Accidental Woodworker

it is snowing.........

 When I got up this AM there was some snow on the ground. Not much and beneath it was a lot slush. I shoveled all of it and all I kept thinking about was this is heart attack snow. Wet, heavy, and slightly frozen. I thought we had weathered the storm and all would be well in Disneyland. Spoiler alert - I was wrong.

After I had eaten breakfast my stomach started acting up. I was having cramps and it wasn't making me feel too good. I ignored it thinking it was what I had to eat. Turns out that was wrong because it got worse as the day wore on. The snow was coming down and sticking starting around 1400. According to the weather it is supposed to continue dumping the white stuff until the wee hours of monday.

The stomach hiccup curtailed my time in the shop although I managed to work through it for about an hour. According to my wife this is the same bug that got everyone in High Point sick over at xmas. Not looking forward to the symptoms they had.

 drawer bottoms

Started at the top and worked on down to the last one. The goal was to get the bottom laying flat and straight on the front rails. A couple o the drawers I didn't have to do anything to.

 ugly gap

I really didn't want to plane the ends of drawers but this needed some attention. I didn't want to make the gap straight top to bottom as that would be way too much. So I took the minimum off trying to make the gap kind of even looking. I had to do these dance steps on one other drawer too.

 knob placement

I left the drawers as is for now. I wasn't feeling up to snuff to finish them. I still have to plane a gap on the tops to allow for expansion and contraction. Decided to place the knobs in line vertically. The single drawer knobs will align with the single knob on the dual drawers.

 new knobs

I wasn't happy with the knobs. I wanted them to be graduated in size more than they were. I pissed away an hour searching the WWW for shaker knobs and the choices available were dismal. I wanted some 1 1/2" and 1 3/4" diameter knobs but all I found was 1, 1 1/4, and 2 diameter. 

I changed the knobs to 3/4" for the 3" drawers, 1" for the 4" drawer, and 1 1/4" for the remaining ones. 

I also searched for other knobs (metal/glass/ceramic) but most of them only came in 2 sizes. Maybe I should use half moon cutouts in the fronts as knobs? Those would all be the same. Looking forward to having a 24hr stomach bug and I'll find out in the AM.

accidental woodworker

drawers are done......

 It was a wee bit bumpy but I got all the drawers done. All drawers are rough fitted to their respective openings and slide in/out without binding. I missed getting them done before lunch but rather got it by 1400 in the PM session. It was a good feeling putting the last drawer in, stepping back, and looking at what I had done. 

 didn't forget

I dry fitted both drawer slips and I didn't brain fart and forget to round them over.

 WTF?

I glued the front slip in on both drawers and waited and hour before gluing in one side slip. This one is going to be tapered and way too much to ignore. I stepped back and did some serious butt scratching trying to figure out how to fix it.

 DUH

Didn't catch it at first but I saw the light here. I glued the front slip in the wrong place. I glued it at the top instead of the bottom. This was glued in solid and it wasn't budging.

 Mr Chisel won

Three whacks with it and 99% of came off. It was much easier than I was expecting it to be.

 done

This cleaned up really well. There are a few scars visible but I doubt anyone will notice or pick up on them.

 new slips coming

There were leftovers. Enough here to make two sets if needed.

 caught up

I got two slips glued and cooking on each drawer. It was almost lunch time and I wasn't going to met my before lunch time deadline. 

 rounded the back bottom corners

A couple of the drawers were hitting the back rail in their openings. I rounded over the back bottom of every drawer just in case.

 the back rail

The carcass side drawer guide (left) dips a few frog hairs below the back rail. The drawer still closed but I could feel it hitting it as I closed it. After rounding the bottom I didn't feel anything pushing the drawer in.

 left overs

This is what is left from two quarter sheets of 1/4" plywood. I am surprised that I have this much as I thought I wouldn't have enough. The far left one got smaller because I needed one more drawer bottom for the last drawer.

 I am liking this a lot

One sapwood streak on the dual drawers is slightly off. I must have used the wrong face on the left one because the streaks don't flow L to R. The left one is thinner where it meets the right drawer front.

I wanted to put plywood dust panels in this but nixed it due to cost. I should have done it because it would have been less than what I used for the dry bottoms. I will put one on the bottom drawer opening and that will keep dust bunnies from getting in through the bottom drawer.

 in the batters box

Next up is trimming and setting the drawer margins. I will plane all the drawer bottoms flat to the rails and that will be my reference. I will plane the absolute minimum off the sides. All gaps will be on the top to allow for expansion and contraction.

I thought this first drawer was flat on the bottom but it isn't. The dark space on the right half side I thought was a pencil line but it is a gap. There is some pencil on it, but just enough to have fooled me.

I surfed Klingspor's site looking for some 4x24 sanding belts and I couldn't find them. A search for them only coughed up 3x21 belts. After 20 minutes of searching and flipping through the site I gave up and went to Amazon and bought them. I'll get them on monday maybe. If the storm that is on and off for dumping major snow happens I doubt I'll get them. I need them to belt sand the top of the dresser.

Not sure what is next on the hit parade for Ralphie's workshop. I do have a ton of maintenance items that I should address and deal with. We'll see what shakes out in the next few days because the dresser is 95% done.

accidental woodworker

making drawers penultimate part........

 I got real close with finishing the drawers today. I had a minor hiccup with the last drawer glued up and that is delaying all things until tomorrow. I got the basic 'boxes' done I just need to do the slips and fit the bottoms. So far my estimating a completion day hasn't worked out in my favor. However, I feel confident this time that I'll be done with drawers tomorrow - probably before lunch.

 kicked my butt

This is the right 5 1/2" dual drawer. Fitting this drawer was a compound  problem. The height had to be planed along with the with the back half of each side. It took me quite a while to get this drawer fitted. I was going purposely slow because I didn't want to end up with margins a 1/2" wide.

 6" single drawer

Even though I used my jig to cut the back bottom it came out long. The slips ended up being almost an 1/8" proud of the sides. That left only a strong 1/8" of meat on the bottom of the groove for the plywood to ride in.

 problem

Both sides at the top bowed outward slightly which prohibited me from getting the drawer to fit. I didn't want to plane it as it would have removed a lot of wood. I put some white glue in the gap and clamped it. Fingers crossed that it holds.

 better but not acceptable

All my gaps with the half pins were predominantly on the top left. I ganged sawed all the half pins too so I don't understand this. Since I sawed two as one I would expect the gap to be the same on both sides. That aside the full tails fit nice and snug.

 first of the last two

Ensured that the back was tight in the dado along the entire length. I couldn't check the gap at the top due to the bessey being in the way.

 another oops

Forgot to plane another round over on the slips. It is hard to see but the bottom web of the groove is thinner than the top. I will glue the plywood bottom in the groove to strengthen it and make better able to handle the weight that will be put on the plywood bottom.

 the last one

I got bit on the arse with a gap on the left half pin. I'll take it because the rest of it is dead nuts for fitting.

 last drawer

Got an extra clamp on the back to counteract it bowing. 

 left 6" dual drawer

As I was fitting this drawer I noticed that there was a gap on both sides at the top. The drawer front fitted when I tried it in the drawer (backwards) but the back of it wouldn't fit in the opening. I forced glue into the gaps and clamped it. I'll let this set and cook until the AM.

 this close

Photographic proof boys and girls. If I hadn't ran into the hiccups with the gaps on the back this pic would have had all 15 drawers smiling back at you. 

accidental woodworker

drawer making pt X.......

