Handcut dovetail gauge lines question

[Handplanesandmore]

Do you leave the marking gauge lines on your handcut through dovetail joint or do you remove them, and also why?

Simon

[Tony Z]

Mine are so lightly scribed and then darkened with a fine pencil, that when I clean up after assembly they disappear.

[Mike Brady]

I leave them.  They are a hallmark of the handwork.

[Derek Cohen]

I plane them off, if possible. Basically, I think that the lines detract. This is a personal thing - there is no right or wrong answer.

They are made as lightly as possible to begin, and then deepened where the dovetail waste will be removed.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bibliophile 13]

I plane them off if they're going to be seen. If they're concealed, I don't care.

I figure that anybody looking at my work closely enough can tell it was done by hand and not by a machine. But hey, if your hand-cut dovetails are so tight, regular, and precise that only a telltale gauge line will reveal that they weren't made by a machine, then you have my utmost respect.

[knockknock]

...
I figure that anybody looking at my work closely enough can tell it was done by hand and not by a machine.  But hey, if your hand-cut dovetails are so tight, regular, and precise that only a telltale gauge line will reveal that they weren't made by a machine, then you have my utmost respect.

It isn't hard to tell mine are hand cut either


I don't have to remove my lines. I mark all the way across the baseline on the inside and only mark the baseline for the waste on the outside (show side).

[TraditionalToolworks]

My $0.02...(worth what I charge you) is that if you're seeing layout lines on your joinery you need to practice more at cutting to your line...if you split your lines you will not be able to tell, and especially if you clean them up with a hand plane, I never need to worry about layout lines when I'm on my game.

BTW, this is to say, practice your sawing a bit. Mark a bunch of vertical lines on a board, try to split the line. Angle the lines and follow them the same...split the line...now angle the lines every which way and continue trying to split the line as you cut them. You'll improve your sawing skills greatly by practicing that for a few nights.


Cheers,
Alan

[Handplanesandmore]

.if you split your lines you will not be able to tell, and especially if you clean them up with a hand plane, I never need to worry about layout lines when I'm on my game.
 

Cheers,
Alan

Alan,

My question is about the baselines/shoulder lines, not the cut lines (which usually are just pencil lines), whether people leave them or remove them.

Simon

[TraditionalToolworks]

Alan,

My question is about the baselines/shoulder lines, not the cut lines (which usually are just pencil lines), whether people leave them or remove them.

Simon

Simon,

What about them?

Do you leave your work unfinished?

IOW, do you leave your projects looking like some of your practice work?

I can't imagine not planing or sanding (if need be) and applying some type of finish to the joinery when I complete it.

I don't see the issue really...for dovetails I use a round cutter Tite-Mark and run it on both sides. Is that the baseline you refer to? If you mark it with pen/pencil, plane it off...simple. I can usually see the baseline fine, but I still clean my work up and put some type of finish on it.

And although we were not discussing this, I like to say, "There's nothing that can't be fixed with some pine tar and saw dust...", which is a fancy way of saying there is nothing that can't be fixed. You can cut a kerf with a saw and glue a wedge into a tail/pin joint, you can use a ball peen and move the wood around also...at the end of the day a craftsman does what a craftsman does. It's not about being perfect, it's knowing how to fix things...

So, speaking for myself if there was markings I probably didn't finish things properly. I don't leave my work like that, period.

Alan

[Handplanesandmore]

Simon,

What about them?

Do you leave your work unfinished?

IOW, do you leave your projects looking like some of your practice work?

I can't imagine not planing or sanding (if need be) and applying some type of finish to the joinery when I complete it.



Alan

It is not really about leaving a finished work to look like a practice piece or half finished.

Hayward was against leaving the layout lines:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBDIHVvw...be&t=4m28s

BUT Krenov (see A Cabinetmaker's Notebook) proudly displayed them!

https://www.google.com/search?q=a+cabine...ZJV2yWTKWM:

Simon