~  -----Original Message-----
~  From: owner-oldtools@l...
~  [mailto:owner-oldtools@l...]On Behalf Of Adam
~  Whiteson
~  Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 1999 2:28 AM
~  To: oldtools@l...
~  Cc: oldtools@l...
~  Subject: Cutting joints in oak.
~

~  I need some advice on cutting the doves in American red oak.
~    This wood
~  has a coarse, crumbly  grain and I have had difficulty
~  getting really nice
~  results with this stuff.  My biggest problem is scribing
~  fine layout lines.

For the initial layout, pencil lines should serve adequately.

For larger joints, a pencil will even serve for scribing the sockets
from the pins, or vice-versa depending on your religion.

~  .............................I have
~  a hard time getting nice clean saw cuts that split the
~  layout lines.

The advice above depends on the worker not splitting a pencil line,
the practice being to saw to just touch the waste side of the line.
Cut lines are split of course.

Where the grain tends to obscure marking out, one trick is to chalk
the surfaces involved. It is a bit messy, but I doubt whether the
chalk will interfere with adhesion providing it is cleaned off as far
as possible.

Best of luck!

Jeff