Dovetail saw
A dovetail saw is a small backsaw, a saw with a stiffened metal spine along its top edge that keeps the thin blade straight, used for cutting dovetails: joints made of angled pins and sockets called tails that lock two pieces of wood together against a pulling load.
What it is
It is, in effect, a small tenon saw, another backsaw used for cutting tenons. Hasluck (1907) put it directly: 'The dovetail saw is a small tenon saw, it being 6 in.' Its blade is thin, one example running to about 26 gauge, a thickness scale on which a higher number means thinner metal, and its teeth are fine and closely spaced, one example saw carrying about 15 points per inch with only a slight set, the small sideways bend given to alternate teeth so the cut runs a shade wider than the blade and does not bind. Such fine teeth are hard to sharpen, which is one reason the saw is kept for fine dovetail work rather than everyday cutting. A saw filed with rip-style teeth, teeth shaped to cut efficiently along the grain rather than across it, suits cutting either tenons or dovetails. Most dovetail saws cut on the push stroke, but a Japanese-pattern dovetail saw cuts on the pull stroke instead, which leaves a thinner kerf, the slot left by the blade's cut.
Using it
The saw cuts down to a marked depth line, after which the waste is pared away with a chisel. For larger dovetails a tenon saw is better suited, with a coping saw first removing most of the waste. A cut groove, or a bench stop, can guide the blade as it starts and runs through the cut, and a dovetail saw paired with a bench stop works well for preparing test samples of wood. Used carefully, the saw alone can finish some cuts and save both extra labour and a following pass with the paring chisel.
Other work
Beyond dovetails, the saw turns up wherever a short, controlled cut is needed. In casework and drawer making, dovetail sockets are marked out and cut with the saw before the parts are separated. When fitting a lock, the plate's depth is gauged on the inside face and a couple of dovetail-saw kerfs are cut before the recess for the lockbox, the housing that holds the lock mechanism, is chopped out. A fine dovetail saw can also rough-cut veneer, a thin sheet of decorative wood glued to a solid ground, to shape, the pieces then trued up with a shoulder or rebate plane.
Choosing a saw
Sharpness matters more than the type of saw, and a dovetail saw is not always required for the work; a skilled joiner judges which jobs call for a dovetail saw rather than a router or a table saw. Frid (1979) kept only two saws for his own joinery, a bow saw and an offset-handled dovetail saw, and preferred the offset handle for very small-scale work: that is one maker's personal kit, not a rule for the trade.