Through dovetails today (half-blind ones tomorrow).

I have spent the six weeks before this program practicing five-minute dovetails. Paul taught me and assigned it to me as a warm-up exercise. (This was after a week of just sawing to a straight line on scrap.) During that time, the five-minute dove tail was the first thing I did every time I stepped into the shop. Even at the end, it always took me ten, and I had to get a 28 oz. mallet to do it under fifteen. (I am apparently not very heavy-handed.)

The dovetails I cut today were much finer. (Probably at the same scale of the cherry candle box I made, with joints questionably called dovetails.) Again, executed in maple (my left forearm is going to mutiny soon).

I've always learned to cut the tails first. Today, I learned pins first. In terms of dovetail aesthetics, it really does help knowing what the pins will look like immediately (rather than having them be the negatives to the tails).

I also switched to a tiny Zona saw, much smaller kerf, which I'm less liable to get saw-happy and overcut with than my larger rip saw. The Zona was much more difficult for me to keep straight because it was lighter and didn't have its own weight to balance itself. The blade also deflects a lot more, as a result of being so delicate.

This prompted me to think about the luxury of being able to bring along and use my own tools, regardless of where I end up working. This was really apparent when I switched off of my old familiar rip saw. I also have intimate knowledge of my Wood River low-angle block plane and can't imagine trying to tune another plane to do the same work that I've gotten accustomed to on my own. And I can feel myself getting familiar and acclimated to my other tools. My ways of working is bound up with them.

I remember playing piano. I loved playing on my upright Baldwin at home. I hated that pianists never got to bring their own piano. I always panicked on the unfamiliar one presented to me at competitions, tests, recitals, ... I actually have terrible stage fright, only applicable to piano as a result. Other musicians with their portable instruments are incredibly lucky. I never knew what beast I was going to be dealt (an over-bright Yamaha, a touchy Steinway). A few scales and arpeggios never did set me right on them.

Notes to help me out; a few good ones hidden in the bunch

I had to learn the tendency of the Zona to deflect today. Lots of practice cuts. I'm not still entirely calibrated, but I'm getting there.

I didn't get to cut a second set: I spent the rest of the day honing chisels.

Dovetail samples from class; notes that make me cringe at my own handiwork

jess ouyang

day 9