One consideration when designing the layout of a through dovetail is the slope or angle of the pins and tails. While tradition dictates using a dovetail ratio of 1:6 or 9° slope for softwood applications and 1:8 or 7° slope for hardwood, the exact ratio or slope used is largely unimportant, as long as angle extremes are avoided. Some makers prefer the pronounced 14° angle produced by a 1:4 ratio, especially when working in thinner stock, as it not only provides stronger material interlock than traditional ratio angles, but produces a slightly exaggerated dovetail joint that many find attractive. The 14° angle is also a close match to that typically found on popular 18th century American period furniture.

Each of these 14° guides is designed to approximate a 1:4 ratio.

If you’re using a smoothing plane on a large, flat surface, avoiding unsightly plane tracks just got easier. Using the new Veritas Camber Roller Assembly with the Mk. II Honing Guide allows you to taper each side of the blade, while retaining an accurate and consistent bevel angle.

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If you use bench planes, your core set should include three tools: a jack, jointer and smoothing plane. Used together, these three tools fl atten and smooth surfaces, and perform many other workshop tasks.

Allow me to skip to the bottom line here and say that the Veritas Mk.II Honing Guide is the most thoughtful, accurate and well-made honing guide for sharpening chisels and straight plane irons I’ve ever used. If you like honing guides, you’ll be thrilled by this one. If you don’t like them, this one might convert you.

No matter what sort of woodworking you do, you need a quality straightedge. Powertool woodworkers need them for setting up machines. Hand-tool woodworkers need them for knifi ng in joint lines. All woodworkers need them to determine if joints are true.