Cutting to the line

[transatlantic]

Cutting to the line, or cutting 0.5mm away from the line and cleaning up with a chisel. Discuss!

My opinion as a beginner, is that I am going to use the latter, as then I can still get practise of cutting to a line (it's just offset) and if I do balls it up, it's not the end of the world as I am going to pair it away anyway. And then maybe a some point I can do away with the pairing.

 

[F Flinstone]

A old friend of mine was a pattern maker, he helped my cut down a caravan door, he asked me if I wanted the cut, to the left or to the right, or the line out :? I told him to just cut the bloody thing.

 

[MikeG.]

Depends on the circumstances. With an "show" joint in a piece of furniture, cut clear of the incised line and clean up with a chisel. With a bit of studwork (walling) never to be seen again, cut to the correct side of the line. Measure......mark........measure your mark......decide as a result whether you are taking the line, middle of the line, the line is waste, or line plus.

 

[Glynne]

Cutting to the line, or cutting 0.5mm away from the line and cleaning up with a chisel. Discuss!

My opinion as a beginner, is that I am going to use the latter, as then I can still get practise of cutting to a line (it's just offset) and if I do balls it up, it's not the end of the world as I am going to pair it away anyway. And then maybe a some point I can do away with the pairing.

If you can cut that accurately then cut to the line!
If you're worried about cuuting to a line rather than on a line, try some blue tape and mark your line with a knife. Remove the waste side and you can use the remaining tape to register your saw kerf. Probably not purist but some really good makers on here use the technique for dovetails.

 

[8squared]

Cut away from the line

feel good doing so

loose concentration

cut right onto the line

make a swift move away from the line

realise i've gone to far and go back close to the line

reapeat

give up and just cut whatever wiggly pattern i feel like

spend ages sanding

sigh then go and make a cup of tea.

 

[Bodgers]

If you are using a knife line, the line ends up being the cut end, full stop. No ambiguity.

Cutting to the line, or cutting 0.5mm away from the line and cleaning up with a chisel. Discuss!

My opinion as a beginner, is that I am going to use the latter, as then I can still get practise of cutting to a line (it's just offset) and if I do balls it up, it's not the end of the world as I am going to pair it away anyway. And then maybe a some point I can do away with the pairing.

 

[woodbloke66]

Cutting to the line, or cutting 0.5mm away from the line and cleaning up with a chisel. Discuss!

My opinion as a beginner, is that I am going to use the latter, as then I can still get practise of cutting to a line (it's just offset) and if I do balls it up, it's not the end of the world as I am going to pair it away anyway. And then maybe a some point I can do away with the pairing.

If you can cut that accurately then cut to the line!

Yep, cut to the the line, but on the waste side, so that the line should just be visible.
If say, cutting dovetails, how you cut the tails isn't crucial; you can afford to be a little bit sloppy. However, as the pins are marked out from the tails, it's absolutely critical that the pins are cut as accurately as possible. If it's done properly, the joint will go together with a few taps from a light mallet with no need for any chiseling work to make the thing fit. Beware though, dovetails only fit once, so when testing the fit, the joint should only be tapped together part way - Rob

 

[transatlantic]

If you are using a knife line, the line ends up being the cut end, full stop. No ambiguity.

Cutting to the line, or cutting 0.5mm away from the line and cleaning up with a chisel. Discuss!

My opinion as a beginner, is that I am going to use the latter, as then I can still get practise of cutting to a line (it's just offset) and if I do balls it up, it's not the end of the world as I am going to pair it away anyway. And then maybe a some point I can do away with the pairing.

Ah yes, I am talking about a knife line. Personally, I can't imagine myself ever being able to cut to a knife line.

 

[Bodgers]

If you quickly shallow pair to the knife line all the way across it you have a kerf starter. If you look around there are a few videos on that technique.

 

[Neil S]

Paul Sellers often shows this technique on his youtube channel.
He scribes with a knife.
Then uses a chisel on the waste side to cut a knife wall.
The saw then drops into the knife wall and the cut is started perfectly on the line.

Not that I can pull it off as easily as that though.

-Neil

 

[transatlantic]

Paul Sellers often shows this technique on his youtube channel.
He scribes with a knife.
Then uses a chisel on the waste side to cut a knife wall.
The saw then drops into the knife wall and the cut is started perfectly on the line.

Not that I can pull it off as easily as that though.

-Neil

Thats great and works well, but a little more tricky when you're cutting something like a the cheek of a bridle joint. Making sure your saw follows that knife line all the way down I find almost impossible.

 

[Bodgers]

Paul Sellers often shows this technique on his youtube channel.
He scribes with a knife.
Then uses a chisel on the waste side to cut a knife wall.
The saw then drops into the knife wall and the cut is started perfectly on the line.

Not that I can pull it off as easily as that though.

-Neil

Thats great and works well, but a little more tricky when you're cutting something like a the cheek of a bridle joint. Making sure your saw follows that knife line all the way down I find almost impossible.

I did this recently on a bare faced tenon, which is basically very similar to a half lap.

The way to get a perfect result (with a limited skill level) is to clamp a piece of thick straight scrap across the knife line. Then place your saw flush to the wall of the scrap. This is then effectively a jig that forces you to cut plumb down.

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

 

[stuartpaul]

snip ...... Beware though, dovetails only fit once, so when testing the fit, the joint should only be tapped together part way - Rob

I have heard that before but don't believe it and don't practise it.

How do you know if the joint fits properly all the way if you don't test fit properly all the way?

 

[thetyreman]

just cut up to the line but stay on the waste side, pairing away later is a waste of time, trust yourself.