Bill Satko
Member
- Messages
- 3,222
- Location
- Methow Valley
I have always used a X-ACTO knife for marking my dovetails, but am thinking that a scalpel might be a better knife for the purpose.
My method of marking and sawing dovetails is that I transfer the tail onto the pin board by running the knife blade right against the tail, almost undercutting it, so that the resulting thin line is equal to the tail edge. This allows me to place my dovetail saw just on the waste side of the line, drawing back a little to start, allowing the saw to jump into the cut line and off I go sawing. This is a little counter to most direction you see about leaving the line as you cut, but it works perfectly for me. The key is making the line as close as possible to the tail.
The X-ACTO knife works for the process, but I have never liked how the handles hold the disposable knives. They do not clamp very well and I was thinking maybe a decent scalpel might be better. Anybody with any experience with scaplels out there that might help me in deciding if this is a good idea and what type of scaplel I should look for. I am not understanding the handle numbers and how they relate to size. Another thing is blade material, carbon steel or stainless?
My method of marking and sawing dovetails is that I transfer the tail onto the pin board by running the knife blade right against the tail, almost undercutting it, so that the resulting thin line is equal to the tail edge. This allows me to place my dovetail saw just on the waste side of the line, drawing back a little to start, allowing the saw to jump into the cut line and off I go sawing. This is a little counter to most direction you see about leaving the line as you cut, but it works perfectly for me. The key is making the line as close as possible to the tail.
The X-ACTO knife works for the process, but I have never liked how the handles hold the disposable knives. They do not clamp very well and I was thinking maybe a decent scalpel might be better. Anybody with any experience with scaplels out there that might help me in deciding if this is a good idea and what type of scaplel I should look for. I am not understanding the handle numbers and how they relate to size. Another thing is blade material, carbon steel or stainless?