Replies

1. 
   eddiefromAustralia | Jan 21, 2003 02:51am | #1

   yes.

   (my all-time record for the shortest answer)

1. 
   Chris | Jan 22, 2003 05:42am | #3

   How?(my all-time record for the shortest answer)Chris

1. 
   eddiefromAustralia | Jan 22, 2003 06:00am | #4

   Chris,

   Lets keep testiness out of it.

   Firstly, are you talking through dovetails or half-blind dovetails?

   Half blind dovetails are easily seen to be router cut when you look at the inside of the corner.  You often see the semi-circular cutout left from the router bit along the inside of the joint line and a semicircular pin back.  Through fancy joinery such as cutting a rebate along the inside face of the pins to make the stock 2/3 original thickness and cutting shallow sockets, this may be hidden, but I don't see the point as it weakens the joint too much

   As well, you will not see a line from a cutting gauge on the base of the pins/shoulders.

   Through dovetails that are hand cut are unlikely (but not impossible to be) absolutely uniform in size and slope. As well, there should be a cutting gauge line left on the interior of the joint, and maybe remnants on the outside of the board as well.

   So, a quick reply because I have to get back to work.  Hope that this answers your question.  If there's anything else please ask.

   Uncle Dunc's points are also valid

   Cheers,

   eddie

   Edited 1/21/2003 10:17:18 PM ET by eddie (aust)

1. 
   UncleDunc | Jan 22, 2003 06:21am | #5

   The presence or absence of a scored layout line isn't very conclusive. I've seen people writing in FWW (just don't ask me for citations) who say that leaving the layout line is an affectation. They plane or sand it off when they're done cutting. Also, it wouldn't be hard to mark the line on pieces you were about to dovetail with a router.

   Another thing to keep in mind is that hand cut vs. router cut does not exhaust the possibilities. I've seen articles in FWW that discuss cutting the pins with a miter gauge on a table saw, cutting the tails with a custom sharpened angle blade on a table saw, and cutting pins and tails on a bandsaw.

1. 
   eddiefromAustralia | Jan 22, 2003 06:29am | #6

   Also true, Uncle Dunc.

   Cheers,

   eddie

2. 
   UncleDunc | Jan 21, 2003 02:58am | #2

   If they're the same size, perhaps not. But you can hand cut dovetails with pins so narrow that no router bit could possibly fit between the tails. I've seen joints where the thin end of the pin is not even as wide as two saw kerfs.

   The other issue is that dovetails that are perfectly uniform and evenly spaced will look machine made no matter how they're cut. The the router jigs that let you pick your own spacing fix half of that problem, but the tails are still all cut at the same angle.