Cutting Dovetails by Hand: The Hand Tool Woodworking Apprenticeship Foundations Video

http://mortiseandtenonmag.com/collect... … PURCHASE THE FULL VIDEO HERE! This excerpt from our new Apprenticeship video series shows how beautiful and tight fitting dovetails are made using only a few simple hand tools. This fundamental joint is seen throughout furniture made all throughout history. Period original antiques have dovetails that are surprisingly utilitarian. The obsession with engineer-tolerance precision dovetails is decidedly modern. Watch Joshua Klein cut this joint in the way it has been done for centuries: tight-fitting and strong but no frills.

More about this “Foundations” video:

THE HAND TOOL WOODWORKING APPRENTICESHIP

This first foundational video in our Apprenticeship series serves as an overview for those interested in the hand-tool-only furniture making process. Come into the shop of Joshua Klein, editor of Mortise & Tenon Magazine, to absorb the woodworking methods he’s learned from examining countless pre-industrial originals. The evidence of process left behind as tool marks gives a beauty and authenticity that no machine can mimic.

In this video, Joshua sets out to unravel the unjustified mystique about hand tool woodworking for M&T readers. After looking at the basic tool set and sharpening, Joshua walks through how he selects his lumber and processes it with hand tools. The heart of the video is the demonstration and explanation of the foundational furniture joinery. An introduction to using shellac and milk paint closes the tutorial. Throughout the video, Joshua busts the myth that working wood by hand is simply naïve anachronism. To the contrary, he’s discovered it to be a surprisingly efficient and viable option for the 21st century woodworker.

We invite you to cut the cord and join us on this journey.