Then I cut a knife wall at the base line of each scribe mark in the waste. This is to define a clean line that your chisel shouldn't go beyond. As mentioned in the previous post Frank Klausz starts his initial chop about 1/16" away from the base line so that is what I did this time too. I normally work on a sacrificial surface as I like to minimize wear to the bench top as much as I can.
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Cutting a knife wall bu undercutting the scribe line
created by the marking gauge |
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Initial chop about 1/16" from the base line.
This is also repeated on the other side |
Excavate at the waste either by simply chopping away or as I do pairing a wedge and then chop away. Do this on both sides so you meet in the middle.
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| Paring and chopping the waste away |
Once the waste is thin enough you can chop it away and it comes out as a lump
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| A lump of waste being chopped out |
Then hold the chisel in the base line scribe and tip it slightly at a couple of degrees off vertical. The chisel handle will be sloping away from the tail board. You can then chop to the middle of the board. Turn it over and repeat and then you will have the base lines of both edges higher than the centre,
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| Chopping to the centre of the board |
Edges.
Removing the waste at the edges is just the same but this time you need to keep the chisel as near to plumb as you can. This will be seen and if you are off by a couple of degrees it will be obvious.
Start again cutting a knife wall with a chisel and then crosscut the waste away getting as close to the baseline as you can (I normally get around 1/32" away)
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| Cutting a knife wall |
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| Some paring to be done |
Now get the chisel as square as you can and simply chop (very lightly) at the waste. I normally use the same width chisel as the stock to do this.
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Chopping or paring the edge waste away
while keeping as square as possible |
You sometimes find that the saw-cuts are not deep enough so you have to push into the end grain to release the waste.
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| Paring the waste away down the angle of the dovetail |
The finished results can be really good.
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| A little cleaning up and it will be done |
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