That twisted saw blade is brilliant. Yeah, I wonder if you could make
a passable one of those for a bow saw from an old piece of 1/4 or 3/16
band saw blade or something. Maybe too thick a kerf, though? Might be
worth a try.

I had a woodworking teacher (Gary Rogowski) who introduced dovetails
to students with something he called the 5-minute dovetail -- just one
tail and a couple half pins. It was the same kind of thing. Do it
quick, don't fuss too much over perfection, no chisel work. Just get
your head around how the joint comes together, how you cut it and get
some practice sawing. Bang it together. If it splits, toss it in the
firewood pile and try again.

Not to take anything away from FK -- that was a great demo, for sure.
But ... I think any of you out there could be doing this with a couple
hours of practice -- maybe you won't be doing them in THREE minutes,
maybe the joint won't go together first try or maybe it'll be a bit
loose. But this isn't as hard or far off as some might think.

Mill up a few boards -- and don't start with hard maple -- use pine (I
think that's what FK was using, too) or alder or something that's soft
and forgiving and will squeeze together when you bang it home.

If you want to learn dovetails, give it a try!! No pressure. Don't
start with something you're going to sweat over. Bang together a box
to keep old plane parts or those chisels you're never going to get
around to fixing up -- or a flower box. Whatever. Failure will happen.
Don't worry about it. Try again.

-- Bob in Eugene
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