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A few months back, Lost Art Press featured a dovetail marking system from The Solution At Hand. I thought it was pretty neat and asked some of my swap buddies if anyone could help me by CNCing the brass piece which is almost all of the work. John McClure offered to help, so I sent him a few pieces of brass. He promptly broke a handful of bits on his CNC, but eventually figured everything out and sent me back a few cut brass plates. Thanks, John!

The angles on the brass are 1:4 (or pretty near 14°︎) since that's what I use for most of my dovetails.

Today I got the rest of the hardware and wood to finish these off. I had some ebony that I bought for another project and ended up not using, so I cut a piece 1/2" by 1" by about 3.5" long. Sanded it up, drilled a couple holes, chiseled recesses for square nuts, and put the parts together (though I'll replace the gun screws I'm currently using with nicer thumbscrews at some point). It's a handy little gauge, and since I don't have a real shop at the moment, it was nice to knock out a small project and get something done.

I'm planning to leave both the brass and the ebony unfinished for now. I might shellac the brass on the next one I build, but I suspect that won't look very good once it starts getting scuffed from use.

Gallery

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Here is where the enterprising owner of a CNC machine jumps in, and says I could make those for members for XXX apiece.

Nice job Dave. A slide ruler for 14* DTs as wide or thin as you like.
 

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I thought about that, SteveN, but wouldn't feel right monopolizing John's CNC like that. ;-)

Agreed, Tony. Especially with no shop, having buddies who'll help out makes a huge difference.
 

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You will have that shop soon, Dave:})

Not sure which will last longer, the brass, or the ebony?

Why shellac brass? Why not just wax it? And the ebony too.
 

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Shellac? To keep corrosion away. Wax will work, too. Or just let it pick up a patina. I'll likely just let it age for now.
 

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Looks like a great re-creation of a nice gauge.
 

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Duplicate!
 

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We are seeing a lot of 'teamwork' amongst us lately! Great project Dave!
I'm working with Grant on a combination sign project! Let's keep this cooperative effort going!!!
 

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Great to see friends helping out friends when they can. That was a good idea Dave.
 

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Yeah, Mike. Especially as I'm still in the middle of getting a shop built, cooperating with others is a huge help. I'm getting some help from AZDave on my main swap item too.

Thanks, Dave. Would like to see you in a swap again one of these days.
 

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Nice Dave. It's great when lumberjocks work together. You know something good will come out of it.
 

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Nice teamwork, nice tool and congrats on a Top 3!
 

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I was envisioning something like the bow-tie version. Just goes to show there are always more ways than one to make something. Nice work on the brass John, and great idea Dave.
 

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Thanks, Jeff, Steven, and Earl.

Earl, I've got a little bowtie version, but this one has the nice feature of being able to set the width with the sliding crossbar, and then you align it on the center notch, rather than having to figure out all the individual widths and spacings. It's a different way of laying out the dovetails, and I think it fits my brain better than the bowtie does.
 

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That came out nice Dave and John!
 

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Great build Dave. Can't wait to see some of your dovetails you make with it.
 

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Thanks, James. It'll be a while yet. The shop slab was just poured on Friday.
 

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Pretty slick Dave. Nice work fellas!
 
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