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Working By Eye |
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With the advent of affordable digital measuring equipment and machinist-quality
dial calipers, it's easy to forget one of your most precise,
compact and inexpensive measuring tools: your eye.
Your eyes can sense plumb, level and right angles with accuracy
that may startle you the first time you try it. The only real
trick to learn – as with all things relating to measurement
– is to look in the right place.
When it comes to working with hand tools, the right place to look
is in the reflective working surface of the tool, such as the
blade of a saw, or the back of a chisel. The reflection of
your layout lines and the edges of your workpiece can tell you if
you are holding the tool square to an edge, if your tool is tipped
left or right and if your cut is progressing as you planned.
With handsaws and backsaws, the reflection in the sawplate can
help you cut square crosscuts, plumb rips and angled dovetails.
Here’s how to do it:
Mark your cut-line on your work and place the saw on the waste
side of the line. Make sure you have the board's true edge
(the edge that has been jointed straight) facing you.
Now look at the reflection of your work in the sawplate. Pay attention
to the reflection of your true edge. Swivel the saw clockwise
and counterclockwise. Tip the top of the saw left and right.
When the reflection of the true edge appears to be in line with the
actual true edge, your saw is positioned to make a perfect 90°
crosscut that is straight down through the board. (If you
don't believe it, check your sawplate against an accurate
try square.)
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The saw isn't true: Notice the reflection
of the true edge isn't in line with the
actual true edge. |
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The saw is true: The reflection of the true edge
and the actual true edge
are in line. |
You can use the reflection as a guide during almost any saw cut.
By paying attention to it, you will immediately see when you are
straying from your cut-line or listing left or right. This
works when crosscutting boards of any width, or when ripping tenon
cheeks – it can even lend a hand in cutting dovetails. Even
though the reflection won't tell if you are cutting the correct
dovetail slope, it will tell if your cut is square across the
board, which is more critical than the exact slope.
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