 The alarm bells are ringing in RI. The weather seers are saying there is a potential to get 6" of snow on sunday. If it dumps 6" of the white stuff it will be the first significant snowfall since last feb. On the other hand the seers are saying that they also don't where the storm will track. So if it heads inland we get a white blanket and if it makes a right and goes offshore, we get rain. I'll have to cool my heels and wait and see what shakes out.

 last night

I got the front and one side glued after dinner. I thought of coming back before I hit the rack to do the left slip but nixed it. 

 gap

I got confused when planing this drawer to fit. I should have been planing the back but instead I planed the entire length of the sides. This gap would be better if it had been on the top or bottom. Here on the sides it isn't going expand/contract.

 backside of the tails

I rarely do this on through dovetails. My reasoning is that the tails should fit the pins without having to trim the back edges of the tails. I did it here on the half blinds because they will never be seen. I relieved the edges so it would seat fully in the pin sockets. Half of the drawers got this treatment and half didn't.

 getting better

Happy with the fit of the full tails but the left half pin has a slight gap at the baseline. Fingers crossed that the glue will swell and close it up.

 2nd 5 1/2" dual drawer

I was trying to get this drawer glued and cooking before the lunch bell and I made it. The goal for after lunch was to finish this drawer and get it fitted. After that, get the 6" single drawer glued and cooking.

 12th one almost done, 3 to go

The 2nd 5 1/2" dual drawer wasn't playing nice. I spent a lot of calories and time trying to get it fitted to its opening. I don't have the back on the dresser yet which helps a lot because I can look at the drawer from the back and see where it was hanging. The sides, especially the right one, were too high. And like its sibling on the left, I planed the wrong end of the sides. The gap wasn't as bad as the left one though.

 glued and cooking

I don't like gluing up drawers or anything else this way. I was running out of time and I couldn't get the clamps tight and have the diagonals agree. I got 90° corner gizmos in each of the four corners. I don't have much faith in these but I'll find out in the AM how it shakes out.

 Lowes run

This was it - a 2'x2' and a 2'x4' plywood panel. I wanted to buy two quarter sheets but they only two and one was toast. I got these for the remaining drawer bottoms.

 what I have left

This is what I have remaining from the two quarter sheets I bought previously. I have 4 drawers left to put bottoms in. The one on the left is for the single 6" drawer the piece on the right is for the 3 dual drawers. I have just enough to do all the drawers with what I bought last week. I would have bet a lung that I would have been short one or two drawers.

 4 left
It is looking real good that I will have all the drawers knocked out tomorrow. Or come saturday for sure.

accidental woodworker

snow is coming.......

 I've been watching the forecast and especially for sunday. I have seen it go from rain to snow to a mixture of both. The temps over night have been a few degrees below freezing and the day time temps are in the middle 40's (seasonable). I don't know what is going to happen but I'm thinking it is going to be rain. This is the opposite of what I was reading in oct. Then it was El Nino was going to wreck havoc on my part of the universe with lots of snow. El Nino appears to have taken a left turn somewhere because it ain't happened yet. Maybe sunday will be the start of it?

 2nd 5" dual drawer

I came back to the shop twice last night after dinner. I glued in the side slips and this AM I sawed and fitted the plywood bottom.

 wised up

All the remaining drawers have identical drawer slips and this off cut is the perfect gauge for setting them. I would have done this before but each bank of those drawers had slips made just for them. The groove for the plywood is offset with more meat below it than above. I did this to give a larger bearing surface for the bottom of the plywood.

 3 for 5

The two largest banks of drawers are in the batters box. I should be done with both banks of them by the weekend. It is looking good for me getting a check mark in the done column next week sometime.

 almost lunch

I got the slips glued and cooking in the 5 1/2" single drawer and after lunch I got the bottom fitted in it. This is the left 5 1/2" dual drawer ready to saw the tails. 

 5 1/2" single drawer

Gluing these slips in was a PITA. Everything was slipping and moving as I applied the clamps. It was a bit frustrating clamping this one but I finally won . The other drawers I didn't even get a whimper from.

 Lie Nielsen skew chisels

This is another tool that LN doesn't make or is not available now. The hair spray is still holding the handles in the sockets. I was expecting to have to spray them every day. They are still tight and securing without a hint of being loose.

 glued and cooking

This is as far as I got today. I was shooting to getting 3 drawers at least glued up but I came up shy. I will be going back to the shop to glue the slips in after dinner.

 another oops

I forgot to round over the slips again. These may have to stay square because the bottom is nailed at the back. I didn't want risk ruining the plywood bottom removing it but I'll try to knock off the arris on the slips somehow.

 10 out of 15

Tomorrow I will definitely have the 5 1/2" drawers done leaving the 6" drawers to bring up the rear.

accidental woodworker

feeling better.....

 Today was pretty good back and pain wise. I woke up with it stiff but it lubed somehow because in a hour or so it wasn't aching so much. I had a good day in the shop too. It would have been an all day affair but my brother in law stopped by for a visit after lunch. I didn't have any issues with the back stopping me from working. I got everything done today that I wanted to by 1530 when I killed the lights. Hopefully this episode was a one off or a once in every other full moon thing to deal with.

 half done

I have as many drawers to go as I have done already. This dresser is starting to get heavy too. The goal for today was to finish the 5" drawers - the single and two dual ones.

 slips for the single drawer

All the shavings on the bench is what I did to get the drawer to fit its opening. After the drawer slips have cooked for while I'll fit the bottom to it.

 still trucking

The chisels are a wee bit duller but they are still performing well chopping the tail and pin socket waste. This is the first time I have used these chisels for so long without sharpening them or touching them up. I think it helps me a lot that I'm making this out of pine.

 lunch time

Got the first of the dual drawers glued and cooking before the lunch bell rang. I should be able to knock out the 2nd one before I kill the lights.

slips cooking

I looked over my remaining plywood for the drawers and I think I can get more bottoms out of it then I thought. I am still going to be short but not by as much as I thought I was going to be.

 oops

Have you had the spidery sense nag at you but you ignore it? Well this time it bit me on the arse. I thought I had sawn the back of the slip wrong but it fit (or so I thought) so I just glued it. When I noticed this I tried to remove it but it had already set up. Unfortunately for me this was the first one I glued in place.

 ta-DA

2nd drawer glued and cooking. I noticed that I have made a few omissions on the drawer bottom fitting. I hadn't planed the bottoms of the drawers flush before gluing the slips on. None of the side slips were flush with the bottom of the drawer. Something I'm going to have to make a mental note to do for the remaining ones.

 bottom fitted

I like slips and how they look in the drawer. I don't have a warm and fuzzy plowing a 1/4x1/4 groove in the 1/2" thick sides. It is also far easier to fix a broken slip than a broken side.

 ugly looking

Got a big chunk missing due to tear out. This happened when I was plowing the dado to depth with the router plane. I'm going to fill it in with wood putty and call it done. It is at the back of the drawer and isn't that noticeable.

 closing in
Tomorrow I'll have the 2nd dual drawer done. That will leave the two largest drawers - 5 1/2" and 6" to finish.

accidental woodworker

day off.....

