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Accidental Woodworker

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The daily dribble from my workshopRalph Boumenothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10606484453109932074noreply@blogger.comBlogger5376125
Updated: 23 hours 33 sec ago

Dowel Max storage dresser pt 4........

Sun, 11/24/2024 - 3:28am

Ran head long into FUBAR land this AM. I was working on the back panel assembly for the dresser and things went south on the express. I got a nice pile of kindling to show for my efforts. I'll attack it again tomorrow. Hopefully with better results.

veneer
first of two trips

Came down to the shop after dinner last night and got the front slip glued and cooking.

2nd trip

Got the side slips cooking. This was it for shop time today.

 bottom plywood stock

I sawed out the bottom for the last drawer in the AM.

 laid out the bottom

I sawed this oversized so I could saw off the tear out and fuzzies on the tablesaw.

done

Bottom installed and 3 corners fit and this one is too snug.

 almost

This drawer was being stubborn and it took a long time for me to fit. In spite of the time it took and me losing my patience with it, I got it to fit as good as the ones above it.

 done

This look isn't that bad on the eyes. The middle drawer on the left has a gap in the tails that I don't like. I am still going to apply veneer over the drawer fronts so the gap will never be seen.

 cleaning the drawer fronts

No hiccups with this but one drawer did have some squirrely grain. I got a small spot of tear out but nothing to write home about.

last one

All of the tails were slightly proud and I find it easier to flush them with a chisel rather then use a plane. Little to no chance of breaking out the grain with a chisel.

 sneak peek

I have been thinking on and off on what to do about knobs/handles for the drawers. I have some shaker knobs but Paul Sellers has posted a couple of times about making your own vice store bought. I don't like the handles he did but I do like the idea of making them with scraps. I have time to muse more on this.

nope

The big board doesn't sport enough real estate to give up the stiles and rails for the back panel assembly. The other short pieces are of varying thicknesses and would work - I would have to plane them to thickness. However, the majority of them are too short in the length. Not enough for what I need.

stiles and rails

I don't have anymore 1/2" pine but I have 3/4". I planed a reference face and sawed them to a 1/2" thick on the bandsaw.

2 rails and 3 stiles

I used a 1/2" tongue and groove plane to form the tenons and the grooves on the stiles and rails.

 ugly looking

The grooves weren't a problem but the tenons were. The shoulders on all the tenons looked as bad or worse than this one. On the bright side on the coin, the tenons fit in the grooves. This is toast and not usable.

salvageable

The rails I could reuse along with the center stile because I didn't make tenons on it. I made two more stiles and tried to plow a groove in them. That didn't work out in my favor. I used the originals to set up for the new stiles. I lost track of what was the reference face and pow, liquid fecal matter up to my armpits. 2nd attempt was a bust and I ended up with a small pile of kindling.

drawer fronts

Decided against the oak veneer for the drawer fronts and I bandsawed off two pieces for the middle and bottom drawers. Initially the first one looked good and I did the second one.

 yikes

I wasn't making clapboards for a doll house. The thin end of the taper is still more the thick enough to use for the drawer.

 better

I planed the thick end of the taper trying to even it out with the thinner end. I didn't go nutso on it because I'll still need to plane it after it has been glued to the drawer front.

top drawer first

Used bessey clamps on the ends because the veneer is being glued to the end grain of the dovetails. I wanted to get maximum pressure to get as good of a glue bond on the small long grain areas there as I could.

 top drawer

I'll let it cook until tomorrow. 

the other two

Ditto for these. I put the one on the bench on the deck on scraps of plywood. Run out of besseys for this. One of them wouldn't cooperate and it is toast. I think besseys have a lifetime warranty or guarantee? 

making the base

Dovetails in the short sides and pins on the long front and back.

 done

I plan on doing a cutout but that will be done tomorrow. Dry fit is good and checking the fit of the dresser inside of it was in the batters circle.

it fits

It isn't snug nor is it a slip fit. I purposely made the base ID slightly bigger than the OD of the dresser.

 the gap

The dresser is tight against the back and the left side. There will be less than a 32nd if I equidistant the dresser and the base.

 cove molding

I don't like the size of this molding so I'll be making a road trip to Lowes in the AM. I think they had small quarter round moldings that would look good and cover any gaps.

accidental woodworker

Dowel Max storage dresser pt 3........

