Why does Paul use a 1:7 pitch for dovetails?
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Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Woodworking Methods and Techniques / Why does Paul use a 1:7 pitch for dovetails?
I have been playing with different angles for dovetails lately. Paul recommends a 1:7 or 8 degree angle. Visually, I don’t think that looks pleasing. I prefer something with a higher angle. I have settled around 13 degrees is what I think looks best.
Whenever an experience person gives me advice, I typically take it under the guise of “He knows more than I do, so I will trust him” Is there a structural reason to use a lower angles like 8 degrees instead of the 13 degrees I find *looks* better?
I guess to get to the point, I am making my toolchest and I like the look of stepper angles. Do dovetails get weaker as they get steeper? Do I need to be worried about snapping a tail or pin if I do it? Why do craftsman of old use a 1:7 pitch? (For reference, I am using something like 1:5.5)
I say do what ever looks best to you! Who cares. I just eyeball mine anyways…and changed to pins first…so I’m probably not the one to recommend anything!
From what I gathered mostly by reading, I think 1:6 is preferably used for softwood and 1:8 for hardwood. 1:7 is probably a good compromise so you can use the same template for all your dovetails. If you have a structural extremely important dovetail, I imagine it might make a difference, but for common use I suppose with well done joins, anything around this should work fine.