 Decided to take a day off. Well a partial day off from the shop. My back felt pretty much the same as it did the day before. On a bright note, the back did feel better at around 1500. I got 2 stints in the workshop today spending roughly 45 minutes to hour each time. I spent most of today trying not to move much, watching You Tube, and reading. I'll give the back a few more days to calm down and slowly ease back into my regular schedule. Or that is the grand plan in Disneyland.

 not fully seated

The tail/pin fit on this 5" single drawer is better than the last one. I still am having issues with the half pins not being 100% tight and gap free. On this drawer I went 3 for 4 being gap free. I checked the fit of the tails in the pins but didn't seat them fully. I was just trying to get an idea of the fit and also to minimize the number of times I seated and unseated the tails/pins.

 hmm......

I'm not particularly fond of socket chisels and this one ain't helping me change my opinion of them. No matter how hard or how many times I reset the handle, it loosens up. Usually right in the middle of me doing a delicate paring cut with them. I remember Chris S writing the spraying the handle with hair spray helps.

 $3.99

There aren't a lot of hair spray choices in the drug stores anymore. There were only 4-5 brands on the shelf at CVS and this was the cheapest one. It worked and it worked well. Got an instant grab and bonding and when I killed the lights they were still tight and together. I wonder what the shelf life of this is?

 getting the back measurement

This was basically all I managed to get done today. Used the pinch rods to keep the inside dimension at the back the same as it was at the front. 

 glued and cooking

I thought I would get the slips sawn to rough length but it didn't happen. Tomorrow the plan is to get the two 5" dual drawers glued and cooking.

 xmas gift

I got this book from daughter #1 and I like cookbooks like this. I am ok with them just having recipes but this also has history, trivia, and tells stories about the recipes.

 a little bit of everything

I'm italian from my father's side (german/dutch on my mother's side) and it is the cuisine that I grew up on. IMO there is nothing like a meal from your childhood to warm up  your heart with fond memories. This cookbook has everything from veggies to pasta to meat to desserts. It will take me a while to slog my way through this book.

 xmas gift to me

I got this book off the Timeless Tools and Treasures site for cheap. I like reading history books about tools.

 another xmas gift

When I first saw the title of this book I kind of dismissed it. I thought it was a philosophical book on what makes the sun rise in the east. Turns out it isn't and it is about 7 inventions that everyone takes for granted today.

 7 wonders

I read the chapter on the nail today. Made me appreciate that humble, insignificant piece of metal so much more. I probably could have read more but I binged watched the last episodes of the Dresden Detectives. I highly recommend them (they're on PBS) if you like police crime dramas. Cops are the same world wide but how they go about policing is different. Makes it interesting especially so when the acting is top notch.

accidental woodworker

back pain......

 Last night I went back to the shop after dinner but I didn't get anything done. I bent over to pick the drawer and my back threw a massive hissy fit. That was it for me and it took me a few to straighten up. I spent the remainder of the night binge watching German police dramas with english subtitles. I watched all the available Luna and Sophie ones and found a new one called Dresden Detectives. This one is longer, grittier, and more intense than Luna and Sophie. I have quite a few of them to watch yet.

This AM getting out of bed, or rather trying to get vertical, went off like a Benny Hill routine. I am restricted in what OTC pills I can take for my arthritis but I can take Tylenol but it didn't do much to help. As long as I didn't move too much or bend over I was ok. Things with the back usually loosen up and improve as the day goes on but today it didn't seem to want to flow that way.

 survived picking them up

Things weren't going swimmingly in the shop this AM. I really wanted to get all the 4" drawers done and get the single 5" drawer glued up. Spoiler alert - it didn't happen boys and girls. Started with getting the slips glued in the left drawer.

 didn't forget

I got the round overs on the slips done before I glued them in. Rounding over the over the other dual drawer didn't come out as nice (forgot to do that before gluing them in). The round over is much smaller due to me only using sandpaper to knock the arris off.

 bottoms fitted

I am installing the drawer bottoms with no glue. Just 3 nails at the back for the dual drawers and 5 on the single ones.

 last one

I almost didn't finish this. Bending slightly to saw the pin sockets sucked pond scum. I had to squat more then bend over to saw them. I thought of using my moxon vise but that didn't happen. Hurt too much bending over to retrieve it and the pain doubled when I tried to pick it up. Moxon vise 1, me Zero.

You can see the double gauge line on the pin board. That is from the tite mark slipping on me. I caught it because the gauge line was too close to the middle of the end. Most of it will disappear when I remove the pin waste.

 last reason to kill the lights

Chopping the pin waste wasn't that bad. As long as I kept the board close to front edge of the bench to chop it. I ran the gauge line for the back dado on the wrong face. I caught that potential hiccup when I was laying out the opposite line.

All that is left to do on the front drawer is to clean out the pin sockets, chop the back dadoes, and glue it up.

 off the saw horses

I had the drawers in the boneyard and it dawned me to keep them where they will live. Hoping that tomorrow I feel better than I did today.

accidental woodworker

more drawer making pt V......

 Two days left in december and still no snow in my part of the universe. Not that I'm complaining but I have seen on You Tube vids where there is snow falling elsewhere. Just musing out loud when I'll be getting up to seeing a white blanket. There isn't any snow in the forecast neither. Day time temps are running 3-5 degrees higher than normal with overnight temps below freezing. The ten day forecast has sunny and cloudy days - no snow but some rain.

 first 4" dual drawer

This drawer took me a little over two hours to do. When I first came to the shop I made the remainder of drawer slips I needed first thing. That took about 15 minutes and the rest of the time till the lunch bell rang was doing this drawer. 

 after lunch

The plan was to get the 2nd 4" dual drawer glued up along with the 5" single drawer. The first 4" drawer is glued and cooking on the deck .

 senior moment

I forgot that I had sawn the back to width before lunch. After lunch I came to shop and sawed the back again to account for the drawer slip. I could have used it but it looked too ugly to my eye. I had an extra 4" drawer part that I sawed a new back from.

 big oops

Not only did I forget to sweeten the miter on the left side slip, I doubled down on that by not rounding over the top edge of all the slips. I'll have to try and knock the square edge with 80 grit paper first followed up 150 to smooth it out.

5" single drawer

In light of my couple of me-steaks today (there were a couple of minor gaffes) I thought it best to kill the lights here. I briefly went into panic mode thinking I had lost a part. When I was marking the boards I lost one of the screws for the mini tite mark I using. I had to sweep the floor and after sifting through the dust pan I found it. It was after 1500 by then and I got a book I ordered in the mail today I want to start reading.

After this adventure I found that the tite mark had slipped and my gauge lines on the front and the left sides were off. Corrected that and laid down new gauge lines which fortunately were ahead of the errant ones.

After dinner I went back to the shop and glued in the slips on the 2nd 4" drawer. Once the bottoms are fitted and the drawer planed to fit the openings, I'll have 2 banks of the 5 drawers done.

accidental woodworker

time to celebrate.......