Sat, 11/23/2024 - 3:17am

Hit a speed bump today but it was still a productive one. I ran out of my heart meds - I thought had another bottle but it was vitamin D. So that necessitated a road trip to the VA to get it refilled. Traffic was horrendous in Olneyville Square. It took four light changes before I got through the intersection. The pharmacy wasn't packed at all and I was in and out in less than 30 minutes.

In spite of this I managed to get most of what I wanted to accomplish today done. Two drawers are fitted and the 3rd one is cooking as I type this. I was hoping to get #3 fitted today too but that will come tomorrow. I might be done with the woodworking on this by monday.

 fitting the first drawer

I don't take anything off the bottom. I only plane the sides and the top edges to fit the drawer. The back doesn't need any love but I will plane it smooth and flush the dovetails. Step one is checking the fit of the drawer at the corners, front and back.

 still learning

As I planed the sides I checked it for square off the bottom edges. The bottom is my reference for everything I do to fit the drawer. The sides were tapered but now both are square to the bottom (and the top too).

getting closer

The drawer was binding before it hit the clamp. I'm resisting the urge to 'take one more swipe.....'. Instead I'm taking no more than 3 and checking my progress. The better I get the fit of the drawer, the better it will act going in/out. I'm not shooting for a piston fit but a drawer that slides in and out easily with an absolute minimum of side to side play.

done

The top to bottom is ok and there is a consistent gap at the top. The side to side is a just shy of snug but I'm leaving it as is. It slides in and out but it did bind and hang up if I pushed it in with anything going in off 90. 

quickie check

The middle drawer barely fits in the opening at the four corners and not at all R/L. I will get the bottom and the slips installed first before I doing any fitting of it.

 drawer slips

Using this miter shooting board is a better choice over the donkey ear jig. 

 what a joy

This gadget is worth triple its weight in gold and diamonds IMO. It is an absolute joy to use. No more cramped fingers and no more pinching them in between the plane and the jig. The biggest asset is the the improvement in pushing the plane through the stock. Before I use it for the cherry flat moldings I'm going to sharpen and hone the iron.

Off to the VA

Got the bottom slip glued and cooking. It was ready for the sides when I got back from there. I left at 0910 thinking I would be avoiding the school and rush traffic but I was wrong. I think I got stuck in the residual of all the ones running late.

 back home

Stepped down whereas I normally do it so the slips are flush.

why it ain't so

The top of the bottom groove (in the pic) should be flush with the bottom edge of the back. If that were so, the bottom of the slip would be flush with the bottom edge of the side. If I had made it flush there would have been an approximate gap of 1/4" between the bottom and the bottom edge of the back.

 side slips cooking

I use small scraps of the bottom to keep the sides aligned with the bottom slip. 

figured it out

If I didn't figure it out at least this worked. That half pin on the right side is what screwed around with my brain synapses. I thought about this last night and I doodled with a piece of paper working it out. Before I did this I laid it out on scrap to make sure I was on the right road and not another one taking me into La La Land. Step one was to treat the half pin just like I would on through dovetails. Step off to the right until I got to the other side.

step two - go from left to right

I now have a centered full pin between a half pin on the left and another 'half pin' on the right that has some wood to its right instead of nothing. It was that extra wood that was wrecking havoc with me. 

lunch time

Got the tails chopped and cleaned up and the pins laid out. I went to lunch with my wife and I got back to this a couple of hours later.

 almost done

Used this chisel to chop some of the dovetails on the drawers and it split again with 3 pins left to chop. How well, it held up better than I expected it to and this split isn't as bad as the first one. I will try epoxy on the 2nd glue up.

 ready for the dry fit

Got the inside faces planed smooth and the pencil marks erased with alcohol.

