Spend a weekend in October cutting dovetails with me (Megan Fitzpatrick) in gorgeous central Kentucky at the Woodworking School at Pine Croft (with luck, the trees surrounding the school will be a riot of fall color by then!).
It’s a two-day class – Oct. 14 & 15 – in making a classic Shaker silverware tray, with gently arced ends, handholds and, of course, dovetails. And speaking of Shakers – if you’re in the area, why not also plan a day at Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill.
In the class, you’ll learn:
- Dovetail layout with dividers
- How to cut the joints, aiming to “fit off the saw”
- How to wield a coping or fret saw
- How to pare and chop to a line with a chisel
- Strategies for transferring the tails to the pin board
- Techniques for fitting the joint
- How to lay out then cut and fair the handles (both the hand holds and the curved top edge)
- How to smooth-plane your surfaces
- How to use cut nails (to secure the bottom board…if you wish – but there’s an argument for leaving it loose)
- And of course, how to put it all together (and why I recommend liquid hide glue).
– Fitz