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dovetails (pretty ugly ham fisted first attempt with no consideration given to size/ratio)
That's a fantastic first attempt at dovetails!
Dovetails joints are a question of practice and getting good at them will stand you in good stead for all sorts of more complex joinery. Rob Cosman is probably the best YouTube resource for refining your technique especially this video
But the best advice I can give is find a technique that works for you and practice it as much as you can. Even if you are only using cheap softwood.
Bobbo-
Thanks for the tip!
I've since watched a few videos and realise the importance of accurate marking and correct angles. I sort of jumped in blind with a plastic ruler and pencil!
Have just ordered a few bits of cheaper pine to make a toolbox for my growing collection of hand tools so will plan that out a bit better!
Colm89
Just realised i never posted this here. Nowhere near on a par with some of the work being displayed in this thread, but I'm moderately pleased with a first attempt at something more than a few lengths of pine botched together with screws.
Got some ash from surrey timbers, tried the following things for the first time: laminating, dovetails (pretty ugly ham fisted first attempt with no consideration given to size/ratio), rebates with a chisel, chamfered edge with a block plane.
All done with hand tools (basic universal hand saw, chisels, block plane, no. 4 plane, square) except for the final sanding.
Learned lots in the process of course, next one will be much neater!