Dovetail Marking Lines

[Joints]

Just looking through previous posts. . .

I have to say it sounds quite bad to make the tail side thicker and then shave it down.

It would be far more accurate to leave the timber in its finished width before making the dovetails and just doing as I said before, not drawing your marking knife/gauge across the entire length of the timber.

Am I just crazy or is there someone else that does it the same as myself?

 

[Handworkfan]

Just looking through previous posts. . .

I have to say it sounds quite bad to make the tail side thicker and then shave it down.

As far as I know it's pretty much standard practice - and what I still can't get my head round is: is there anybody who, having made a piece, doesn't clean it up with a finely-set hand-plane before applying finish? If we're going to do that, then we might just as well use that stage to get rid of knife lines.
IN general working, not just dovetails, most makers seem to recognise that, however accurately they work, there will always be some tiny discrepancies, e.g at the joints between rails and stiles in a framed door, and the cleaning up process serves partly to level those off.
\This approach to dovetailing simply utilises that reality to produce a beautiful surface at the end. As long as it's allowed for in the design so that the piece comes out right in the end, what can be wrong with that?
Michael

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Touchy subject, isn't it?
Mike

I can't tell if your post was to me or someone else Mike, but if you were responding to me I say it's not a touchy subject; I've known for a long time what I do and why and where I do it. Slainte.