Hand cut dovetails in sapele

[Phil Pascoe]

They look like they've got darts in 'em. :lol:

 

[Cheshirechappie]

They look like they've got darts in 'em. :lol:

Well, if you can mark out dovetails with a dart, they should be just about ideal for throwing at a dart board! :lol:

 

[D_W]

They look like they've got darts in 'em. :lol:

If you went to nodor or designa and got a 12 quid tungsten dart head set, you could stuff them into a handle (e.g, turn one and then just drill a 1/4th hole in it or something) and make an easy scratch knife that might even have a nice balance profile.

They are at least saw temper at the tip, or so it would seem.

If the tips were too blunt, you could chuck them in a drill and stone the tips to adjust the profile.

 

[D_W]

Charles, you know you said the very same thing all those years ago when I first posted a picture of my marking knife

Regards from Perth

Derek

Cue the hair shirt line. It's on deck.

 

[Trafalgar]

Charles, you know you said the very same thing all those years ago when I first posted a picture of my marking knife

Regards from Perth

Derek

That's actually good to hear!

 

[Trafalgar]

Charles, you know you said the very same thing all those years ago when I first posted a picture of my marking knife

Regards from Perth

Derek

Cue the hair shirt line. It's on deck.

You'd have to like hair shirts to use one of those knives....

There you go!

 

[D_W]

They also sell a full system ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

Wow...

Knife handle: $75
Four collets to hold the blade set: $100
"Wallet": $50
Ten Blades: $100
Less one collet and one blade because they come with the handle: -$35
Total price: $290 (let that sink in a little bit.)
Not knowing you don't need it when you buy it, and then finding that you prefer a couple of simple marking tools that don't require changing ends: Priceless

Maybe there's a package deal? When the word "system" is used with anything, it makes me cringe just a little.

One of my friends gave me a BS marking knife years ago - one of the really thin ones (he bought two). It's turned nicely, but I can't get along with it when using it.

 

[AndyT]

I'm glad I'm in the UK and don't have to put up with all these fancy US or Australian tools! :lol:

(Especially after 14 pages - are we heading for some sort of record length digression here? There must be some aspect of woodworking this thread hasn't covered yet!)

 

[G S Haydon]

Sharpening

 

[Phil Pascoe]

They look like they've got darts in 'em. :lol:

If you went to nodor or designa and got a 12 quid tungsten dart head set, you could stuff them into a handle (e.g, turn one and then just drill a 1/4th hole in it or something) and make an easy scratch knife that might even have a nice balance profile.

They are at least saw temper at the tip, or so it would seem.

If the tips were too blunt, you could chuck them in a drill and stone the tips to adjust the profile.

that's what I thought - a bit of weight on the front for balance.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Sharpening

DW's covered that - you chuck them in a drill and hold a stone to the point, apparently.

Must admit, I didn't know that. Mind you, I don't mark out dovetails with a dart because I prefer to be a bit closer to the work than eight feet away, and someone shouting, "One hundred and eighty!" every third pin gets distracting after a while.

OK, I know this comment is a bit surreal, but, well, spirit of the thread an' all......

 

[D_W]

Sharpening

DW's covered that - you chuck them in a drill and hold a stone to the point, apparently.

Must admit, I didn't know that. Mind you, I don't mark out dovetails with a dart because I prefer to be a bit closer to the work than eight feet away, and someone shouting, "One hundred and eighty!" every third pin gets distracting after a while.

OK, I know this comment is a bit surreal, but, well, spirit of the thread an' all......

The most surreal is throwing darts and being concerned about 180s!

I'm one of 11 people in the US who throws darts recreationally. If I could afford a caller and he waited for 180s, there's no way he'd still be awake to call one every 4 hours of throwing.

(they make point sharpeners, but I've never bought one. I'm sure they're inexpensive, because it's not woodworking tools, shaving or amateur knife making. The point that comes on my darts always seems to be a tiny blunt thing and then long and thin, which is good, because I have HVAC ducting just above my D20. If there was such a thing as micro-beveling points, which I'm sure there is, that's what I'd call the point).

I've always marveled at how 3 nice tungsten darts with hardened steel tips can be made and then sold at retail for the equivalent of $15. And then I've marveled at how they are somehow $30 in the US. Nobody plays darts here and it seems that the importer would like to keep it that way by doubling the prices vs. UK and europe. A strange thing to do when you can ship a padded envelope from the UK for the same price as you can ship it domestically here.

At any rate, a couple of offcuts, a half hour on the lathe for each (if you're going to turn something really nice and do a good job of drilling it centered) and you could have a very nice delicate scratch awl for about five bucks. No harbor freight quality steel, either. For the luddites, it wouldn't take long to make one with an octagonal handle, either.

 

[B3nder]

Something I should have pointed out is that I am using a scalpel.

I'll have a dig around to try and find a dart due to this thread and also try doing pins first.

 

[Trafalgar]

I tried a scalpel a few times -- it always followed the grain too badly whether on end grain (tails first) or long grain (pins first). Ditto Xacto knives EXCEPT for their thick blades though I can't recall the model number of these blades at the moment.

 

[woodbrains]

Something I should have pointed out is that I am using a scalpel.

I'll have a dig around to try and find a dart due to this thread and also try doing pins first.

Hello,

If you sharpen a medium pencil with an elliptical point and do pins first, you will not need a dart or marking knife or scratch awl or scalpel, making the last dozen pages obsolete! :-" a pencil is all you need, save your scalpel for sharpening it.

Mike.

 

[Jacob]

I tried a scalpel a few times -- it always followed the grain too badly whether on end grain (tails first) or long grain (pins first). Ditto Xacto knives EXCEPT for their thick blades though I can't recall the model number of these blades at the moment.

The third one along is best. Chisel end. You don't slice with it, just poke it in square and perpendicular - keeping it flush with the face of the pin hole.

The pin hole hardly needs marking up at all - space them by eye or divider and then just freehand the angle. Or ditto if you do the pins first - though something tells me this would be more difficult when you get to the holes so I'm not going to bother trying!

 

[Trafalgar]

Certainly worth remembering and trying.

 

[D_W]

I tried a scalpel a few times -- it always followed the grain too badly whether on end grain (tails first) or long grain (pins first). Ditto Xacto knives EXCEPT for their thick blades though I can't recall the model number of these blades at the moment.

That's the same thing that occurred for me when I tried using one of the expensive very delicate marking knives. I fought its flexible blade too much.

Much prefer a cheaper and heavier knife when a double bevel chip carving knife (or any cheap pocket knife with a sheepsfoot blade) doesn't have room to work.

 

[B3nder]

I'll give a pencil a go as I can't find a dart! Whatever approach I settle on 8m at least getting better!

 

[Jacob]

Aha, Jacob! You've identified the next hot market in boutique tools -- picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows!

Well the new boys do tend to put a lot of effort into solving design problems which the tradition had sorted out generations before!
But tradition involved huge investment of man hours into design development which a newcomer could never hope to equal.