but the reason why the effort was disappointing is that I could never get a result good enough to use (too loose, too tight, uneven, etc.).
Gotcha. Mike Davis said...
"but I go through this practice exercise every time I start up a new project with dovetails if I haven't cut any for a few months."
I don't know if I'll ever use dovetails of any sort for building something but it was worthwhile to start learning how to make them from Richard.