Popular Woodworking 2007-06 № 162, страница 67

Out of the Woodwork

The Quest for the Holy Tail

Klausz, Kirby ... or WoodRat?

The sacred dovetail, the Holy Grail of woodworking, done by hand, marks ascension from Shop Sweeper to Master Craftsman. Pins first or tails first: that is the question. Are you a Frank Klausz man or an Ian Kirby man? Do you practice for hours cutting lines and chopping waste? Have you run in to the house to show an uninterested spouse your first gapless effort? "That's nice, dear." Hand-cut dovetails make woodworking a more frustrating pursuit than golf.

So here I am, with morning coffee, in my cushy brown recliner, surrounded by crenelated parapets of woodworking magazines, articles and dovetail videos. Tail-first occupies the left side, Pins-first the right. A Hungarian-accented Klausz speaks from the video: "Let me show you how I do this. First cut the pins, then chop the pins. Then mark the tails then ..."

After a few gulps of Kona, I decide to see what Kirby's side offers. Tails are a harder cut. If you tackle them first and use them to mark the pins, you solve a major problem of precise angle cutting later. Makes sense. However, because you need to know the angle to cut, you "mark out" the tails first. Now we are into slopes, angles, more tools and calculating.

Finally, my coffee finished, I head to the garage. Excuse me, the woodshop. Only my wife still calls it the garage. Warm-ups take the form of cutting pins. When made well, they are the George Clooney of wooden dentures. Mine, however, resemble jack-o'-lantern teeth.

Saw, saw, cut, cut, chop, chop . I follow Klausz first. My result suffers from Acute Gaposis. In frustration I turn to Kirby and the tails-first method. It goes like this: Measure, mark, saw, saw, cut, cut, saw or chop ... Again, Acute Gaposis. Then, the First Truth of dovetailing reveals itself.

First Truth: Step One is always perfect!

When I followed Klausz my pins were perfect. When I followed Kirby my tails were perfect. The problem was always in Step Two. Acute Gaposis comes from not matching Step Two to Step One.

Restating the problem: What is the best way to match the sides of the dovetail surfaces in the Second Step? I gathered a few extraneous tools off my workbench and set them on my WoodRat.

Oh, did I mention that I have a Wood-Rat? For a small shop like mine a WoodRat is indispensable. And, it makes dovetails. Today's project, however, was making great dovetails by hand. So the WoodRat became a convenient shelf. Besides, what woodworker worth his or her salt can't make dovetails by hand - other than me ?

After making some angle templates out of scrap hardwood, I begin to mark and cut

by Dick Mallard

Dick is a businessman, educator and former flight instructor. Five years ago, he rediscovered woodworking, five decades removed from his 8th-grade woodshop.

Illustration by Pat Lewis

tails first. Kirby would have you remove the waste in a pin hole with a coping saw. Well, that didn't work very well. Chopping with a chisel worked better, but chopping is difficult if the pin is narrow.

I looked at my WoodRat for guidance. "Mr. WoodRat how would you solve this problem?"

Turning my eyes up into the blinding halogen shop light - an epiphany.

Do the first step - tails - on the Wood-Rat. It is already set for perpendicular mor-tise-and-tenon cuts. Step One is the least critical test of the craftsman. The pin holes will smile through the tails and the rest is done by hand. Mark the pins and they will be straightforward to hand cut with your dovetail saw. Chop the waste between the pins and you're done.

So with the WoodRat and its dovetail router bit, I've found my Holy Grail - a method of creating George Clooney dovetails before I'm too old to enjoy this wonderful pastime. And best of all, it is a solution guaranteed to upset almost everyone. PW

10

Popular Woodworking June 2007