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The Editors Mailbox

Chris Becksvoort and David Yepez: Mano a Mano

Ed Pirnik, Senior Web Producer

38 users recommend

During this year's Lie-Nielsen Winter Open House, hand tool event staffer David Yepez challenged master woodworker Chris Becksvoort to an impromptu Dovetail Faceoff at high-noon on Saturday.

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Warren, Maine's not the kind of town a feller packing a dovetail saw wants to be caught alone in past noon. 'Specially when Chris Becksvoort's in town. Find out what happens when a young up-start woodworker challenges the Shaker master himself to a no-holds-barred, mano-a-mano Dovetail Faceoff!

*Note: Ok, so I'm kidding about Warren, Maine being the type of town you'd expect to see tumbleweeds in. And I'm sure David is a swell guy, but I just had to go along with the theme!

Now, enjoy the duel! 

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Comments (17)

Rokgr1nder writes: I would like to see Chris up against Rob Cossman!
Posted: 10:49 am on January 4th

Jenolan writes: Talking the talk just doesn't compare to walking the walk!
Posted: 11:48 pm on January 2nd

MickeyD writes: This was great entertainment and had educational value too. Could you give details of the exact tools and steps that Chris used?
Posted: 11:03 am on December 28th

jeffe writes: Ah, you all missed it!
That was just great!!! From the standpoint of sheer (shear?) entertainment, that was just great!!! Thank you all for a fantastic few minutes!

Posted: 12:28 am on December 27th

bramptonbernie writes: Should enthusiasm count for something?
Posted: 7:04 pm on December 25th

section1 writes: You guys are so fortunate to have these events, I haven't experienced not one yet and the fact that you have proper woodworking shops and best of all you can always make a buck making furniture while our shops go under. Australians stops spending your money on booze and support your local shops before we become a nation of imports only.
Posted: 6:45 pm on December 24th

vitools writes: This dovetail duel was most entertaining and instructive; reminds me of the old saw "old age and experience will triumph over youth and enhusiasm everytime" kudos to the challenger for his confidence and courage in challenging the master and stand by to watch this whippersnapper as he matures. thanks for the treat.
Posted: 10:59 am on December 24th

Drewpeacock writes: The reason you can't teach an old dawg new tricks is because they know them all.
Did you guys think we were just standing around on the planet waiting for you to show up?
Posted: 10:47 am on December 24th

JoeTee writes: Experience, experience, experience , there's no substitute for it, it's like location, location, location in buying property!!!!! Dave....keep practicing you did OK!!!!!
Posted: 10:28 am on December 24th

Doug_Roger writes: Was there a factor in the challenge, regarding 'strength' of the dovetail?
I saw two different patterns, one regular, the other a variant with different spacing. However I did not see a test to determine the strongest joint.
Posted: 10:11 am on December 24th

Reginald writes: If ever the tale of a race between tortoise and hare were relevant, it's in this contest.
Posted: 9:43 am on December 24th

berg128 writes: Why the need for speed while cutting dovetails? Enjoy the journey and the destination. In 100 years will it matter if great grandfather's dovetail took 45 minutes? They where done the very best he could. Well done in 45 minutes is better than badly done in 10 minutes. But I do not make my living in 2011/2012 building furniture.
Berg128 in South Carolina
Posted: 9:03 am on December 24th

lsvop writes: I think Chris did a good job of not holding his punches and give David a handicap factor. Now I know that 8 to 9 mins is about the standard to meet, I'll work towards that. Also there's something to learn when we watch an expert work which would have been lost if Chris did a slip shot joint to give a handicap factor
Posted: 10:52 pm on December 23rd

mexicakid writes: Will you check please 'i think as i'm already a suscriber for your magasine Pierre Roy as mexicankid<
Posted: 7:02 pm on December 23rd

mexicakid writes: nothing replace experience
Posted: 7:00 pm on December 23rd

sdbranam writes: Well, to be fair, much like open class sailboat racing, we should probably apply a handicap factor based on experience. Sort of like CB's 80' of waterline vs. DY's 20', on the run from Boothbay to Camden and back. So DY was about 120% of CB's time, but if you multiply each one's time by years of experience...

I'm jus' sayin'!
Posted: 6:10 pm on December 23rd

Schmudd writes: In the immortal words of Jim Croce: "You don't tug on Superman's cape..."
Posted: 10:03 pm on December 15th

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