Reply To: Veritas vs Lie Nielsen dovetail saw

Having size 8 hands (US medium), I find the Lie-Nielsen saw handles preferable to the Veritas’ ones, which I suspect are more comfortable to those with wider palms. The LN also cuts more aggressively, but as dovetails often – perhaps mostly – are shallow, that doesn’t matter very much to me.

Two things that might matter are widths of the dovetail joints and if a dovetail saw-guide is to be used. Using a coping/fret saw to remove the waste, I suppose becomes more attractive as the width of the waste increases. For these wider, and usually deeper joints, the thicker kerf of the Pax 1776 dovetail saw makes turning the blade of the coping saw a lot easier for my awkward hands.

Secondly, I don’t mind using a dovetail saw guide, particularly on thinner material. As Mr David Charlesworth demonstrates in one of his woodworking videos, using a western saw with a guide can provide quite accurate an precise results; which can be somewhat improved by the use of a Japanese saw. As those pull-saws can be found at more modest prices; including a guide could potentially be within reach – particularly when posed against a Bad Axe Tool Works Stiletto dovetail saw, which I am quite keen on. After all, one cannot have too many dovetail saws, can one…