aaron_k

thanks for the article. if it wasn't for cambering blades, planing would be much much more difficult for me. *I* grind a camber using the eclipse jig - the narrow wheel means that the blade is a little unsteady, but it also allows you to camber very easily. all you need to do is apply a bit more pressure on the corners of the blade during the rough grinding stage, and then make sure to get those spots on finer honing. Like Rob, it's not something I measure precisely, I just hold it up to a straightedge to make sure it's even (also I do grind a heavier camber on rougher tools (e.g., jack plane than on smoothing plane).

this technique might work on veritas-style jigs, but the wide wheel on that might make it harder to do so.

there are photos/comments on brent beach's excellent website on making jigs with cambered edges to aid in cambering the blade:

http://www3.telus.net/BrentBeach/Sharpen/index.html
and specifically further down on
http://www3.telus.net/BrentBeach/Sharpen/camber.html

just to add my voice :-)

I don't believe that the dovetail joint is aesthetically good. I think that it is more appropriate in a historical/stylistic context, but not that it's especially pretty.

I do believe that a handcut dovetail joint is indicative of a certain level of quality that the craftsman has used in the piece, because it does take a good amount of skill to make a good one and that if they put that much work into one joint, the rest of the piece is *probably* ok. But then, as a woodworker myself I'd be able to tell from other clues anyway!

In the furniture that I make, and have so far designed myself, I can't see the need for dovetails. I find pinned rabbets work better for my style. For my work, which i do as a hobbyist for myself and family, a dovetail might symbolize quality, but then I know how quality my work is since I'm the one who makes it. Without an aesthetic basis, I see no reason to use it. and aesthetics are relative. There's no way one can assert that dovetails are necessarily beautiful.

beautiful - so elegantly simple. those pulls are fantastic.

I also like the way the different surfaces are offset from each other - 1/16" makes the piece. without this detail the design would have been regular... you've made it so much better than that.

David - in your response to peter you talk about how the proportion that is "off" from the golden ratio looks wrong:

but that apron in tolpin's book) is WAY off - about 2x at least! in contrast with music, if two notes are off by even 5% they are considered to be WAY off... this whole analogy between frequency proportions in music and static/structural proportions in design just doesnt work for me. the ear is much more sensitive to minute variations, whereas in structure you can be a bit off the traditional proportions and pass by quite well.

im with peter :-)