Hand Tools

 At 0728 I departed for Gurney's Sawmill. The clouds were dark and the coverage was almost 100%. I checked the radar before I left and it was clear. No rain in spite of it looking so threatening. The sun did peek out twice on the way out there and once coming home. 7 hours later Mr Sun burned off enough cloud cover to say hello. I think I may go back again next saturday to get another load. That should keep me occupied for a couple of months.

before I left

The plan was to unclamp this, rout 3 rabbets, glue the back bearers, and dry fit the top. That proved to be a wee bit too ambitious - none of it got done. It would have been nice because it would have set up while I went to Gurney's.

Gurney haul

On the left are 6 1x12 by 12' footers sawed in half. The two on the right are from a 14' board. This haul was $270 which is about 1/2 of what I spent the last time. I had the money set aside for $500 so I will go back and spend it.

mortise

This is the mortise for the front drawer divider top. I made it 1/2" longer than necessary to help with installing it?

rabbets are next

I had the router already setup to do rabbeting so I used it. This rabbet in the top will catch the 1/4" back.

back rabbets

This is why I decided to use the electric router. Trying to clamp this so I could do the rabbets with a plane was proving to be a ROYAL PITA. 

oops again

You would think that forgetting something like this would fresh in my brain bucket but it wasn't. I forgot to do the groove for the back drawer divider. I had to knock that out after this came out of the clamps.

it fits

I nailed the top to bottom which I was concerned with but the notches need some attention. I needed to make the top back one deeper to account for the 1/2" wiggle room with the mortise.

a yikes this time

Another dry of the top (many more after this fix) where I split the front off tapping the front to flush the top at the back. Glued and clamped while I filled the pie hole.

got it

I ran the front and back divider past the bearer rail. I need that bit of overhang for the drawer guides.

dead nuts

I was expecting this to be off only because these are difficult so me to install. This time I nailed both the front and rear ones. They look good from this view but the underside has gaps at the front and rear. I refuse to obsess about them and I'm leaving that as is.

drawer guide dry fitted

This took a whole lot of dance steps to fit. The notches on the front and rear dividers weren't the same. The other consideration was the top edge of the horizontal part has to be flush with the top edges of the front and rear bearers.

upside look see

The notches on each end of the horizontal guide engage with the notches of the front and rear dividers. A 1/2" piece of pine will be glued to the horizontal guide and guides the drawer in/out between them.

too deep

I initially made the notches the same depth before I realized I had stunk the shop up with a brain fart. A couple of pieces of veneer made up the difference needed.

thankfully done

This was a frustrating glue up to do. The top grooves are dead square to the back edge and the sides were slightly cupped. I had to clamp the front sides together to get the top started. I had already done this on/off top routine a dozen times so I wasn't expecting any hiccups. But I did get one. The top hung up on me and I got a little frantic trying to find out where it was. I didn't have much time but luckily for me a clamp on the back worked in my favor. 

The besseys however threw a hissy fit on me. All four of them wouldn't clamp down. I kept running out of screw length. Just my most humble opinion, but these clamps suck. You need six hands and four small boys to use them. The problem is always trying to hold the two heads against what is being clamped and screwing it tight. Hoping that the heads don't slip and you have sufficient screw left to tighten it. This is why I bought the aluminum bar clamps but the besseys have a deep reach that is needed now and again. 

hmm.....

This is a drawer from some previous project - I think I made this one too short. I am going to reuse them for a drawer or two on this. The piece I'm holding is wide enough to get the small drawer from.

rough sawn

I got all the parts needed for the smallest drawer with enough stock to get the sides out of it for its sibling next door.

more repurposing

More leftovers being used to make drawer sides. None of this stock is long enough for the front or back but it is for the sides. I got all the sides for the 3 wide/large drawers from two boards.

last one

I sawed the sides partially on the tablesaw and removed the web with the Ryobi saw. 

stickered

I'll let this go until tomorrow to see if any of them have stupid wood tricks to show me tomorrow. The board spanning the shitcan will be used to make the drawer slips. So far I have only used one board I got from Gurney's today.

two top drawers

Stickered them on the carcass. I can't do anything else with this today. I want to give the top until tomorrow to cook and set up.

accidental woodworker