prov163 Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 Tonight I decided to try to cut some dovetails and quickly learned that what I really need first is to develop good sawing skills. What sawing exercises do you recommend to develop those skills? And do you have a recommendation for videos that show those skills? I know Marc uses one regularly but don't recall a specific video. I have a Lie-Nielsen tapered carcass saw if that matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 Practice cutting dovetails in poplar or pine, something cheap. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wnaziri Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 Shannon Rogers at renaissancewoodworker has some great tutorial on using handsaws. I found them very helpful when I bought my nice saws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjk Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 Shannon's videos are very helpful. In addition to his (http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com/), also check out Paul Sellers (https://paulsellers.com/woodworking-blog/paul-sellers-blog/) and Christopher Schwarz's old post http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/chris-schwarz-blog/how-to-saw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prov163 Posted October 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 The Schwarz articles were excellent. I'm considering joining Hand Tool School first of the year. I went into the shop tonight, grabbed a piece of scrap, drew some lines on the face and end, used my marking knife and a chisel to define a kerf, then sawed. I was amazed at how well it went. It's true that letting the weight of the saw do the work makes a huge difference. More practice I store, but I can quickly see the draw of handsaw work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 I feel that getting the information on proper technique is good as a baseline but as far as an exercise to get better at sawing, is sawing. And keep in mind, practice doesn't make purpose, perfect practice makes perfect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 I've never given any thought to mechanics of how to use a hand saw, but in my experience with the good people I've seen who instinctively could use a small backsaw, every one of them had spent a lot of time using a handsaw (full sized). I used a handsaw many times before I ever picked up a small backsaw. All these guys had spent years (including me) using a miter box with a long backsaw before ever finding a power miter saw to their liking. Some of these guys died before there ever was such a thing as a good powered miter saw.I was the only one in these groups of guys who owned small backsaws. Any one of these guys could pick one up and cut right to the line with one right off.With that in mind, I'm thinking it's better to spend the first practice time by sawing with a regular handsaw. Of course, you need a sharp one. All of the old guys I'm talking about could sharpen a handsaw too. If you can cut to a fine line with a handsaw, you can do it with a small backsaw. Just get a 2x6 and cut it up in 1/2" slices to start with. Check how square your cut is as you go, and shoot for square, and cut right to the line, or take half of the line drawn with a sharp no. 3 pencil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumberninja Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 (edited) I built one of these recently and it sped up my dovetail layout time as well as gave me good practice. You could make a couple for different angles for more practice. https://paulsellers.com/2011/12/making-the-paul-sellers-dovetail-template/ Edited November 6, 2015 by lumberninja Link fail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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