> Folks,
> 
> I have some technique questions...as I continue my apprenticeship...
> 
> I have found that many of these things are like learning to play an 
> instrument--the first time you try, the results are extremely rough, but
> continued practise brings refined results.
> 
> When practising music, I find some skills are improved by doing exercises,
> as opposed to always working with actual music.
> 
> What about joinery?   It seems like I do things like cut dovetails, and 
> then spend a lot of time paring them because my saw cuts weren't that
> accurate.  Maybe that time would be better spent practising sawing to
> a line over and over again until I get skilled enough to eliminate much
> of the paring?
> 

The problem I have with "practicing" is that at some level my
brain recognizes I'm only "practicing" and I rarely work up the
proper state of mind to produce my best results. (Yo-Yo enthusiasts
may recognize this as the "State of Yo"; I believe woodworking
has its equivalent.)

When I first got the IT saw, I needed to change some of the ways I
cut dovetails so I did a fair amount of practicing, but it didn't
seem like I was improving or learning much from it. Instead I found 
just using it more and more on actual projects seemed to result in
steady progress. 
I make lots of dovetailed boxes and other small pieces to sell
(lots = ~2 dozen a year, feels like a lot anyway) and I'm 
interested in improving both technique and the speed at which I
can produce them.
For the main box, I use a fairly lengthy set of steps that gives
what I feel are pretty good results. It takes me about 4 hours to
dovetail a box this way. This involves careful layout, and lots of
marking and scribing.
I usually make smaller trays or drawers for
the inside of a piece and it's here where I cut some corners technique
wise, doing more like the Frank Klausz style. These might take an
hour to do (part of the time saving comes from using thinner wood).
At first the trays were kind of ratty, but still good enough for the
inside of a jewelry box.

Lately I seem ( or tell myself anyway) to have made some
kind of breakthrough. The laborious technique is giving me
better results and I'm doing a lot less paring than I used to.
With the speedy technique, I seem to be sawing straighter lines
by eyeball and more uniform pins and tails that I thought possible.
I've had some of the trays go together with almost no paring.

I don't know how much of this is due to the "practice" of
doing more dovetails and how much is just learning to use the
IT correctly, but just before the New Year's price increase, I
ordered another one. I think I was getting nervous about
having the first one away being resharpened and not having a
backup. (like Isaac Asimov used to keep several IBM selectric
typewriters around in case one should fail.)

Aside from dovetails, I've been trying to use handsaws for
other jobs, usually non-critical. Usually I scribe a line
and "practice" cutting to it. Even done this cutting
scraps for firewood, but I still get better results when it's
the "real" thing.

Still feel like I'm a long way from mastering this, but
I'm having a good time.

Anyway that's my 2 cents.

Carl