Watched a guy at the Portland wood show cut dovetails by eye and it messed with my head

Piper Anderson · 2026-10-11T15:15:05.979906+00:00

I was at the woodworking show in Portland back in February, mostly killing time while my wife looked at lathe stuff. There was this older guy at a bench in the corner, no jigs, no marking gauge, just a backsaw and a chisel, and he cut a half dozen dovetails in maybe 15 minutes. I stood there for probably 40 minutes watching him and he kept saying the same thing over and over, that the layout lines are a crutch and your eye knows square better than you think. I have been cutting dovetails with a marking gauge and a router jig for close to 9 years now, and I always told myself the jig was just for speed on repeat drawers. But watching him fit those tails straight off the saw got me wondering if I have been hiding behind the setup this whole time. So I went home and tried 4 practice joints on scrap pine with nothing but a square and a knife line, and 3 of them were garbage. The funny part is the one that came out clean was the one where I stopped double checking every single stroke. Now I'm not saying I'm tossing the jig, that would be dumb on a 12 drawer kitchen job. But I want to hear from guys who cut them freehand, how long did it take before your eye actually trusted itself?

💡Thought Shares

Loading…

Watched a guy at the Portland wood show cut dovetails by eye and it messed with my head | Carpenters - Thought Shares