looks like. Amazon for me offers access to tons of book for next to nothing that are just fantastic. For anyone wanting something new to them take a punt on some secondhand books.

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I'm a total beginner and I can't cut dovetails ... and it isn't for at least some effort at trying, but I am still learning the skill and while I do, each practice board I cut turns into scrap. now, if I could cut some dovetails using some method that helped me learn the trick, and the only "sacrifice" I'd have to make is some small pinholes on the inside of my box or drawer, that would be an improvement over the scrapwood I'm currently making.  Not sure about anyone else but for someone like me, an 'interim' method that works might be worth it.  now I haven't read the article yet so I'm not sure how much easier this would make it for me, but still.  small nailholes would be great compared to the botched joints I've been cutting so far (I will still practice anyway, so don't take this as a whine, I know practice is the only way I will get better and that's all to the good).

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The problem is...what happens when you go to work on a "real" project, and you don't know how to transfer accurate marks without putting nail holes in your workpiece?  I guess it's a matter of opinion whether or not holes on the inside of a drawer is "okay."  My opinion is that it's sloppy, ugly work.  I think it's a disservice to beginners to give them training wheels that create bad habits.

 

It's kind of like the fence that you can get for certain handplanes (Veritas?).  Are you gonna use that fence for the rest of your life?  If not, when do you learn to use the plane without it...and why not now, if ever?

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for those that haven't read the article:  The problem he saw with most peoples dovetails was during the transfer to the second board, there are lots of ways to make it so the two don't move while you are transferring your marks.  The jist of it is that instead of  rabbeting the tail board at the baseline (helping align the two boards to transfer) you tack a ruler such that one edge is inline with the baseline...then you can push your pin board up against the ruler, registering it for marking the other side.  Basically giving yourself a "hard" baseline when transferring.The ruler technique ends up working for both tails and pins first, while the rabbet on works for tails first.

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well if you saw my current iteration of "dovetails" . . . heh.  it's all just practice to me, one day I want to cut a whole box of dovetails in 10 minutes like Paul Sellers.  maybe I'll get there by 2030 if I'm lucky.

 

[edit] Graham that's a great blog post! I just bookmarked it :D

 

Cool, there are other equally valid options :-). 

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I think any tip that will help a new guy out is ok. I can make good narrow pin hand cut look through DT's but it takes me way to long. I cut the pins with a router no problem. The sockets is where I struggle so Ive resorted to a scroll saw with a straight blade and then switch to a spiral blade, then get up to the line and fine tune with sanding strips on the scroll saw. Way to time consuming for more than a drawer or two but always turns out nice. I put the scribe line on the drawer just so people think they are really hand cut.

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