dove tail guide

[recurve]

I have to cut some dovetails for sights and underlugs  I was wondering if a dovetail guide is helpful and who has them for sale

[Pete G.]

I bought a guide for my first try, but have cut them by hand ever since. Just be careful and measure often.

[David Rase]

I just use a small machinists square, a scribe, a Sharpie and a depth mic.  Darken the area for the dovetail with the Sharpie on the top and part way down the oblique flats, use the square to scrib lines across the top flat, then I set the depth mic to the thickness of the depth I want and scrib lines on the oblique flats. Next I make as many cross cuts as I can with my hack saw than tak my caping chisel and remove the metal left between the hacksaw cut and thn finish file with a 3 corner file with one of the side safed.  Never used a jig or fixture.
David 

[Not English]

I do as David does, except for the mic. I use the hacksaw teeth as a depth gauge and forgo the mic completely. It's quick and fast.

[Eric Krewson]

I bought one of the dovetail guides, a waste of money in my opinion. It cuts way too deep of a dovetail as sent from the factory, something like .100. You have to shim it up to get a shallow dovetail in the.050 range. This is a pain on a straight barrel and a super pain on a swamped barrel because you need different sized shims on each end, keeping the shims in place is a pain as well.

The guide is made of super hard steel, it will wear out your hacksaw blade and a standard tri-corner fine in short order.

All that said; some people love these guides; I am not one of them.

In the picture I have the guide on a barrel cutoff trying to learn how to use it effectively. It works but I can do a better job with my hacksaw and tri-corner file.

 

[recurve]

thanks I'll try the hack saw , 3 sided file and being carful

[Robert Wolfe]

Grind the teeth off one side of your three-sided file so that you can better control where you are cutting.

[foresterdj]

Contrary to others, I found the guide very helpfull.

[mikeyfirelock]

I do as Robert suggested…..blank one side of a three corner file,  and I also use saw teeth as depth guide.  I use calipers to measure width of top of dovetail slot, mark accordingly, anc proceed there till I get proper depth, then width for proper fit.

[smylee grouch]

Grinding a safe side on a three corner file is a good idea but Brownells  sells parallel side three corner files that are better IMHO.  Sight dovetails a full sixteenth of an inch deep sounds a bit too deep to me.   

[moleeyes36]

Grinding a safe side on a three corner file is a good idea but Brownells  sells parallel side three corner files that are better IMHO.  Sight dovetails a full sixteenth of an inch deep sounds a bit too deep to me.   

The Brownell’s three corner file is a good tool to have around.

Don Richards

[J.M.Browning]

I just received one from The Log Cabin Shop today , I will be using this on a forend hanger on a rifle . I also received my safe side file . Im very curious to see the results

[john bohan]

The one I have will eat files up because it is so hard, I mostly use it to square up on the barrel. I don't think you need them.

[J.M.Browning]

I just cut a practice dovetail with the Log Cabin jig worked terrific no harm to the file stop as soon as the file stops cutting . When getting your feet wet remember the guys that have a long time building are not always the people for sound beginner advice . Use the jig .

[Joe S.]

Agreed on the jig, I just slimmed it up and cut, made a 3 sided file with a safe side to finish off the dove tail.

[Leatherbark]

 Like it was said above for a traditional shallow dovetail, it cuts too deep.  For a more modern type of 3/8ths inch dovetail sight it cuts the depth okay like for a Thompson Center factory sight.

Bob

[smylee grouch]

Could a thin shim be placed on the top flat on both sides of the dove tail before it was clamped down making it so you wouldn't cut as deep?

[Ted Kramer]

Could a thin shim be placed on the top flat on both sides of the dove tail before it was clamped down making it so you wouldn't cut as deep?

That’s what I did, right before I threw the thing on my scrap iron pile.

[Gtrubicon]

Could a thin shim be placed on the top flat on both sides of the dove tail before it was clamped down making it so you wouldn't cut as deep?

I used the blades of a feeler gauge between the barrel and jig to get the depth of the dovetail correct for my application. I placed them in the front and back of the fixture leaving the guide slot open for the dovetail. It worked very well. I have no complaints on the tool.