Magnetic Dovetail Guides
#21
I didnt even know they had these guides when I first learned. I found I could not cut to the line with a western saw. The LN saw just didnt work for me. But I could do it with the japanese saws. Fast forward to 14 years later and I find my eyesight is not so good anymore, even with glasses. I may need one of those guides now. I am just making shop cabinets now but the first fine furniture piece will be a test for me on handcuts.
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#22
These are great 'get it done' tools.

I have only tried the Veritas and the copy is true to it's word; amateurs can get professional level results. You don't develop skills using it? true, but If I'm cutting dovetails MAYBE once a year every few years, this tool makes sense. You still have to be mindful of what you are doing with these though; you have very good control for saw kerf placement .. you can cut inside, on or outside your line but doing so is easy because the saw sticks to the guide and you can see where the teeth are to the line, adjusting the guide and locking it down without needing a third hand; I can cut exactly where I want every time. If I'm off, I can reset and get it perfect or leave it. The screw is a nice addition because the angle during the cut can pull your guide off without it.

make no mistake though ... there are still lots of things you need to know to get your dovetails to fit together even when you use this guide.

My only complaint ... you're limited in the thickness by the depth of the screw mechanism; yes sometimes I want to make dovetails in thicker than 1" materials.
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#23
(08-18-2016, 10:32 AM)Mark Allen Wrote: My only complaint ... you're limited in the thickness by the depth of the screw mechanism; yes sometimes I want to make dovetails in thicker than 1" materials.

OP here, can you remove the clamp and use the guide without it to work thicker timber?
Like 5/4?
Ag
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#24
Right now I avoid dovetails. I grew from kidhood and trained believing that any exposed joint was an abomination. Therefore, the only good DT's were full blind; ie., you see a miter. I don't think the aides work for that type of joint. And, I don't do enough to worry about a joint. They all are challenges.

No-nag, nag nag nag...... Nagless.
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#25
(08-18-2016, 04:19 PM)AgGEM Wrote: OP here, can you remove the clamp and use the guide without it to work thicker timber?
Like 5/4?
Ag

Yes, you can remove the part that has the screw to do thicker parts, but then you either have to hold the guide in place by hand or try to clamp it down. It's a little inconvenient, especially if you are trying to hit your line exactly but it can be done.
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#26
(08-19-2016, 08:50 AM)Mark Allen Wrote: Yes, you can remove the part that has the screw to do thicker parts, but then you either have to hold the guide in place by hand or try to clamp it down. It's a little inconvenient, especially if you are trying to hit your line exactly but it can be done.

TY!
Ag
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#27
Save money, save time, learn to saw to a line. Being able to saw to your line takes practice, but it really can be done. And once you do, your speed will pick up, and you'll find that just sawing to the line is about the most efficient operation you can do in your shop.

I see jigs and guides very much like training wheels on a bike. They can help you gain a little confidence at first, but eventually you have to take them off or you end up being very limited in what you can do. And when you DO take them off, there's still a learning curve. Use the training wheels right at first to get your confidence up, but the quicker you can discard them and ride by yourself, the better.
Steve S.
------------------------------------------------------
Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
- T. S. Eliot

Tutorials and Build-Alongs at The Literary Workshop
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#28
I've tried these and consider them effective, but do not use them. In my opinion these guides demonstrate the unsung virtue if good Japanese saws; they track straight right out of the box.

If uniform dovetails are to be cut in a carcasse, a simple woodrn guide that runs the full depth of your chosen saw will make this simpler. There's a recent posting from Paul Sellers illustrating this. He demonstrated it in our 9 day class and it eliminates spacing errors while ensuring the saw tracks perpendicular to the board in surgery.

I find the guides induce positioning errors, either a twist or off the dedired angle.

If I'm cutting many dovetails, a template board is faster.
If I'm cutting few dovetails, free hand is faster.

Either way, a saw that tracks straight makes it MUCH easier.
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#29
This sounds so much like a jig/no jig sharpening thread.  Nothing is ever resolved, except in the minds of each poster, who invariably thinks his way is best.  If the job gets done, what difference does it make?  It really comes down to a matter of respecting the question/comment posed by the original poster.  

I was in a Woodcraft store yesterday, and they had probably a dozen dovetailed "corners" on display done by Rob Cosman over years of his dovetail classes at the store.  Each was perfect...so perfect that they looked like they might have been cut using a jig of some sort.  So, does it matter if the dovetails were cut by Rob Cosman or David Barron? No. They look the same and probably took about the same amount of effort and time. Pick a method and stay with it.  Success will come down to doing many repetitions using whatever method.
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#30
(08-21-2016, 05:55 PM)Mike Brady Wrote: This sounds so much like a jig/no jig sharpening thread.  Nothing is ever resolved, except in the minds of each poster, who invariably thinks his way is best.  If the job gets done, what difference does it make?  It really comes down to a matter of respecting the question/comment posed by the original poster.  

I was in a Woodcraft store yesterday, and they had probably a dozen dovetailed "corners" on display done by Rob Cosman over years of his dovetail classes at the store.  Each was perfect...so perfect that they looked like they might have been cut using a jig of some sort.  So, does it matter if the dovetails were cut by Rob Cosman or David Savage? No. They look the same and probably took about the same amount of effort and time. Pick a method and stay with it.  Success will come down to doing many repetitions using whatever method.

Mike,
Thank you for your sage comments.
Ag
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