+- Woodnet Forums (https://forums.woodnet.net)
+-- Thread: Do you use a file in your dovetail work? (/showthread.php?tid=7350076)
Do you use a file in your dovetail work? - Handplanesandmore - 09-03-2019
The latest Fine Woodworking issue has a reader's tip on using a file to fine fit the dovetail joint. Is a file part of your dovetail kit too?
Simon
RE: Do you use a file in your dovetail work? - AHill - 09-03-2019
I've never tried it. Intuitively, I would think a file would cause some tearout on the edges.
RE: Do you use a file in your dovetail work? - Mike Brady - 09-03-2019
I saw that tip too, and remember reacting...What!?
RE: Do you use a file in your dovetail work? - Admiral - 09-03-2019
I guess you could, but with a lot of care; not my intuitive, nor first, choice.
RE: Do you use a file in your dovetail work? - Jim Waldron - 09-03-2019
If dovetails need trimming, a paring chisel is your friend.
RE: Do you use a file in your dovetail work? - Derek Cohen - 09-03-2019
The risk with a file or rasp is that you can round over the face. I have tried these tools, and the only way it can work is if you press the file/rasp against the face, and keep a finger against it as if a guide. I do not know how it was done in the article.
Regards from Perth
Derek
RE: Do you use a file in your dovetail work? - Handplanesandmore - 09-03-2019
Similar to this except that in the tip, the file is held with one one hand while the other hand holds a square on the top of the end grain to guide the filing -
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2015/03/25/file-joints-for-a-perfect-fit
Simon
RE: Do you use a file in your dovetail work? - tablesawtom - 09-03-2019
(09-03-2019, 01:59 PM)Handplanesandmore Wrote: Similar to this except that in the tip, the file is held with one one hand while the other hand holds a square on the top of the end grain to guide the filing -
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2015/03/25/file-joints-for-a-perfect-fit
Simon
I looked at the picture to see what he was doing.,and It looks like something probably I have tried in the past. But I have found from experience that a file does not cut wood very well. Teeth are to fine and it tends to clog up the teeth.
I use nothing but stickett sand paper, it comes in 10 yard rolls. I would be more inclined to stick a 100 grit piece onto a board about the size of the file in the picture and do it that way, easier to control.One would need to be very careful with short strokes A person can did himself in a big hole in a very big hurry. Someone else mentioned a sharp chisel and again one would need to be very careful again or one can find himself in a big hole very quickly.
Tom
RE: Do you use a file in your dovetail work? - MarkSingleton - 09-03-2019
A file would not be my first thought either.
Sand paper makes sense. Perhaps even an emery board?
Next time I do some dovetails I guess I can try sand paper.
In the past they either go together or I "tap em" a bit and then
they do.
Maybe I am just lucky?
RE: Do you use a file in your dovetail work? - knockknock - 09-04-2019
I mainly use chisels, but I do once in a blue moon, use a Grobet VulCrylic 4 way detail file if it is better suited to the problem / defect. Where I mainly use the file, is to round off the inside corners of the tails, when doing half blind dovetails.