 It is 99.9% official - my mortgage is finally paid off. I'll get the last 0.1% when I get the deed in the mail. It took the bank 3 days to post my payment and for them to post the refund to my checking account. I still don't understand the refund but I'm not arguing with them about it. The bank ain't going to give me any money that they could have any possibility of keeping. It was a nice feeling to see all zeroes in every category on the mortgage statement page. 

To celebrate my wife and I went out to lunch at Gregg's. Today was friday but I didn't have fish 'n chips. Instead I bucked the system and had a hamburger with grilled onions and mushrooms. I washed that down with 3 glasses of diet coke. There are 3 things that the doc said I should avoid - carbonated drinks, caffeine, and alcohol. But today was special as I don't anticipate having to pay down another mortgage again.

 one down, one to go

No hiccups with either of the drawers. I don't think I'll have any problems with just white glue keeping the slips where they belong.

 paid attention

I was worried that I would screw this up and get the sapwood low and high. Ten years ago I wouldn't have thought to have the grain run R to L. With the sapwood streaks this would look like crap if it didn't flow R to L or L to R.

 measuring sticks

Not a good space to try and use a measuring tape/rule. I have a ton of these scraps of pine to use and FYI they are almost impossible to screw up. The other drawer bottom is about an 1/8" wider. I couldn't see any difference in the drawer fronts though.

 I almost wet myself

I was so happy with this that I could have wet myself repeatedly without caring. The gap on the bottom of the single drawer is a pencil line. Yeah. I thought it was a dreaded gap. The two dual drawers look fantastic. I planed them till they fit in their openings. Since this is winter and contraction season, I'll have to plane a gap on the top of these along with a wee bit on the sides.

 almost an oops

Before I can glue up the 4" single drawer I have to make the drawer slips for it. I need the slips made so I know how much of the back bottom I have to saw off.

 better than I expected

I had visions of a total horror show gluing this up square. I was expecting to have to use a clamp diagonally to hold it square. Before I glued it up I was tempted to use hide glue for this but opted for white instead. The white glue sets up quicker and the thought was I could get it squared up and hold it and it would set/hold quicker then hide glue would. I got and kept it square by shifting/skewing the clamps.

 dry fit

The drawer had been clamped for several hours by the time I got the slips dry fitted. My wife and I went out and did a drive around after lunch. Got back to the shop late for the PM session. 

 fingers crossed

My track record for following labels isn't that good. I doubt my batting average for it is in double digits. I labeled this the same way I do for through dovetails and I do pretty good with paying attention to that labeling. Hopefully the X will spark something in my brain bucket.

 4" single drawer

I thought I would have gotten all three of the 4" drawers at least glued up today  but that didn't happen. I am ok with just the single being done.

 4" dual drawer sides

The goal for tomorrow is to finish these two and get the 5" single drawer made and fitted.

accidental woodworker

making drawers pt III......

 Got confirmation that I ain't making 3 drawers a day. I'm going out on a limb and saying 2 days maybe 2 1/2 days now. And that is just gluing the drawers up. Fitting them to their respective openings will come after I do all 15 drawers. There is no rush on this and probably won't go to Amanda until maybe spring at the earliest. I already have a couple of projects in mind after the dresser is done. One of them is a small table to put the Keurig coffee maker on along with storage for K cups.

 patch set up

I had thought of doing the patch so its grain was 90 to the side. Instead the patch's grain runs the same as the side.

 it is square

I made the dado 3/16" deep which left a 1/8" web between the new dado and the patch. I had to trim the length of the back by a strong 16th to square between the sides.

 the patch

I got a tight, snug fit with the patch. I entertained moving the dado back and forward. I was concerned about the strength and integrity of the side if I made a new dado directly opposite the patch. It is strong and I tried to break the side with my hands at the patch and nada. I think it will be ok as drawer side.

 changed the knobs

I couldn't get past how huge the knobs looked like on the bottom 3 drawers. I also changed the knobs for the top 3 drawers. They didn't fit the scale of those drawers. The first two banks have the same size knobs with the 3rd set of drawers going up in size. The last two banks have the same size too - those are 1 1/4". They are the only sizes I know for sure. I did the knob sizing by eye.

 dry fitting the slips

While the dual drawers are cooking I rough fitted the slips. After the drawers had cooked for a few hours I glued in the slips.

 two glued and cooking

The drawer is too small to glue in all 3 slips at once. I glued in the front first and after 20 minutes I glued in one side slip.

 next single drawer

I laid out this drawer without any double knifing. Feels kind of strange not doing tails on both ends of the side boards.

 pin board

I don't over saw my half blinds. I personally don't like the over cut saw kerfs below the baselines. I tried it once and I didn't see a huge difference between my way and over sawing them.

 getting better

I tightened up the tails in the pin sockets and made improvements in the half pins. Still not gap free (left half pin) but I'll take this. The tails/pins are getting better with each drawer I do.

 even better

These tails/pins look good. The half pins are closing up and fingers crossed that I continue on down this road with the remaining 11 drawers.

 fitting the back

I set the pinch rods (at the back) to the inside distance at the front. The thin scrap is the 'measuring stick' so I don't confuse myself reading a tape measure. I double triple checked the stick a bazillion times to make sure there weren't any stray pencil marks on it before using it.

 back fitted

This is a dry fit and I didn't get this drawer glued and cooking today. This drawer is going to bite me on the arse come glue up time. I spent several frustrating minutes trying to square this up dry. I gave trying to square it from the outside corners and switched to inside corners. I will have to clamp this diagonally to hold it square because dry it would slowly move out of square.

 doesn't fit

The last time I did inset drawers they didn't come out to my liking. The drawers came out loose and with uneven margins. So far having it oversized has helped with the fitting. The first single drawer at the top is the best fit I've gotten on a inset drawer. Like everything else in life and woodworking, you have to put the time in on the pond.

 opposite side slips

Glued up the last two side slips on the dual drawers. Tomorrow I'll fit the bottoms and rough plane them to fit their respective drawer openings.

Killed the lights here but I made good progress on the drawers today. I'm hoping that I can get two bottoms out of one single drawer bottom. I think I can as the dual drawers combined aren't as wide as a single drawer.

accidental woodworker

making drawers......

 It would seem that my estimate for making these drawers was overly optimistic. 3 days into it and I only have one drawer finished. I thought I would be able to knock out 3 a day but that ain't happening. I might get close to that when I get to the last 3 though. We'll have to wait and see what shakes out.

 in my favor

I got confused with what to mark on which board again. In the end it turned out in my favor - the bottom knife line is the one I needed.

 first single drawer glued up

Used white glue on this and I had to fiddle with it a bit to get it square. I got it to be less than a 16th and called it done.

 dry fitting the slips

I left the right side slip long. I will do the final length on that after I get the opposite side and front slips glued  in place. I planed and sanded a small round over on the tops of the slips to remove the square arris.

 gap

When I first started doing through dovetails, I had a hard time getting my half pins to close up. I'm having the same headache with my half blinds so far.

 left dual drawer

The sides are barely a snug fit and the drawer front wouldn't go any further than this. I was expecting this and I will plane it to fit after it has been glued and cooked.

 single fitted

On the dry fit the drawer dropped into the opening ok. After being glued and cooked the side to side was too much. Took a few dance steps with a plane before I got it to fit. Not happy with the gap on the drawer. The gap on the bottom is what I wanted to be on the top. I haven't planed the drawer front yet and I'll hold off on it until I get the two dual drawers done.

