Last Sunday, in The New York Times Magazine cover story, Michael Sokolove reported that in the world of sports, “Girls are more likely suffer chronic knee pain as well as shinsplints and stress fractures.” And, according to some research, ankle sprains, hip and back pain are more prevalent among women athletes, as are concussions in sports that both sexes play.

I guess I’m lucky. I played soccer for three decades and while my knees do hurt on occasion, I never tore an anterior cruciate ligament (aka ACL). After a mild sprain or two, my right ankle isn’t quite as strong as it once was, but I’ve never been on crutches for more than a week. And no concussions (at least none I remember). What finally ended the game for me was a snapped wrist during a stint as keeper. I was in a cast for four months, and my right wrist is now chronically weak – and I’m chronically afraid of breaking it again. (But for the record, I blocked that shot.)

The difference between men and women, according to experts Sokolove interviewed, is biometrics. Quite simply, men and women are built differently, and after puberty, men tend to add muscle whereas women tend to add fat, so women don’t have the same intrinsic strength to support muscle and ligament movements. And, because of women’s hip shapes, we tend to run differently. According to some experts, the female body can be trained to address these differences, which may reduce injuries.

I find a similar issue in woodworking from time to time. At 5'5", I’m of average height for a woman. But the benches in our shop were built by men, and my bench used to belong to Editor Christopher Schwarz, who is just shy of a foot taller than am I. So, properly using a hand plane at that bench is for me impossible, as my elbows are always bent far more than they ought to be. This is an easy fix — either build my own bench…or wear high heels. (Thus far, I’ve opted for the heels.)

On the left, I'm wearing 4" heels; on the right, I'm in flats.

It took me a long time to get comfortable with our Powermatic table saw, too. Pushing a board through the cut is quite scary for me. Compared to the guys, my torso is a lot lower and closer to the blade when I lean forward, and my arms are a lot a shorter. So, my hand, arms and chest are always closer to the blade. Thus, I have to more often give up some workpiece control by using a push stick when one of the guys might not choose to use one.

And then there’s gloves (no, I don’t wear them at the jointer). One size does not fit all. It doesn’t even come close. Forget the home center or hardware store. When I need nitrile or vinyl gloves for messy finishing jobs, I have to drive miles to a medical supply store. And even then, I’m not always able to find women’s smalls.

Hand-held tools can also be a challenge. We have some drills in our shop that I simply cannot pick up and use with one hand, due to their weight. And on others, the grip is far too large to be comfortable. I realize these tools are designed for the “average” user – but I do wish more manufacturers paid attention to the fact that far more women are now buying and using tools. I don’t think our relatively smaller frames and hand sizes are usually factored into that “average.” (Of course, my chronically weak right wrist doesn’t help matters. Darn – guess I can’t use that Firestorm pictured above.)

In my soccer “career,” until college I was usually the only girl on the team. I wasn’t the best player, but I could hold my own. By age 16, most of the guys were faster, stronger and a whole lot bigger than was I. So I compensated by improving my blocking, tackling and passing. I’ve had to learn some similar “fixes” in woodworking. And of course, it affords me the opportunity to match my pounce bag to my shoes.

A few months back, Senior Editor Glen D. Huey taught me his "no fail" method for cutting through dovetails, and, following Editor Chris Schwarz's advice, I cut one set a day for 30 days (OK -- I cut them only during the work week, and ended up with about 24 sets). I posted the method and accompanying pictures on this blog in two parts. For Part 1, the Pin Board, click here; for Part 2, the Tail Board, click here.

For half-blind dovetails, the method really isn't much different -- you still mark, saw and chop. You simply don't saw all the way through the half-blind tail board. I learned to cut half-blinds while making inset drawers for a Chimney Cupboard that will be in the February 2008 issue. First, I milled 1/2" stock and cut the through-dovetails for joining the drawer sides to the drawer back. Up to this point, the method is the same as detailed in Parts 1 and 2 above.