done

Dry fit was uneventful so I glued it up. No need for clamps as the dovetails were on the snug side. Checked the diagonals dead on and set it aside to cook.

 middle drawer

First check again is the corners. The two back ones fit but on the snug side with the front not fitting without some hand taps. The R/L was off by a strong 16th.

 step two

Check the reference bottom isn't twisted. (it wasn't)

flush the corners and plane the top edges

I planed the top edges in rounds of 3 - start at one corner and go around 3 times stopping where I started. Check the fit at all four corners. Repeat until it does. For me this took 5 tries.

 snug

The other 3 corners are a slip fit and this one is snug. Instead of going around the top 360 I planed only this corner three times. I then did two complete 360 planing runs around the top.

 knocking the back down

Planed a chamfer at the back of the bottom to help the drawer go over the back rail.

 better

This corner was no longer snug but it wasn't fitting as easily as the other 3 corners. Two more planing runs and it was fitting like its siblings did.

 side to side is step 3

This clamping looks like overkill but it isn't. If the 3 foot clamp is absent the drawer back end would tilt up and go forward as I planed. Right around the 1/2 point the plane would nose dive and the back end of the drawer would tip up and go forward. Incredibly annoying. I had to take a lighter shaving with the plane and go slower but this set up worked.

about a 1/3 of the way

It is very easy for me to go from it binding to it shooting out the back like a rocket. So far taking light shavings, working in doing only 3 runs and checking the fit, was working for me. 

 almost

It is hard for me to read and see where the drawer is actually hanging up. Here the top is tight against the rail. Noted this and went looking for other hang ups.

 
 left side

It looks like it is clear here but I also checked the other three points of contact - the R/L at the front and the L side here at the back.

 two problems

This side is tight T/B (at the front) along with tight against the side of the carcass. The top edge of the back is tight against the back rail. I started this by planing just the back top of the drawer until it had clearance. I then planed the  left side of the drawer 3 times and checked the fit again.

surprised me to no end

The drawer slid in and out like it was riding on a cushion of air. Not at all what I was expecting. I haven't planed the front faces yet and I'll do them when I do the veneering of them.

 cooking

As of this typing I plan to go to the shop after dinner and glue in the drawer slips. That way I just have to saw out the bottom panel and I can start fitting drawer #3.

 interesting

I barely applied any pressure to the split and it closed up tight. I will definitely try epoxy on this knowing how well the split closed up. The trick will be to get the epoxy into the split. 

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard and dresser work pt 3..........

Fri, 11/22/2024 - 3:15am

It rained all day off and on. Rain again tomorrow and saturday morning. Then cloudy skies until thursday. Didn't get my walk in but I kept busy in the shop. Started working on the cherry cupboard and switched to the Dowel Max dresser for the rest of the day. I am going to continue working on the dresser and finish it before I turn back to the cherry cupboard.

found them

I found 4 pine cut offs in the boneyard. I thought I had a lot more than this but I might have shit canned them when I last cleaned it up.

sigh

The two widest pieces I have are both about a 1/8" short. Any of the four would work for the shortest drawer though.

I think .......

....I have pine veneer in my big box of pizza veneers. I found two pieces but I wasn't sure if they were pine or not. The cathedral grain on them didn't look like pine. There wasn't any separation between the late and early wood too. Just as well because neither piece was long enough (R/L) for the drawer fronts.

 oak

I would bet a lung that this is oak. This piece is enough for all 3 drawer fronts. The length is a 1/2" longer and the 3 widths won't have much waste neither.

out of the clamps

It is a snug fit T/B and 3 frog hairs too wide R/L.

 stopped the door fitting

Decided that it would be better if I cleaned up the door first and then fit it to its opening. I had flushed the four corners on both sides and after trimming the outside edges it was still square.

blowout

I broke off a small sliver and I immediately glued it back. After I pressed it home it disappeared. I taped it or where I thought it was, and set it aside to cook. 

 this one looks ugly to me

This one broke off when dry fitting the door together. I used super glue on it and it did not close up nicely. I am going to paint the joint line with black paint when I apply the finish. I have one more like this on the back side of the door that will get the same treatment.