 Lowes luan plywood

I think the price of this came down. I'm pretty sure the last quarter sheet I bought was $17 - today it was 12 and change. I wanted to buy a 1/2 sheet but they didn't have any. After Lowes I had to run a few more errands and I didn't get back to the shop until the PM session.

 slips cooking

The pieces of plywood are to keep the slips aligned while the glue sets.

 still confused

Still don't have a handle on what knife line gets struck on which board. The rabbet I am doing on the sides ain't helping to keep it straight neither. I have 12 more drawers to try and make it muscle memory.

I have all the dovetailing done on the first 3 drawers. All of them have one or more gaps on the half pins. My goal is to have them all look like the right one. The left one has a gap but it is closing up.

 first oops

Plowed the dado on the wrong face of the side. I didn't mark it and I was thinking ten steps ahead of this when I plowed it. 

 not symmetrical

Even though I laid them out the same - half pins 5/16" and a 1/4" space between the tails. With the side flipped 180 they tails/pins don't line up. 

 gaps on everything

The only part of this that doesn't have gaps are the tail slopes. It is still self supporting so maybe the glue will swell and close it up some more.

 doesn't fit

At least this part of the fitting is behaving as expected. Now that I can see the dual drawers, I'm liking the size. I wasn't sure that these would be large enough for clothes. This is the 3" drawer and the other four increase in height.

 I had an extra

I had a spare side for the 3" drawers and knifed the mistake one onto it.

 )_^*&^$%&*@_)%*_@

This  confirms that I shouldn't be allowed to have sharp, pointy objects to play with. A big X on the face to plow the dado, and the idiot that I am, I plowed it on the opposite face. Had the same headache with the tails not being symmetrical so I couldn't.....

 it got flying lessons

 Along with free flight lessons I also introduced it to Mr Lally Column. This is/was the replacement side now made partially suitable for kindling.

 the original side

Glued in a dutchman in the errant dado and I'll let it set up until tomorrow. As of now the plan is to plow a shallower dado on the correct face - 1/8 to 3/16" deep. Another option fighting to get my attention is to fill in the dado on the other side and plow two new dadoes closer to the back.

 the single drawer

Got the bottom fitted but not glued in the slips. I wanted to end the PM session on a positive note. The size of the bottom is 12 1/2 x 13 3/4 inches. Not a multiple that will yield multiple bottoms from a quarter or 1/2 sheet of plywood. I will only get one bottom from the piece of plywood I had in the shop and 6 bottoms from the two quarter sheets I bought from Lowes today.

 still fits

It isn't going to take much plane work to sweeten up the margins on this drawer. Inset drawers look better to my eye than overlay ones. I think the extra calorie count is worth it.

 thinking out loud

I have five banks of drawers and 5 different size shaker knobs. I have enough knobs of one size to do all 15 and I'll have to think on that. I don't particularly like the 3 largest knobs for the bottom 3 drawers. I also don't have a warm and fuzzy about the 3 smallest ones - they appear to be too small. Sounds like the three bears and Goldilocks. Plenty of time to think about it.

accidental woodworker

free and clear......

 Went to the bank this AM to straighten out my mortgage. I was expecting a lot of BS and stalling but surprisingly it was the opposite. I explained the situation to customer service rep and he took care of it. In less than 10 minutes he paid off the loan and gave me a receipt for it. A little miffed I had to pay $49 for the privilege of paying the loan off early but the bank had some fancy wording for it. 

One thing that I didn't understand but didn't question neither, was he said he was crediting my checking account almost $700. I looked at the statement receipt he gave me and I couldn't see where I was getting back any money. I was expecting to have to pay a boatload more. I should be getting my deed in a couple of weeks and I can have a mortgage burning party then.

 3 left

I sharpened one of the LN skew chisels without any hiccups but I had hiccups with the second one. I couldn't figure out how to put the 2nd chisel in the honing guide jaws. I tried every which way to sunday and back and nada. There was no way where I ended up with the bevel in the correct orientation. I ended up using a second set of honing guides to sharpen it. NOTE to self - check the LN site for some help on this.

 first drawer

This is the rabbet on the sides for the single 3" drawer. This is the first half blinds I have done in quite some time. I got confused on what to mark on which piece but I survived it without losing anything or anything going air borne neither.

 first side done

I think on the dual drawers I will make the tails bigger. I read that minimizing the end grain exposed on the drawer front helps to keep the drawer from doing stupid wood tricks.

The tails weren't flush but a frog hair proud. There aren't any glaring gaps and the fit snug. Not too bad for something that I don't do that often.

 good fit

The side is a bit looser than the drawer front but both are still kind of snug.

 drawer slips

Realized that I don't have any plywood for the drawer bottoms. I found one piece that I can get the single from and maybe one of the dual drawers. Looks like the mortgage refund is going to come in handy to buy some plywood from Lowes.

 back detail

The slips are a 1/2" thick by 3/4" wide with a groove sized to the plywood. I am notching the ends to go underneath the backs. The plywood will slide under the bottom of the back into the side slips seating in the front one.

 drawer dry fit

Right now I have two inches after the back of the drawer to stop it from tilting out. I will shorten that to 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 inches on the other drawers. I will glue the drawer up first and then fit and glue the slips on.

 slips

All 3 of the slips will be referenced off the bottom edge of the drawer. The front slip will be mitered into the front of the side slips.

This is as far as I got today. My back starting hurting something bad while doing the half blinds. It calmed down some after I stopped bending over but it was still trying to sing arias to me. I quit after getting the first drawer dry fitted. 

If the back acts up again tomorrow I'll have to think up a different way to do the half blinds as I still have 14 more to go.

accidental woodworker

Christmas 2023......

 Had a xmas that was just my wife and I. No kids, no nobody else. I made a big breakfast and I ate it like I was condemned man eating his last meal. Which it kind of was because tuesday I go back on a strict diet. I've been eating everything and anything that last 2-3 weeks and I paid the price. I piled on over 20 lbs that I'll have to shed. It is going to be difficult to say no after shoveling whatever I wanted into the pie hole lately.

 how long?

I was thinking about how long it is going to take me to do these 15 drawers. I'm thinking averaging one day to do three drawers. That didn't happen today because I decided to take the day off.

 solid

The patch I epoxied yesterday is rock solid this AM. I will wait and saw/plane it flush tomorrow.

 didn't happen

These are the chisels I plan on using to do the drawers. I was thinking of sharpening them today but this is as far as I got. I also thought of coming back to the shop during half time but that didn't happen neither.

 skew jaws

The bottom ones are for the skew chisels. One of the other two is for the LN skew blockplane. I can't remember what the other set is for. I bought all the extra jaws that LN offered at the time I bought the honing guide. I use the skew chisels only for half blinds of which I have a boatload to do and they are due to be touched up.

 setting the fence

I will be planing a small rabbet on the ends of the sides for doing the half blinds. Having a rabbet on the sides makes it so much easier to knife the tails onto the drawer fronts.

accidental woodworker

merry christmas 2023.........

 Happy thoughts to all who take the time to read my keyboard diarrhea and also to those who don't. Extending good wishes and joy to close out 2023 with new and wonderful times to come in the new year.

