A Dovetail Saw

In this Instructable I make a dovetail saw. I do not pretend to show how to make a dovetail saw per se. Instead, I just want to show how doable and rewarding the whole process as well as the final saw can be. This was the first time I attempted to build a saw from scratch. I'll try to link as much information as I can to complement my words and the Instructable. I decided to make a saw because I needed one, curiosity on the whole build process and the possibility to save some money compared to a commercial ones while having something built by me. I went with 10" rip saw as it is the one that I use the most. However most of the steps will apply for a crosscut saw teeth (except the exact sharpening which I provide links with information in one of the steps).

So before any discussion and if you are planning on building one in my opinion there are a few resources well well worth of consulting such as: Rob Cosman first and second YouTube videos about his/their saws, the BlackBurn Tools blog series about building one saw and a Youtube video from Gillis Björk (which happens to be the first video I have ever saw about making a dovetail saw).

The tools/materials that I used were:

• The best dense, heavy and gorgeous wood you can get your hands on;
• Wood glue, CA glue and two parts epoxy glue;
• Saw handle template (I used one from BlackBurn Tools);
• Saw spine and blade;
• Drill press and respective drill and forstner bits;
• Bandsaw:
• Sand paper of different grits;
• Wood rasps;
• Hacksaw;
• Metal files;
• Router table;
• Wheel grinder;

• Saw set tool;

Some of these tool are optional as other alternatives may be used.

The selection of the wood for the handle is an important part of the build process. A good handle should add a good weight to the saw and, of course, should look beautiful. After all it will be the first thing you will look at. In this case I went with a slab of olive wood as it dense, fragrant and ubiquitous where I live. It took me some time to find a good exemplar as olive wood is commonly used to burn (sadly...). I planed it to a thickness of 26 mm.

After that I selected one of the BlackBurn Tools templates, fine tuned it in Inkscape to fit properly my hands and glued it to the wood. With the correct forstner bits drilled all the holes to start shaping the handle and also drilled a 3 mm pilot holes for the two bolts, just because I thought that it would be useful at this stage.

With the band saw it was just a question of following the right line. After that, it was the sanding stage to remove marks from the band saw making sure that the faces of the handle were all perpendicular. Occasionally some cracks were exposed and were filled with CA glue.

All edges were chamfered in my very rudimentary router table securing firmly the handle. This was my least favorite stage of the process. More sanding followed.

At the end of this stage I was not enjoying the feeling of the handle and decided custom fit it to my fingers with a rasp. The fitting was drastically changed.

This was my second least favorite part of the build and the part where the handle may become firewood in an instant. I do not have the necessary skill to cut a slot for the spine by hand with a saw and a chisel. In order to do that I considered my router table.

Grabbed a level, made sure that the fence was perpendicular to the table and clamped the handle to the fence. Placed the fence against the level and slided the fence to cut the slot. I tested it in a piece with the same width and all was straight and square. Very rudimentary process but worked quite well!

The spine has 1/4" width and went with a 1/4" router bit. However I had to grind the router bit because it was a little wider than what it should have been in order to have a snug fit. Lastly, I just flattened the groove with a small chisel to accommodate the spine perfectly.

Since I live in a metric country and the bolts were in imperial measurements I had to grind them with a file to match the diameter of my counter sink bit (I do not have a forstner bit so small).

Then I just drilled the two holes to the right sizes taking advantage of those previously drilled pilot holes. I made sure that I used a new counter sink bit to avoid any tear out. Olive wood is also very dense so that is generally not a problem.

To fit the blade into the handle you, preferably, want to do it with an adequate slitting saw. I could not find one where I live so had to be more creative. I found the exact center of the handle, and with the blade "shimmed" with a slab of wood to the right height I just cut the slot. Patience is the key to have a decent and aligned cut.

With the template still glued, I traced the right pattern to the blade and with a grinding wheel shaped it to final form. After that I assembled the spine and the blade and transferred the two holes to the blade. Punched the holes and drilled them. Be careful and hold firmly the blade, if the drill bit catches the blade the whole saw build may become delayed. Lastly, the spine was cut to final length.

I used two parts epoxy to glue the blade to the spine. I could also use some brass pins to reinforce it but went with just epoxy. Time will tell if the pins were necessary.

Lastly I just stamped my name in the spine with some letter punches and my letter punch jig that I previously published here.

The teeth of this blade were punched, but not sharpened. So with an appropriate triangular file I sharpened the teeth and with a saw set tool I defined the set. I bought a cheap one from amazon and used the second position introducing the minimum offset. I will probably change it as it is difficult to use a fret saw to cut the dovetails.

In theory I should have done this in reverse as in defining the saw set I could have damaged the freshly sharpened teeth. I will have to test it in a future and compare it. I do not want to get into much detail because I do not consider myself educated enough to explain the whole process. However there are a few resources that I consider extremely useful and will leave them here:

• Fine Tools Guide
• BlackBurn Tools Guide
• Rob Cosman Sharpening Video

After this step I tested the saw and immediately realized that the blade was not straight. After get it straight, I was able to cut through a straight line and parallel to it on both sides of a slab of wood. It there was a bowing in the cuts on both sides to a middle point, the teeth set should have been adjust accordingly.

To finish the handle I just gave a couple of coats of tung oil. It came out awesome and I'm really happy with the final result! If there would be one thing to change, I would go with a heavier spine as weight is one of the best things to train you to make plumb cuts.

There may be other useful resources about building a saw, however those were the ones that I considered. I'm not "sponsored" by anyone except my own almost empty wallet.

Can't wait to make a matching crosscut saw! Go make your own saw!