Then, I set my marking gauge to 1/2" (aka the thickness of my sides), and scribed a line at that setting on the inside face of each of my drawer fronts. My drawer fronts are 7/8" thick, and the idea is to leave at least 1/4" of material in back of the pins, so I had to change the setup on my marking gauge to mark the depth of cut on the end. Use this same setup to scribe the baseline on your tail boards (the side pieces).

Saw down to the line 1/4" from the front edge; at the same time, you'll be sawing past the scribe line on the back face of the drawer front by about 1". (I had trouble believing this...so I went home and pulled out drawers from various pieces of antique furniture I own. Lo and behold — there were saw kerfs on the inside face of every drawer front.)

It's on to chopping out the waste, just as you would with a through dovetail. The only difference is, you stop when you get down to your 1/4" scribe line, and square the bottom. As always, undercut each just a hair. To keep from breaking out the pin edges, chop the top edges of the waste at an angle to the pins and knock it out.

Editor's note: The following is the second part of a three-part series on cutting through dovetails with a combination of hand and power tools. The first part, which involves the pin board, can be found through this link. Below is the second part. The third part will discuss how Glen developed the process for his custom shop.

With the pin board complete (click here for Part 1), it's time to transfer the shape of the pins onto the tail board. Lay your tail board face-side down on your bench. Line up your pin board at the end of the tail board, with the face side facing you (the narrow end of the pins should be at the front edge). Make sure the two pieces are flush at the front and sides.

Now trace the shape of the pins onto the tail board with a sharp pencil, then slide the pin board back and mark an “X” on the tail board directly in front of each pin (which is the waste area). Set the pin board aside.

Use a band saw to carefully cut along your lines on the waste side up to your baseline, leaving the pencil lines. As when you hand cut the pins, do all one direction first, then go back and change your angle for the other sides to avoid dancing back and forth at the saw. Now trim off the half-pin waste at the edges of the board. Also, make a cut down the center of each waste area (this will keep the waste from getting stuck as you remove it with your chisel). If you don’t have a band saw, you can make these cuts with your handsaw, though you’ll likely have more fitting issues unless your saw skills are dead on.

Clamp the tail board to your workbench (it doesn’t matter which side is facing up. Again, place your chisel just a hair in front of your baseline, with the bevel side facing the end of the board, and angle the chisel a couple degrees to undercut the joint. Strike once to define the baseline, then chisel out the waste. Unlike on the pin board, you won’t be able to remove the waste directly from the end; you’ll have to approach it at an angle at a point about 1/8” from the baseline. And remember, the bevel of your chisel should face up with this cut to help lever up the waste. Continue these two cuts until you’re about halfway through the board, then flip it over and repeat the process on the other face. The cut you made down the center of the waste will help eject. Clean out any remaining bits of waste on both workpieces with your chisel or an X-Acto knife.

Now you’re ready to test fit the two pieces. Place the tail board face-side down on the bench, and hold the pin board with the face side facing you. Walk the two pieces together until they’re about halfway joined. If you have any fitting problems, take them apart and trim away the bits that are sticking. And you’ll likely have fitting problems…even after some practice. It’s better to undercut then go back and refine where necessary than to overcut and cause gaps (as you can see I did on the second tail in the lead photo – oops). Once you have the pieces halfway joined by hand, a few strikes with a rubber mallet should seat the two workpieces together.

Inspect your work carefully, and identify any problems. You can work on those next time. Heck – after three weeks of almost daily practice, I’m still struggling with hitting the baseline perfectly on both sides when hand sawing, and I still overcut my tails from time to time. But as Editor Chris Schwarz keeps telling me, “It’s good enough for 18th-century casework” (because 18th-century woodworkers covered the visible dovetail faces with trim). Despite the wee gap, the dovetails will hold. Nonetheless, I’m going to keep working on those baselines.

 – Megan Fitzpatrick with Glen D. Huey