I only got a few hours in the shop today but I made some progress on the dresser. I'm closing in on the finish line and I'm a within a frog hair of starting the dovetailing of the drawers.

 drawer fronts all fitted

I looked at the drawer fronts and I was thinking to myself if anyone will pick out the sapwood detail on the double drawer fronts? If Amanda takes this there is a good chance that my wife will paint it for her.

 oops

This 5" wide drawer front came out loose on the length. All the other drawers are a friction fit and this one is a 16th shy. I don't have anymore boards with sapwood in them so I'm leaving this one as is. The height is a friction fit so one of the two is there. I'll have to be extra careful when doing the final fitting or I'll be making two new drawers.

 fell out

I got lucky with this because when I saw it was MIA. I found it under the tablesaw. I glued it with epoxy this time.

 an extra

I have one extra back for each of the dual drawers. I missed that I could get both backs from one. I will save these and most likely they will end up as a box of some type.

missed it
 

I had thought of this a ways back but when it came time to saw them out I made one each of the dual drawers.

 ready for half blinds

I have all the sides fitted to their respective openings. I didn't bother with the backs because they will be shorter in height than the sides to accommodate the drawer slips.

 killed the lights here

Before I left the shop on xmas eve I glued the patch in with 5 minute epoxy.

accidental woodworker

15 drawer dresser pt XIV.......

 A couple of days ago the idiot light came on my dashboard telling I had a low tire pressure hiccup. What I didn't know was which tire it was or if it was more than one. As an idiot light I consider it to be useless. It would only take a couple of chips and 4 LEDs and this idiot light would be genius. 

I had to make 3 trips to the gas station to fill the tires. 3 of the 4 tires were low with the drivers front being the worse at 24 PSI. You only get 4 minutes of air for $1.50. I not only can't hear it ding ding when the tire reaches the set PSI, I can't see it also. It is impossible to position the truck next to the air pump so you can see it and fill the tires.

I had to make 3 trips because I was doing errands on the first one and I didn't have any more quarters to feed the air pump. The second trip I ran out of time and money. I did manage to get both passenger side tires inflated to 36 PSI.

I had to return for a 3rd time to get the tires on the drivers side up to 36 PSI. I was so bent out of shape by then that I didn't even notice if the idiot light had gone out. I'll find out in the AM. I'm treating to myself to an egg McMuffin and hash browns from McDonalds.

 snug again

The rail that popped loose glued back together and now the toe kick is fitting snug. In fact I may have to take one more....

 side cutout penciled in

I'm going to hold off on cutting out the side base legs. I still have to do a bit of wrestling with the carcass and that is an invitation for something breaking off.

 Preston spokeshave iron

I tried to use this spokeshave and a Stanley yesterday to clean up the toe kick. Neither of these two made a shaving. Inspecting the the irons showed that both while shiny weren't sharp. Took a detour to sharpen and hone the both of them.

 a little fussy

Getting the iron to lay up square on the right side was finicky doing. Trying to maintain the correct projection of the iron while holding it and setting the fingers and then tightening them down was a PITA.

 hmm......

I'm doing something wrong as I shouldn't be sanding away the leading edge of the guide. 

 they ain't a 1/8" thick

I saw the thickness settings but I ignored them and set the irons in the 1/8" spot. That was wrong. The Preston is about 2mm thick and the Stanley is .8 and a 1/8" is .125 or 3.175mm. The iron in the Boggs spokeshave is 1/8" and it fits in the jig and it doesn't rub on the leading edge.

 Boggs spokeshave

The iron projects the correct amount and the jig leading edge is clear of the sharpening surface. However you could still hit the leading edge if you don't keep the jig level and square. Lesson learned - this small iron jig won't work for irons thinner than 1/8".

I spent some quality time with the Preston hand sharpening it. It took a lot of calories and time before I raised a burr on the back. I'm still not done with it because the burr isn't consistent side to side. It is heavy on the right to the middle and tapers off to barely nothing on the left. That tells me the edge isn't square to the sides or I'm sharpening it cockeyed.

 filling it in

I left a sliver of wood on the outside face and filled in the void with a partial pin.

 second one

I didn't have any issues sawing out a patch for this. The first one I made too small and it had an unacceptable gap.

 ready to glue

Rather than have end grain showing on the top I opted to have long grain doing the honors. This is on the top and won't be that noticeable.

 first one fitted

I was going to do this one drawer at a time but changed my mind on that. Instead I did all the drawer fronts. After these were done the plan was to repeat it for the drawer sides.

?

I know you are saying, "Ralph were are the missing four drawer fronts?". My answer is that I'm an idiot butcher of wood. The 5" drawers must have been cut to rough length by a chimp. The single drawer front was a 1/4" short on the length. The drawer fronts for the dual 5" drawers were a strong 1/8" short on the width.

The single 5 1/2" drawer front was short on the width and length but the dual fronts were ok. I was tempted to use the single drawer front but nixed it. The drawer would have most likely ended up too loose fitting in the opening.

I was lucky because I had an offcut with sapwood for the 5" dual drawer fronts. I'll have to get the two single drawer fronts from a new 6 footer. I have 6 of them left over. 

I was bummed out about another stupid slap in the face with sawing stock short again. I'll saw up the new fronts tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

15 drawer dresser pt XIII......

 Today I had my urology appointment. I had been checking my wife's phone everyday to see if it had been canceled again. It wasn't and everything is ok (or the best it can be) with the exception of the nightly toilet trots. I saw a new Nurse Practitioner today, Beverly, and I'll be seeing her again in 6 months. 

The good news is today I had my last PSA test and she said that it isn't normally taken after 70 years of age. She had reassuring news for me based on my history and past test results that there is little chance that I'll get prostate cancer. The enlarged prostate though is here to stay. I might have to have surgery on it some day and that will governed by how the bladder fares. Once my bladder starts to retain a certain level of urine it will be time to be sliced and diced. Hopefully that is a long ways off into the future.

 4 drawer parts

I came back last night after dinner and I thicknessed the last two drawer parts. It always makes me wonder at the pile of shavings generated from 4 small parts. I only planed one face and left the other as is. 

 the right corner

Instead of having the half pin on the end showing long grain I opted to show end grain. In this orientation I have a long grain to long grain gluing with the tail. It was also easier to fit the patch in this way.

 big shim patch

This looked a lot better yesterday for color and grain match. Maybe I'll get lucky and this side will be up against a wall. I decided that the best way to clean up and smooth the sides and the top is with my belt sander. I can plane the sides by laying the carcass on the deck but the top isn't going to cooperate and play nice. Even with the belt sander it is still going to be awkward to do.

 the last two

Had a bit of a struggle getting the triangular patch sorted on the front face. I made 4 of them but transposing the orientation from the hole to the patch didn't go so good. I still struggle and lose with mirror images but I'm stubborn and I had a boatload of pine scraps to use. #5 was a fit for the shape but it ended up too small for the hole. Two times the charm made #6 fit and be proud.

I'm not sure what to do with the gash at the back. I was going to leave it as is because it is at the back but you can see it from the top. I won't be fitting an L shaped patch for sure. I will square up the hole as best I can and go from there.

 new drawer fronts

Made another command call on the drawer fronts. I am going to leave them as close to 3/4" thick as I can. I will straighten and flatten the inside face of each drawer leaving the other faces as is. My thinking on it is I will use the planed faces as my references and after the drawer is glued and cooked I can plane the front faces of the drawers flush with the front of the dresser. The sides will be done just to fit the openings.

