Unpopular opinion: hand-cut dovetails are overrated for most shop work

I watched a fancy jig fail on a cherry drawer front yesterday. The pins snapped clean off because the wood was too brittle. Took me two hours to recut and patch the piece. My grandfather hand-cut everything and swore by it, but for speed and consistency, I think pre-made templates beat pure skill nine times out of ten. Does anyone actually hand-cut dovetails for production runs anymore, or is it just a hobby thing now?

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annas8725d ago

Question why this is such a big deal. Hand cut dovetails are a nice flex for Instagram but nobody cares about them once the drawer slides shut and holds socks. A solid joint that takes five minutes is better than a beautiful one that eats your whole afternoon.