Subject: Re: bandsaw joinery?

From: [email-masked] (Doug Dawson)
Date: 29 Mar 1997 21:23:40 GMT

<[email-masked]> wrote:

>Dovetail sawing with consistent angles across a panel looks tricky. Maybe
>extending the layout lines for easier sighting would make it easier?

   I've cut some dovetails with the bandsaw in the past.  It's one
   way of doing it.  My main complaint about it is that the result
   is too uniform for my tastes, re. the angles etc..  ( Of course
   this is done with a table that tilts in both directions. )
   If you really, _really_ want to cut dovetails by machine, this may
   be the most respectable way of doing it, maybe the easiest and
   closest to hand methods - heck, it's just a motorized frame saw.
   The principal technical liability of it, is that the width of the
   panel you're dovetailing is just too narrow for alot of work
    - generally less than 14" on the 14" Delta unit.  Unless you
   totally marked out everything on both sides of the boards, which
   again gets you into troubles of excessive uniformity.  It's just
   too mechanical for fine work, and you have to contort yourself
   to get it otherwise. ;^)

   FWIW, the kerf is too wide, as well.  Kind of limiting.

   Doug Dawson
   [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 20:11:03 -0600

>    is too uniform for my tastes, re. the angles etc..  ( Of course

Krenov's later pieces use slightly curved dovetails.  Effect is very
nice, a bit sharper, more deliberate, in appearance.  A bandsaw looks to
be a natural for the aproach.  In other words, if the joints look too
"uniform", slack off a bit.  You're in control, you always have the final
say; router jigs don't give you that option unless you want to do some
customizing, perhaps to the point of making your own templates and
regrinding cutters.

>    closest to hand methods - heck, it's just a motorized frame saw.

Layout technique stays the same.  Scribed baseline, penciled tails. 
Sawing becomes easier, no risk of overcutting on the reverse side of the
lumber, no blade going out of skew from wear or unseen damage.	Cutting
is done with a blade under tension, just like with good Japanese
carpenter's saws.  Joint sockets are still done with a chisel dropped
into the scribe line.

>     - generally less than 14" on the 14" Delta unit.  Unless you

Still, that's a 28" panel.

>    too mechanical for fine work, and you have to contort yourself

Would a scroll saw work for finer work?  (Maybe larger work, too. 
Hmmm....)

>    FWIW, the kerf is too wide, as well.  Kind of limiting.

Hate to say it, but I haven't found a saw with a kerf thin enough for
joinery. Cut to the side of the line, as always.

>    [email-masked]

PS: Did some finger joints on a table saw last night.  Used an offcut
box, no jig, just eyeballed the kerf on the bottom of the box with the
layout line on the board and pushed it through the blade.  Worked well
enough that the joint slid together _backwards_ as _well_ as forwards. 
Those expensive Incra foil rules with the slots actually work!

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From: [email-masked] (Bennett Leeds)
Date: 1 Apr 1997 18:49:56 GMT

Doug Dawson writes
>    this is done with a table that tilts in both directions. )

There's nothing to stop one from changing the table angle and spacing as 
you go. You also don't need a table that tilts both ways if you're
willing to build a simple jig.

>    again gets you into troubles of excessive uniformity.

It's certainly more trouble to mark everything out on both sides, but that
doesn't mean anything has to be more uniform.

>    FWIW, the kerf is too wide, as well.  Kind of limiting.

Yeah, it's wider than Dozuki, but much narrower than a tablesaw and quite
a bit narrower than a router. Not bad for many applications, IMHO.

- Bennett Leeds
[email-masked]

Opinions are mine alone.