33 Comments

  1. I made one of these, following Paul’s guidance, about a year and a half ago when I started making dovetails. I’ve used it on every set of dovetails (about 25 drawers) I’ve made since and it works great. Handy, simple to use and make. Love it!

  2. Same here. The first one I made was from a piece of wood with very erratic grain which looked nice but didn’t result in repeatable angles *grin*. I’ve later made one from a piece of very nice straight oak from an old table leg and it works beautifully.

    I’m on my 4th dovetailed project (a tool tote) so lots to learn, but the template does make it easier.

  3. Would it be better to over cut the tendon cuts with the saw to leave a little area for debris to go when placing the gauge up against a surface. This way the gauge would always register against the faces solidly with no chance that an errant corner touches the inside corner of the gauge and throws the line off.

    It seems that a little gap of say 0.5-1mm or so in the inside corner of the registration faces might be a good idea.

    Carl

  4. I like this version compared to the other video of you out there making one in 10 minutes for a small group. I learned something important while watching this video–and I love that you really get people to think about wood and engaging the senses and it has gotten me to think more about the process and how and why the wood behaves when tools are applied. Anyway, it dawned on me while you were paring the cheeks that you were chiseling across the grain. For whatever reason, I’ve been paring down the grain of the cheeks, not even thinking about it. Then I noticed you paring cross-grain and I had to stop an think about how that might impact the output. Sure enough, a few minutes later you pared down grain and quickly stopped when you noticed you were going against the grain (which I assume would mean a high risk of tear-out or an otherwise flawed face), and returned to cross grain cutting. Lesson learned.

    I also noticed a minor scratch on your hand and I wondered what your worst injury ever was–and if it was with a hand tool or a power tool?

    Thanks for all of the videos. You are a tremendous resource.

  5. Great template Paul. I still have my first one, fashioned back in 2005 when you and Joseph were here in Texas. I’ve made a number of them in cherry, walnut, white oak and keep them spread around my shop, handy at all times. Came in handy once more on my fourth set of bookends this week. Thanks for the continued kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (per Paul in Colossians 3:12).

  6. I would say that if you are not currently paying, you are not able to access any of the paid content. As far as downloading videos, I think you are only allowed to download videos that are released while you are paying–nothing prior to, as that would encourage someone to sign up, download everything and then cancel, depriving Mr. Sellers and team of the financial rewards that they have worked so hard to get (while providing such a great service to us). If you have cancelled your membership and then re-instated it, I imagine you have just restarted your clock at zero.

  7. Who else stopped to figure out what 1/3rd of 7/8 was when it came up in the video? Yes, I have to omit I did, For those who are able to stay more focused, I’ll save you the effort, it is 7/24th. Now, try and find that on a tape measure?
    I am continually reminded of the need to switch to the metric system here in the states

    1. Tad,
      Why torture yourself.
      Draw a straight line, measure over 7/8 inch, draw a parallel line. Place a rulers 1 inch mark on the first line set the 4 inch mark on the second line and mark at the 2 inch mark.
      Set the marking gauge to the distance between the first line and the 2 inch dot.
      Took about 30 seconds.

      Bobs your uncle
      Craig

  8. Some retain maths better than others! ;). You could decide fractions, sure, but as you point out, the resulting measurement is not easily transcribed from a ruler of any kind. But Craig is right, the easiest approach by far is to simply do rise/run and connect the points. The correct angle will take care of itself.

  9. “I am continually reminded of the need to switch to the metric system here in the states”

    I’m reading my metric calipers.
    I have no idea how to use it to divide 22.225 mm in Thirds.
    That’s what is equivalent to 7/8”.

    Maybe you can tell us how the metric system makes this easier.

    1. I don’t think we’re looking at exact measurements here. Paul says about a third. So for 7/8th stock, that would be 1/4 inch plus a bit. If you want exactly 1/3rd then there are ways of doing that with geometry: no measurement required.

      It’s the same with the dovetail angle. The angle is not critical as long as it’s the same on the pins and tails.

      In my view, the difference between hand work and machine work is just this. The exact measurement in inches or centimeters is not important. The joints and pieces of the project are sized to fit rather than being machined to a thousandth of an inch.

      1. Peter, I agree you on the degree of accuracy required for this project. TLAR= that looks about right is what I have noticed in many of these videos. If you have a gauge that is equally made on both sides it’s correctly made. Life’s too short to get the slide rule and micrometers out for a hobby in wood. Titanium and milling machine maybe, but not handsaws.

  10. 6″ x 2″ x 2″ Patagonian Rosewood / use of same hand tool methods as Paul Sellers. CA-glued end grain for strength against splitting. Use of such a dense, wildly figured material was an adventure, but it worked out. Just had to slow down and make sure the tools were kept sharp during the whole process. I would suggest making one first out of a softer hard wood (perhaps cherry), at 1:6, then make a 2nd one at 1:7 with a fancier, denser hardwood. Thanks to Paul Sellers for this!

    1. Hi Michael,

      Paul says:
      The smaller the component the more exacting it becomes as you don’t have a large surface of wood to register the plane against. So it could be you, if you don’t have good experience using hand planes.

      Kind Regards,
      Izzy

  11. I’ve been watching Paul’s content for about three years now, and it’s up to this point that I’m barely getting the courage to give this a try. I’m not very confident in my skills (specially when it comes to sharpening tools, but Paul’s the right man to encourage anyone to start into woodworking.

    Best regards from Mexico.

Leave a Reply