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by Megan Fitzpatrick
pg. 6
One of the reviews I wrote for this issue, on David Charlesworth’s drawer-making video (page 14), got me thinking about the level of precision for which I strive in my work on both furniture and house rehab projects – and how my definition of “acceptable” and the choices I now make have changed over a decade.
I cut my first dovetails in 2006, following Christopher Schwarz’s “Dovetail a Day” prescription. I recall clearly my glee the first time the joints went together “off the saw” – never mind that you could fit a stack of playing cards in the gaps. At the time, I found that result wholly acceptable.
It wasn’t until 2008, however, that I was brave (or perhaps foolish) enough to display my wood-on-wood joinery in the magazine. Looking at those ’08 dovetail joints up close (right), I’m shocked I felt they were good enough for prime time. (We showed them from farther away, thus the gaps weren’t visible.)
Article: A Dovetail a Day
From the February 2017 issue, #230
