The trick in doing just about anything that
requires consistent repetitive actions is finding a method that your body
naturally follows, and training your body so a more efficient method seems
natural. That's why coaches help ball players with their swing and shots, and
then the players practice all day long. The final movement needs to feel
natural and relaxed - so you easily can repeat the motion and know
instinctively when you are doing it right. The reason we have coaches is so we
can learn efficient technique. By feeling natural I mean your entire body has
to feel natural. That's why follow through, posture, and your whole body being
relaxed is so important in sports. The same applies to hand work in
woodworking, sawing being pretty much at the top of the list.
Grab your nearest backsaw. If you are lucky you have your granddad's backsaws that has been
lovingly cared for and kept sharp since 1937.
Find a piece of wood and square up the ends. With a
marking gauge, scribe a line about the thickness of the wood away from the end
you plan to cut. Clamp the wood so you feel comfortable sawing uphill
with it (A bench hook
is great for this but it's far from a requirement). Make a few small marks on
the wood where you want to saw. The goal in sawing is to just graze the line,
so arbitrarily decide on the "waste" side of the mark.
Put the saw on the wood on one of the marks in such
a way that your hand feels comfortable. Your arm should be relaxed, your wrist
should be at rest. Your whole body should be at ease. Now, look at where the
saw will cut. Is it still on the mark? Does it look like it will cut on the
waste side mark? Look at the reflection of the wood in the saw blade, does it
look like the saw is held vertically square to the wood? If all of these checks
are okay then we are home free. If it doesn't, move your whole body, not just
your arm or wrist, so that when you put the saw on the wood at the right mark,
you naturally hold the saw in the right place and square. This is the key:
finding a comfortable position for your entire body that results in a square
cut.
Start the cut. Relax, your arm and wrist should not
tense up or twist. After cutting take the saw out of the cut and see if it's
square left to right. The reason we are doing the cut then checking is that we
also want to train ourselves to see square without layout marks. If your
square: great! If not draw, a square reference line on the wood and see when
you lay the blade naturally on the wood how far off you are. Try to see the out
of square condition by eye. It's a lot easier to see if you are square by
eyeballing the angle formed by the wood and the entire saw, than just seeing if
you are on a small mark on the wood.
Repeat the steps until you can comfortably start a
cut square and continue sawing square. Practive every day for a few days. There
are two things that need to become automatic: Recognizing if you are cutting
square without measuring with a square, and sawing square using a position and
posture that feels natural and keeps you cutting square. If you don't feel
natural in the correct position, practice until the correct position feels
natural.
Like sports, or any activity that requires hand eye
coordination, instruction and coaching only go so far, the real key is using
practice, and feedback to re-enforce the instruction and make the skill
automatic.
With practice you will find it hard NOT to saw
square. Chances are also pretty good that if you find sawing square a natural
experience, the natural control of the saw will make it much easier to
consistently saw at an angle for dovetail tails.
