Dovetailing 101- failure is always an option

For a long time now, I've been wanting to try to cut dovetails by hand.  I've watched several videos on how to do it and felt like I should be able to do it.  I started out by practicing straight cuts in the end grain of a piece of scrap pine.   

Once I did that I layed out the tails on a piece of poplar I had laying around. I started cutting the dovetails in the waste side of the tail.

One thing I really need is a vice of some sort to be able to better hold workpieces. These clamps just don't cut it

Next Istep was to cut out the waste with a coping saw. I had bought one several years ago and it's had a lot of use....collecting dust in my tool cabinet.  

It actually cuts great...

After that I got out my chisels to clean up the cuts.  I think this May have been where I screwed up at least the first one...I tried to cut the ends and the tails and I think I got to aggressive, plus my chisels needed to be sharpened so some of the grain tore out while I was trying to pare away a small amount of material. 

I transferred the tail locations onto the pin board.  

After I cleaned up the waste, this was the result.

Failure is always an option.  I'm going to sharpen my chisels and try it again to see if I can get a better result next time.