Veritas Dovetail Saw — and the Japanese Alternative

Veritas makes a dovetail saw and Lee Valley sells it direct, along with the rest of the Veritas range. It is a good Western-pattern saw with a properly filed rip tooth pattern. If that is what you want, order it from leevalley.com.

The alternative worth knowing about is the Japanese dozuki, because it is not a compromise — a lot of furniture makers who could afford either use the dozuki.

Kerf is the argument

A dovetail joint fits well or badly depending on how accurately you can saw to a line, and how much material the saw removes. A Western dovetail saw has a kerf around 0.6 to 0.8 mm. A dozuki is closer to 0.3.

Half the kerf means half the waste to pare out between pins, less room for the saw to wander, and a joint that closes more sweetly when the shoulders meet. It also means the saw needs far less force, which is the second-order benefit: you steer it rather than drive it.

The spine along the back keeps the thin blade straight, exactly as it does on a Western backsaw, and limits how deep you can cut. For dovetails in 3/4 in stock that is irrelevant.

The pull stroke and beginners

Push-cut saws need the operator to keep a thin blade from buckling under compression. That is a skill, and it is why beginners’ first dovetails wander. A pull saw puts the blade in tension, so it tracks where you point it from the first stroke.

The flip side: it cuts quickly and with almost no resistance, so it is easy to run past the baseline before you notice. Mark the baseline with a knife, and stop early on your first few joints.

Replaceable, not sharpenable

Japanese saw teeth are induction-hardened. They stay sharp far longer than a filed tooth and then cannot be resharpened. The blade unclips and a new one goes on. Some people dislike that on principle; it is cheaper per year of use than paying a saw doctor.