Jig for hand cutting dovetail joints

A jig for cutting a dovetail joint having tails and pins, comprising:

• a guide block comprising:
• a guide body having two ends;
• guide faces on opposite sides of the guide body, the guide body positionable against an end of a board having an adjacent board face with the guide faces alternatively:
• (a) square to the end of the board and oblique to the adjacent board face, or (b) square to the board face and oblique to the end;
• and
• at least one magnet mounted in the guide body to keep the saw engaged with at least one of the guide faces.

A method for hand-cutting a plurality of tails and a plurality of pins to form a dovetail joint using a guide block and a hand saw, the guide block comprising a pair of symmetrically angled guide faces, a magnet for drawing the hand saw against each angled guide face, and a low friction pad covering the guide face, comprising:

• (a) laying out the plurality of tails on a tailboard and the plurality of pins on a pinboard;
• (b) orienting the guide block in a first position on the tailboard to cut the tails;
• (c) placing the guide face of the guide block on the first tail line so that the friction pad is positioned on a waste side of the tail line;
• (d) placing a saw against the friction pad such that the teeth are below the friction pad and the magnet engages the saw;
• (e) sawing to the depth line;
• (f) repeating step (a)-(e) for each tail line;
• (g) removing the waste between the tails;
• (h) orienting the guide block in a second position on the pinboard to cut the pins;
• and
• (i) repeating steps (a)-(g) for cutting the pins.