Cutting dovetails by hand was the way I started way back about 60 years ago. I have bought several dovetail jigs over the years to make life easier. The last one I purchased was an Akeda about 12 years ago. It was an expensive jig but easy to use. However, most of my work since then does not utilize dovetails. I would try a less expensive jig to start and then upgrade if you find yourself making a lot of dovetails
