Learning hand-cut dovetails has gotten complicated with all the YouTube tutorials, jig systems, and varying advice flying around. As someone who has cut probably a thousand dovetails over the years – many of them terrible at first – I learned everything there is to know about what actually matters. Today, I will share it all with you.
Hand-cut dovetails mark you as a woodworker who understands the craft at its deepest level. Machines can cut dovetails faster, routers can make them more uniform, but nothing replicates the satisfaction of laying out pins and tails by hand and watching them slide together in a perfect fit.
Why Hand Dovetails Matter
Beyond aesthetics, hand-cut dovetails teach skills that improve all your work. You learn to saw to a line, pare to fit, and read grain direction. The focused practice required for competent dovetails sharpens abilities that transfer to every other operation in the shop. That’s what makes this joint endearing to us woodworkers – it forces you to actually develop skill.
There’s also the matter of proportion. Machine dovetails must match router bit geometry. Hand-cut dovetails can be whatever size and spacing suits the piece. You can tighten pin spacing at corners for strength, vary tail widths for visual interest, or match historical proportions on period furniture. The joint becomes yours, not some factory’s.
Laying Out Tails First
Probably should have led with this section, honestly – the tails-first method works better for most hand cutters. The angled tail sides are easier to saw precisely than the thin pin walls. You cut the tails, then transfer their shape to the pin board for a guaranteed fit.
Set your bevel gauge to your preferred angle. Traditional ratios range from 1:6 for softwoods to 1:8 for hardwoods. These angles provide mechanical strength while leaving enough material at the base of each tail. Mark all the tail angles from both faces of the board.
Space tails by eye rather than formula. Uniform spacing looks mechanical. Slightly varied spacing looks handmade in the best sense. Aim for wider tails toward the center and narrower half-pins at the edges. I spent years trying to make my dovetails perfectly even before realizing that perfect evenness is actually a tell that you used a machine.
Cutting the Tails
Saw on the waste side of your line, splitting the pencil mark into the waste area. The saw kerf creates a relief that you’ll work down to during fitting. Cutting on the line leaves no room for adjustment.
Use a fine-toothed backsaw and let it find its own pace. Forcing the saw causes wandering. Keep the blade vertical, checking from the front and side. An angled cut shows at the joint line. I check my angle more often than feels reasonable – probably every third or fourth stroke – and my joints improved dramatically once I started doing this.
Remove waste with a coping saw, staying well away from the baseline. Pare to the baseline with a sharp chisel, working from both faces toward the center to prevent blowout. The baseline must be crisp and square; every imperfection shows in the assembled joint.
Transferring to Pins
Set the pin board in a vise with the end grain facing up. Position the tail board exactly where it will sit in the finished joint and trace around each tail with a sharp knife. This transfers the exact shape, including any slight variation from perfect angles.
Mark the waste areas clearly. It’s surprisingly easy to cut on the wrong side of a line when you’re concentrating on saw technique. Cross-hatch the waste sections so the correct material is obvious. I’ve ruined more than one piece by cutting out the pins instead of the waste between them – embarrassing to admit, but worth mentioning to save you the same mistake.
Cutting the Pins
Saw the pin walls precisely vertical, keeping to the waste side of your knife lines. The knife line itself provides a tiny registration point that catches saw teeth, helping maintain the line.
Remove waste as with the tails: coping saw the bulk, pare to the baseline. The inside corners where pins meet the baseline require careful chisel work. Undercut very slightly so the visible shoulder closes tightly.
Fitting and Adjustment
The first test-fit rarely goes together fully. That’s normal. Look for burnished spots where wood contacted wood, indicating high spots. Pare those high spots away with the lightest possible cuts.
Work incrementally. Better to fit three times than to remove too much and create gaps. The joint should ultimately go together with firm hand pressure, or light mallet taps for tight fits.
Your first dovetails will be rough. Your tenth will be acceptable. Your hundredth will be a source of pride. There’s no shortcut past the practice, but every attempt teaches something useful. I still keep my first dovetail joint on a shelf in the shop – it’s objectively terrible, but it reminds me that everyone starts somewhere.
