# think dovetails are hard?



## thetyreman (6 Dec 2018)

try this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aze8IcksD14


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## dzj (6 Dec 2018)

Exercise in futility.


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## tony_s (6 Dec 2018)

I was unable to watch the whole thing because the amount of times he says "yeah" started to get on my nerves. 
Clearly a very talented craftsman imho


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## Chris152 (6 Dec 2018)

tony_s":2v4uc3uv said:


> I was unable to watch the whole thing because the amount of times he says "yeah" started to get on my nerves.
> Clearly a very talented craftsman imho


Yeah, I agree - very irritating.


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## Alder (6 Dec 2018)

The "yeah" might be irritating but a level of skill to be proud of nevertheless.
Russell


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## Tasky (6 Dec 2018)

That looks very narrow and delicate... Is there much strength in this joint? It looks like it could quite easily twist and shear right off.


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## dzj (6 Dec 2018)

Tasky":2y1i708e said:


> That looks very narrow and delicate... Is there much strength in this joint? It looks like it could quite easily twist and shear right off.


A bit stronger than a butt joint.


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## Nico Adie (6 Dec 2018)

I thought this was going to be Al Breed showing his dovetail cutting style! 

https://www.instagram.com/al.breed/

Nothing like watching a proper master at work.


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## craigs (25 Dec 2018)

sunrise dovetail, kats moses does it with far less "yeah"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR0qXQMjfUI&t

he Also credit Theo Cooks video


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## tony_s (25 Dec 2018)

Yeah?


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## peter-harrison (27 Dec 2018)

This is my hardest woodwork joint. It takes three days to do.


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## thetyreman (27 Dec 2018)

peter-harrison":sxxy6uid said:


> View attachment 11
> 
> This is my hardest woodwork joint. It takes three days to do.



=D> =D> =D> 

amazing


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## custard (27 Dec 2018)

I don't doubt that it's a tricky joint. But to regard any joint as a litmus test of skill is to completely misunderstand the reality of cabinet making. 

A piece of furniture can contain scores of joints, and hundreds of individual processes. But the final piece will only be as good as the worst executed one of those hundreds of steps. So in some respects cabinet making is like ten pin bowling or clay pigeon shooting, success isn't about one event, it's about consistently great results with zero slips across hundreds or thousands of iterations.

This chair (if you made it as a one off) takes nearly a thousand hours, but the quality is really about the least competent 60 seconds in all that time. Because I'd judge my own performance building it on the worst joint, the worst process, the worst glue-up, or the worst component. Once you've gotten your head around that woodworking reality you stop being impressed by individual virtuoso joints no matter how complex!


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## thetyreman (27 Dec 2018)

it's like art, just focusing on somebody's face and being impressed by the detail, instead of the bigger picture which sets the mood, tone, colour palette, would that be a fair analogy custard? every part is a part of the whole.


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## Just4Fun (27 Dec 2018)

custard":cvtqidju said:


> But the final piece will only be as good as the worst executed one of those hundreds of steps.


That is so true. Even at my limited skill level it only takes one slip to mess up a whole piece. Unfortunately in my pieces there is rarely just one slip


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## johnnyb (30 Dec 2018)

Agree it's really a house of cards. Many fairly simple repetitions results in quality. A cock up early on results in stress.
A joint or process can lead the build but on it's own it's nothing just an exercise. 
In fact that mantra can be applied to much building work ie bathrooms kitchens extensions etc.
The best are when one man can achieve a consistent level of quality across the board or one company can do the same. The worst are when several mediocre trades are doing it cheaply as and when to fill in.


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## thick_mike (30 Dec 2018)

craigsalisbury":tgjugga0 said:


> sunrise dovetail, kats moses does it with far less "yeah"
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR0qXQMjfUI&t
> 
> he Also credit Theo Cooks video



Though this one is fanned the opposite (wrong) way. The visual appeal of the original joint is the way the rays fan out to the edge. Mad skillz though (as the kids say).


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