Just a few looks at what I came up with for those leftovers from the Cedar Chest.Ain't they purdy?Just a little 10" by 10" box.   Clamp is there to keep the box off the tabletop while I varnished it.   Not too bad for the first try at these handcut dovetails?  I used both a bandsaw, and a backsaw, to cut things out.   Cleaned up with a chisel. and sanded flush.   Knob was a leftover from another job, centered on the lid.   Sorry Ralph, too small for a breadboard edge on this one.

Very nicely done.

Nice dovetails Steve. Nice rescue of a few pieces of leftover.

 

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks

 That old Stanley backsaw had a kink in the blade, had to straighten the thing out.    Then I took an oil stone to the blade.  Just ran right alongside the teeth.   At the end of  a cut, I can let go of the saw, and it will stay there, no wiggles.   I basically took 99% of the "set" out of the saw's teeth.     As for chopping out the waste, a couple chops on one side, then the rest of the chops were done from the other side.  No "saw guide" was used, other than an old set of "Mark 1" eyeballs.    

 

Normally, when I handsaw some wood, I split the line ( a habit of mine) but on dovetails, I soon learned to leave the line.  After the first ones, I started to mark WHICH side was the WASTE side of the lines, and to leave the lines intact.  Kind of hard to break old habits.  What I could cut on the bandsaw, I used that.   The other cuts were done in my vise by hand. 

 

Practice, practice,and more practice, sheesh!.     I used a bit more glue than needed, and used some sanding dust to fill in the "bad" dovetails.   Everything was then sanded down flush.   Again, this was my First set of these things.   Maybe not the last, we'll see....

 I still have plenty of that scrap left, maybe a few more boxes?    Maybe some better (finer) dovetails?     I just picked up a second Stanley backsaw, this one doesn't have a kink in it.   That trick with the oil stone does remove some of the "set" in the teeth, but what remains makes for a sharper blade.  No wobble, either.   Biggest thing I've found out, was to mark ALL sides of the board.   Marked with....just a very sharp pencil.   While it might be nice to "knife" the marks, I can't see them.  I'll keep at this little skill, maybe I MIGHT get a wee bit better as I go along.  

 

I figure I'm about halfway down that LONG, SLIPPERY SLOPE to becoming a Neanderthal Woodworker.   No electrons are needed down there, just plenty a MANUAL energy.   It might even be FUN!

Good luck Steve. Dovetails are all practice. Lots of sawing and chopping. I found unless I do it everyday, you always mess up when starting to do them again after some time away. Might just be me.

No it';s not just you Bob, it's not like riding a bicycle. I am the same way, I have cut a hand full of DT"s and got pretty good at it, don't do if for a few months or even a year these days, and it's like starting over for me. But I guess maybe if you cut thousands of them, then maybe your able to break away for a few months and come back as if nothing changed. I don't know, I've never cut thousands. 

Bob Kloes said:

Good luck Steve. Dovetails are all practice. Lots of sawing and chopping. I found unless I do it everyday, you always mess up when starting to do them again after some time away. Might just be me.

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

With me, I have to do things with my hands, then the brain remembers.    Then the next time around, brain kicks in with any "updates" learned.    I'll go back and re-work an old chisel, so that it works better.    A newer saw was added, just needs to be stoned.   Maybe a template of sorts will be made?    Right now, just by eyeball for the layouts.  I might go back and watch Roy Underhill do some, his way.    He set up a bevel gauge, using a framing square, to get the 1:6 angles.    More fun!