 #3 drawer fronts

All of the drawers had some twist to them but I didn't lose too much planing it away. All the of two drawer fronts will have a streak of sapwood in them with the grain running from left to right. All of the single drawers will be clear with no sapwood in them.

  drawer fronts done

I had planned on getting started on the drawers today with #3 but changed my mind. Instead I'll let the drawer fronts relax until tomorrow.

 just one more......

Initially the toe kick was too tight and I should have stopped but I had to take one more swipe. The toe kick is now a frog hair loose. I clamped it in place and put a bar clamp across the outside faces of the side and closed up the gap. Unfortunately it also popped the bottom rail loose on the left side. Glued that back together with white glue. I'll have to think up some other way of closing the gap on the toe kick.

 1/8" bars

I clamped the toe kick flush on the first go around and I didn't like the look of it. A 3/8" inset didn't look any better than the flush look to my eye. 1/8" is just right and that is what I am going with.

 sawing curves

Now that I know how to adjust the pin blade holders I'll be using this saw more. Especially so that my bandsaw is still toast. I left a strong 16th off the pencil line to allow for any control hiccups I might have had with the saw. Used a spokeshave to clean and smooth the horizontal leg.

 
 oscillating spindle sander

I bought this at Sears when I left the Navy in 1994. Other than having to replace the rubber drum sleeves (dry rotted over the years) it is still chugging along. I have some gouges that I thought were sharp but they ain't. None of them made so much as a dent in the round corners. Five minutes later the corners were done. I will use this to layout the base cutouts on the sides.

accidental woodworker

15 drawer dresser pt XII.......

 Creeping along and getting closer to finishing the dresser. The top is on and later on in the PM I milled the stock for the drawers. Still haven't decided on the drawer dovetails. I like through dovetails but for this dresser I don't think it is a good choice. Doing 15 half blind most likely is what I'll do. The backs will be in a dado inset from the back a couple of inches. That will act as the stop for the drawer being pulled out. One detail on the drawers I'm not hemming and hawing on is that I'll be using slips.

 all of them went airborne

No hiccups popping off the blocks. Only two of them didn't pop off cleanly but I was able to remove the residue easily with a chisel.

 gone

I don't see how CA glue can be considered a good choice for gluing wood. A sudden, sharp rap is all that was needed to launch all of these. Thinking ahead it is going to be a PITA to clean up the top of dresser. The sides I don't expect to present any headaches but the top will.

 token bleary pic

This is the pine shim for the huge gap on one of the tails. This shim was a frog hair under a 1/8" thick.

 toe kick

I did have to make another horizontal leg. The one from yesterday I made too short shooting the angles. I was going to use biscuits to reinforce the miters but that went south on me. The legs aren't that big and I had a difficult time trying to make the slot with the jointer. Both of them came out offset rather than flush. I glued biscuits in the slots and after the glue had set for a bit I sawed them flush. This 60/30 miter is closer to a long grain to long grain than a 45 so fingers crossed that it will stay together for the long haul.

 less than an hour

I got all the boards planed to a little less than a 1/2" thick. I survived hauling the lunchbox planer topside and back down to the shop. I have been thinking of building a shed on the old garage foundation and keeping the planer in it. I used to keep the planer in the garage before we had demolished.

 the 1/2" drawer stock

I didn't plane one 6 foot board. I thought I had more than enough here to get all the drawer sides and backs from.

 came up short

I was wrong. Missing two drawers on the 6 1/2" ones.  I needed one back and two sides with its back. 

 I will be using it

I wasn't hauling the planer back outside just to do this one board. I was lucky in that this one board was long/wide enough to get the 4 pieces I needed. I will use the off cut from this and the other boards to make the drawer slips.

 thinning the four by hand

It shouldn't take long to whack the four needed pieces. The stock is straight and flat. I couldn't see any bow or cup in any of them. They laid flat without rocking on the workbench too.

 one down, 3 to go

I got one more done before I killed the lights for the day. If I had done all of the drawer parts by hand that would have totaled 45 individual pieces. I'm happy with doing 4 and giving credit to Mr Lunchbox for doing the other 41.

accidental woodworker

15 drawer dresser pt XI.......

 When I was kid growing up in Westerly Rhode Island one of the treats I still fondly remember was getting fish 'n chips on a friday night. Back in the middle 1960's it was 99 cents per order. In 2023 that cost is about $10 with inflation. I had fish 'n chips today (at Gregg's) and although I liked it, it was nothing like my memory of childhood fish 'n chips. The fish portions were larger (or am I remembering that with child like eyes?) and the chips had a taste that no one replicates today. That is because chips back then were fried in a beef tallow and oil mixture whereas today it is all vegetable shortening/oil of some kind. On my to do list is to obtain some beef tallow and fry up a memory of childhood chips hopefully before my next birthday.

 chopping the pin waste

This is the support I came up with to chop the pin waste from the outside face to the inside. The board is a snug fit between the sides and no problems or hiccups chopping the waste. I did the inside with the outside face lying on the workbench. This worked out beyond what I expected it to. I got a good, clean baseline on both outside faces. I wasn't that anal about the inside because they won't be seen.


 

 MIA

By the time I sawed this half pin there wasn't anything left. I sawed it off and I will epoxy in a half pin after the tails/pins have cooked.

 only two gaps

The left gap I knew was going to be there and it isn't as bad as its sibling on the other side. The gap to the right is a strong 16th and I'll be shimming that one. I had two knife lines and I thought I was sawing on the waste side of the one I picked. I was expecting to have to saw some more when it came time to fit the tails/pins. 

 needs some help

I super glued small wooden pieces to the tails so the caul would bear down on them and close the tails/pins up tight. 

 glued and cooking

I wanted to use white glue on this but I used hide glue instead. This glue up went off easy but applying the glue to all the pins and tails ate up a lot of time. The white glue would have set up too quick.

 UGH, double drats, and )_W&)%#@Q)_)*#_^+)

All of the drawer fronts that I had sawn out first are all short on the length. One drawer out of 15 was a loose snug fit. The remaining 14 were all a 16th to an 8th short. I'll be using all the drawer fronts for the sides of the single drawers. FYI boys and girls don't sawn ahead like I did thinking leaving a 1/4" strong would suffice. It wasn't enough for me and I shoulda, coulda, woulda, but didn't add 2".

 from drawers to sides

Wish I could get the backs too but the sides are a good start.

 back to the toe kick

This angle doesn't look shallow enough but it will do for this test run. I used the shooting angle indicator to tell what this angle is.

 short vertical leg

I did a lot serious butt scratching here. Two angles for a 90° corner should add up to 90 but these two don't.

 it is square

53 and 43 equals 96 but the square says it is 90°. 

 adds up to 90

The compass said one angle was 52.5 and this one is 38 which is .5 more than 90.

checked with Mr Starrett

The combo square will read dead square if I push the two legs into the corner. Gently placed it shows the outside corner is off 90 by a frog hair.

