Dovetails My Way

Having recently obtained the Veritas DT Saw Guide, I finally got my chance to use it on a project and I must say that I like it. It speeds things up and does a great job of making this task easier. Cheating? Maybe, but it is still done by hand and . . .
First off, I need to thank the Limester for his fine tutorial some time back on chopping out the waste. Additionally, thanks go to Lonnie Bird and the recent magazine article on tricks of cutting DTs. One tip he related that I've found particularly helpful is to cut a saw kerf or two in the waste area to facilitate waste removal. Having already cut the tails (I'm a tail first guy) before breaking out the camera, I will only speak a short bit on layout. First off, though lots of folks like to make extremely small pins, I find that taken to the extreme the strength of the joint suffers. Logic tells me that those skinny pins leave very little wood on the pin board which would be easily broken so . . .
My layout method involves sort of guesstimation and a couple or three chisels of different widths. I lay out the half tails at each end of the tail board using a 3/8" (maybe wider, maybe narrower depending on the width of the board) to mark these in from each end. I then use a chisel of a different size to mark for the pin socket, indexing to the edge of the mark made for the half tails. Then using another chisel I mark for the width of the first full tail on each side. I continue doing it in this manner, alternating chisels and working toward the middle until I have either a pin or tail of a size that is pleasing left in the middle between two pins or tails depending on how it works out. Sometimes I'll make all the tails the same size and all the pins a bit smaller, but each of the same size. Other times I may need to make either or both smaller or larger using different chisels as gauges in order to get a pleasing result.
Cutting and chopping the sockets on the tail board is done in the same manner as will be shown down below for cutting and chopping the sockets on the pin board, so I'll get on with marking the pin board from the tail board. Though I see folks in magazines and on the tube simply holding the tail or pin board against the other to mark the pins or tails, I've not been able to be very successful doing it that was so I clamp a square (actually rectangular) scrap piece to the tail board which is held in the vise as in this pic.

Note that the top edge of the scrap piece is flush with the base line of the tails. I then clamp the pin board in position agains the tail board as it will be orient when I assemble the finished joint like this.

Make sure that the edges are flush to each other. This is what it looks like from the business end.

Note the number "3" and the arrow drawn on the outside face of each piece. Every joint is custom made to fit its particular counterpart, and these markings allow me to keep track of everything. Nothing is quite so frustrating as to finish up a complete set of joints only to find that the pin board has been cut with the pins at opposing ends being backward to each other, or to find that the wrong pin board has been matched to the wrong tail board. I mark the pieces on what will be the exterior of the box every time. Being consistent in how you mark things leads to less confusion.

I use this home made striking knife to mark the pins from the tail board.

It is made from an old tailed jointer knife and some scraps. Having the arrowhead sort of shape, it is ambidexterous, allowing marking both on the right and on the left. Another benefit to greater than miniscule pin sockets is that the larger ones are easier to get into to mark.

Here is the marked out pin board clamped into the vise.

Note I have marked the waste areas with an "X" so I don't cut out the wrong stuff. I also wait to mark the base lines on the tail board using a Veritas wheel gauge until I've marked the piece for cutting. Though some prefer to leave the base line visible in their finished product so folks can tell the joint is hand cut, I prefer to not have mine visible. Folks to whom it would matter will be able to tell the joint was hand cut with or without the telltale marks, and I prefer to not have to remove so much wood to erase them. So I mark them where they are needed and skip the rest.

So now everything is marked and ready to cut. The guide has a little sort of inlet at the base which allows you to get the line positioned in reference to the guide. If your marks were dead against the tails, you'll want to cut just on the waste side of the line, so the guide is set accordingly. This pic shows the guide set and clamped in position for the cut.

Here is the piece with all of the cuts having been made. You need to start the saw at an angle to the edge and then bring it to level as you make the cut being careful to cut only to the baselines on each face of the board.

Note the kerf cuts in the waste areas. Your baseline needs to wrap around the edges of the board so that you can cut the base for the half tail sockets on the edges with the saw.

Now we're ready to start chopping. I found that the monster Hirsch Mortice chisel works quite well for this hogging portion of the process.

If you look real close at the pic you can see that the tip of the chisel is set back slightly ~ 1/16 - 1/8 inch from the base line in the waste area.

This shows the chisel after a good smack with a mallet and maybe you can see the location of the chisel better, although at this point the chisel has moved slightly toward the base line as it was driven into the wood. The first chisel position, on the narrower face of the tail socket was directly adjacent to the cut on one side of the socket. A second blow was issued with the chisel adjacent to the other edge of the socket.

The next pic below shows the next chisel position after it has been rapped again.

Again the chisel moves toward the base line and the previous cut as it is driven into the wood. Again the chisel was set next to one edge of the socket, then moved over to the other edge for another smack. This second row of cuts are in the manner you would use to start cutting a mortice and the chisel moves toward the base line and the first row of cuts as it is driven into the wood creating a void that is then cleaned out for the next row of blows. These are place flush against the void created by the first row. Using this monster chisel, I've found that the chisel is driven deep enough on the initial side that the board can be flipped and the same process gone through on the other side. The difference is that you are working on the wider side, so the chisel must be tilted at an angle to correspond with that of the slope of the saw cut as can be seen in the pic below.

This is the third row of chisel cuts done in the manner of the earlier ones on the opposing side and the kerf cut in the waste allows that side of the waste to pop out.

Now it is time to pare to the base line which is done with a very sharp paring chisel. The important thing to keep in mind when paring is to keep the chisel perpendicular to the face of the board in order to obtain a flat perpendicular floor to the socket. Work part way through from one side, then flip the board and finish from the other side so as not to get tearout. The following pic shows the paring having been completed.

Note that there is some crushing of the fibers on the inside. This is a function of chisels that were in need of a touchup as well as the easily torn grain of the Willow being used in this project. Not what I prefer to end up with, but not visible when the joint is assembled and it really does not affect the strength of the joint to any extent as the long grain to long grain areas on the sides of the joints carry the glue bond.

Here is one view of the assembled joint.

A few light mallet taps were neccessary to assemble it, and I would normally not drive it home at this point since I need to take it apart to add other joinery to the pieces for the final product.

Here is another view of the assemble joint.

As you can see, the two joints on the left are not close completely, but a bit of clamping pressure on assembly will remedy that.