forming the cupid bow dovetails

I've put a 45 degree line on the soft jaws of the vice so that I can line up the sole and file the cupid bow dovrtails horizontally. In the past I have always done this by guess work, but I thought it would look professional on the screen.

My set of needle files for the job.

The sole is ready to file, I do the cupid bows by eye, without measuring.

I use a 1/8" round for both ends of the cupid bow and a little 3 cornered file fot the middle.

I forgot to do the second dovetail filing so I have done it now.

Once I've got 3 little saw cuts I round the edges with a 1/2" round forming the dovetail shape.

The arrow in the middle is where I sometimes round this corner as well, but not this time.

I have decided to cupid bow the dovetails on the sides as well, this is going to prove very difficult.

You can see the bottom and the side cuoid bows ready for peening.

The bottom peened and filed, it took me a day to do this.

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