Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Making dovetails with the scroll saw

Among the less well-known capabilities of the scroll saw is the ability to do a large part of the cutting for dovetails.  The result is often much neater than can be done with a handsaw and chisels.

There is one important limitation: while all components of the tailboard and the sides of the pinboard can be cut with the scroll saw, the portion of the pinboard between the pins must be cut out with a chisel because the scroll saw cannot make the angled cut that is needed.

Here's a photo of a tailboard that will become one side of a small drawer.  I tried my best to keep the cutting as regular as possible, and am quite satisfied with the results.




1 comment:

  1. You are a Scroll Saw God! I have a ton of respect for you. Thank you, I can’t say that enough. You’ve challenged me in ways I didn’t know was possible in making bowls. I love the look on ppl’s faces when I tell them I make bowls on my scroll saw. “Huh? How do you do that?” I just grin and say “it’s magic!”

    ReplyDelete