 don't like this look

For whatever reason this doesn't look quite right to my eye. It looks top heavy and out of place. I also don't like that the angle looks a lot like two 45's even though they aren't.

 comparison

I think the top right is the way to go with this. Having the thicker leg vertical looks more like it is stout and holding things up. The width of the vertical leg is dependent upon the angle that is on the horizontal leg.

 going to the source

Instead of relying on my sieve like memory I got the CH Becksvoort pic of his 15 drawer chest. The horizontal leg is thinner than the vertical ones but I found that is because of the angle on the horizontal one. The horizontal angle is greater than 45 and the vertical one is less than 45.

 switched to plywood

I didn't have any scrap wide pine to play around with to mock this up so I switched to plywood. I also changed my angles to 60° for the horizontal leg and 30° for the vertical legs. This looks to be closer to the pic of CH B's chest.

didn't work

I was hoping to use one of the curves from these templates but I couldn't get any of them to fit. I want the curve to start a 1/4" above the bottom edge and extend into the vertical leg 5/8". The horizontal leg is 1 3/4" wide and the vertical one is 3" wide.

 final fitting

I shot the two angles on the plywood and I am happy with how they look. I got the curve figured out using the smallest french curve I have. It is a 1/4" on the horizontal one and 7/8" in from the inside edge on the vertical one. I shot the 60/30 angles on these two pieces of pine to ensure that they were 90° and they were. They were also square to the face which is something that I have problems getting off this shooting board.

 sears corner clamps

I have had these clamps for 40+ years and they haven't failed in that time. They have a wee bit more than a 3" capacity for either leg and if they are 90, it comes out of the clamps at 90. The plywood is gap free and even the toes are tight.

 the toe kick

I sawed out a 3" piece for the toe kick from the boards I set aside to get the drawer sides and backs from. Some of the vertical legs will be removed when the curve is sawn out but it will still be wider than the horizontal leg.

 biscuit reinforcement

This gizmo shows the arc of the cutter for the 3 biscuit sizes. I don't care if it pokes out on the top because it won't be seen. It would be seen if it is over cut at the heel. This is for a #20 biscuit and it fills up a lot of the angle. However, I don't have any more #20s so I will have to make a road trip to Lowes which I really don't want to do.

hmm.....

The inner pencil line is for a #10 biscuit and it appears to be not much smaller than the #20. What this doesn't show is the space that the biscuit takes up within the saw arc. It is close to a 1/4' less at both ends of the arc so the #10 biscuit won't impart the same level of reinforcement as a #20 will. As much as I don't won't to I'll be going to Lowes tomorrow because I want to get this glued and cooking ASAP.

 dry fit

I had to play with squaring the miter edges to the faces and I might have made the top one short in its length. I'll find out tomorrow after I get the clamps off the top of it.

 double drawer guide

Keeping it simple. The middle stile has more than enough room to expand/contract in/out and the drawer guide/separator is just glued to the middle stile. I am depending up the drawer to keep the middle stile in the half lap. I don't think nailing or screwing it will be necessary.

accidental woodworker

15 drawer dresser pt X.........

Today (19th) is my birthday and along with that milestone I notched another one too. Way back in June I started paying down on my mortgage. It was something I really wasn't paying attention to until the day I did look at it. The bank was milking me for boatload of interest every month that I wasn't aware of. Today I paid it off and I think I now own my home outright. I say think because I don't know how long the vacuum hose from bank is buried in my wallet. Most likely the bank will take their customary 3-4 days to post the payment. I'm doubly sure that there will be more interest I will have to pay that the statement hadn't posted yet. If it isn't a zero balance in a couple of days I'll go to the bank and pay it off in person this time.

 last night

I wandered back to the shop last night and glued the last 3 drawer guides on the middle stiles. Just the top and the back and the woodworking will be complete on the carcass. 

 front base toe kick

Trying to get a width for the vertical part of the toe kick. The horizontal one will get the penciled angle. I didn't like the first one - wasn't shallow enough. I also shortened to 2 1/2" because I thought that made the vertical one way too wide.

 hmm......

This was the first attempt and I am not sure about it. Looking at I think the wider width should be on the horizontal one? Other than that this looks ok but I want a shallower angle.

 curves

Looking ahead on this it would seem to me that it would behoove me to glue the toe kick in first and then cut out the curves. I plan on insetting the toe kick about 3/8" so sawing the curves with a jig saw might not work. Might be better to glue it, do the curves, and then glue it on the carcass. Plenty of time to sort that out.

dovetails

Laid out and ready to saw. This gizmo takes all the shaking and vibrating out of the tail board as I saw the tails. It is sticking up high enough above the workbench where it would vibrate too much. This and the clamp made the board rock solid.

 a little tricky

Getting the tail board positioned with the corner clamps worked flawlessly. I thought I was in for a lengthy session of fighting the urge to give this flying lessons. The only difficult part of this was knifing the tails onto to the pin boards (the carcass sides).

dutchman is coming

Earlier this AM while moving the carcass around it slipped off the horses and the corners lost the bounce test with Mr Concrete floor. No way I'm steaming these out and after the top is glued and set, I'll fill in what is missing with a dutchman.

 worse here

On both of these smashed corners I couldn't lay out the tail so I'll be guessing on it. I have already conceded that I'm going to lose it and I'll deal with it when the time comes.

 maybe a big oops

Realized that I screwed up here and it might be of momentous proportions. I forgot to label the top and the sides. I don't remember which face was up and the dovetails aren't symmetrical neither. I'm so used to doing boxes that it didn't occur to me to label the top on this.

 awkward

Sawing is sawing but this was different to say the least. I had a hard time initially sawing the vertically pencil lines on the sides. I wanted to stand on a step stool to saw (so the saw would be exiting on the inside) but there isn't enough head room.

 3 times was the charm

I broke the blade in the Knew saw and I couldn't find any blades for it. Switched to the fret saw next. The small one was too small for sawing the tails. There wasn't enough room between the blade and the frame to saw the tail waste. The larger fret saw worked.

 nothing

I tried to use the dividers to find the top or the bottom of this pin socket and nada. The dividers were hanging out in the air. I sawed what I thought looked close to where the tail would be and sawed it square rather then angled.

 first time use

I bought these fret saws off Saw Mill Creek 2-3 years ago with the intent of using them to make folding phone charger stands. That never materialized and today I used them to saw out the pin waste. I think I did pretty good overall and I only broke 4 blades doing it. Three blades bent into an unusable shapes due to a lack of proper tension and one blade broke when I tried to remove it from the saw cut.

thanking my lucky stars

My first try to line up the top didn't work but the second one did. I'm not sure how well these tails/pins are going to come out. I'll find out tomorrow for sure when I get the pin waste chiseled out. I didn't forget to label the two front corners this time.

 kind of loose feeling

That aside, the board only mated pins/tails in one way so I know that this is the correct orientation. 

found them

This box contains my coping and fret saw blades. It was buried in the back of the saw till.

 partially done

I don't saw the waste on either the tails or pins when I dovetail. I did it here because I don't have a good way to back up the pins when chopping them from the outside. I'm still thinking on how I'll be pulling off that stunt. Killed the lights here and headed topside because the wife just got home. I'll finish this tomorrow, maybe. The wife is taking me out for fish 'n chips to celebrate my birthday.

accidental woodworker

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