Veritas Dovetail Saw & Guide

[Joe]

I've just come across the Veritas dovetail saw and guide on the CHT website. Looks intriguing. As someone who's only just about to really start tackling handsaws I'm sure I should learn to work freehand, but I'm curious to know people's opinions on the use of such a jig. Is the guide itself any good? Do such things help or hinder the acquisition of handsaw skills?

 

[tnimble]

I suppose you mean:

Can be very helpful to accurately saw dovetails very fast, nothing wrong using it if youre not wanting to improve your handskill or are not able to. I personally find the fixed angles to limiting.

 

[Mittlefehldt]

I saw one of these once in a class I was taking and personally I thought the saw seemed very flimsy.

I agree with tnimble it is probably okay but if you want to really develop sawing skills it is like training wheels on a bike.

 

[CONGER]

Yep... I have used the guide together with my own saws. The guide is 'fun'... it is easy to use... there are some limitations with narrower boards. The results (when the guide is applied correctly) are awesome. The DTs that I made using the guide were the finest I have ever made.

On the other hand, I confirm that the guide does nothing to improve small-motor skills. It does not improve freehand skills. I have cut a large ammount of DTs freehand, and the results get better every time... but are still of the quality 'made by hand'; still inferior to the DTs made with the guide.

I also noticed that the guide is best used with machine finished (planer / thicknesser) finished boards, as the results are intimately dependent on the board geometry; hand sawn / planed boards are less suitable. Peculiarly, the hand-sawn (eyeballed) dovetails work well with hand finished boards... something to encourage the purists.

Cut safe... ger