1st drawer

Initially I was going to do this one drawer and switch back to the cherry cupboard. That changed when I felt like doing dovetails more than fitting the door.

done

Had a hiccup with the back of the sides but it didn't hold things up. Got a good fit and no problems getting the diagonals dead nuts on.

another change

I got it glued and cooking when I realized that I hadn't plowed a groove in the front for the bottom. I'll have to use 3 slips for the bottom panel. 

yikes

It ain't square boys and girls. I wanted to use this to trim the 45s on the drawer slips. This is toast unless I can straighten it out and get it square again.

 double ended

This side is a lot closer to square but not quite. 

 dry fit

Trued the miters up on donkey ear jig. It is a slip fit and it sits higher than I planned. I forgot to account for the plywood bottom. Not a deal breaker as this drawer is 1 1/2" higher than anything I plan to put in it.

 oops again

I made this same fiasco with the first drawer. That half pin on the right is what screwed with my brain functioning. I dealt with it by making the half pin a whole lot bigger than I wanted it.

 front glued

Glued the front in first and the sides. The panel exerted sufficient pressure on the sides for the glue to set up and bond.

 dry fit

This one was a PITA to get the diagonals to agree. I see sawed back and forth on it about 7-8 times before I nailed it. I always do the bottom because that is my reference for everything associated with the drawer.

surprised myself

I didn't forget to clean up the insides of either drawer. I usually catch that after I have glued it up and I'm checking diagonals.

done

Glued and squared up. It was easy because I already knew what the diagonals should be.

first drawer is done

It had several hours to set up. The drawer slips are secure and I installed the bottom and nailed it at the back. 

 might as well

The drawer fits in the height (snug) but not side to side. Decided to try and get it fitted.

 planing the sides

Wised up and clamped something on the exit end so I didn't blow it out.

 no man's land

This is the tricky part of drawer fitting for me. The top to bottom seems to fit whether I put the back into the opening first or the front in first. However the R/L is strong. The opening is square but the drawer side didn't look square to my eye.

I was right

The front end of the drawer on this side is square to the bottom but starting about the 1/2 way point it is out of square. I did this same thing on the right drawer of the cherry cupboard - I planed tapered sides on it. I would like to avoid that with all 3 of these drawers. I'll come back to this in the AM because the clock said it was 1522 and quitting time.

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard and dresser work pt 1..........

Thu, 11/21/2024 - 3:34am

 The good weather ends tomorrow with a boatload or rain forecasted. Thursday and friday are both rain days. Sunshine isn't coming back until next thursday. The nice 60F plus temps during the day are history too with seasonable temps in the 40-50F range. Oh well I guess you can say at least it isn't snow.

resisted the urge

I wanted to come back to the shop after dinner and play with it. But I didn't and I let it cook until the AM.

 happy face on

The diagonals are off less the width of one black line. I had checked it with 4 clamps on it and it was a 32nd off. I added two more clamps and I saw the sides move but I left it alone. I was happy when I checked them this AM.

 Buck Bros paring chisel

I got these chisels over 30 years ago and I can count on one hand how many times I've used them and have fingers left over. Used them today to flush the drawer guides to the front rails. They do work a hell of a lot better now that I can sharpen them. I do try to use them when doing dadoes. It is almost 12" long and it has a longer reach than my bench chisels.

speaking of chisels

This is the chisel that the handle split but didn't separate. I glued it back together and I can't find the glue joint line. I used it to chop the dovetails on the cherry cupboard. I wanted to see how well the glue up would hold up. Extremely well and I'm going to shellac the handle and keep using it.

the top view

I remember seeing the joint line on the top but today I'm not so sure. This glue up is the best one I have done as a repair.

 miller dowels

I got two miller dowels in each rail. The only tricky ones to do were the bottom ones at the back. I had to drill for the dowels in between the 3 nails in them.

helping hand

On the other side I noticed that glue was oozing out of the end grain. I didn't see any splits so on this side I used a clamp to ward off any screw ups. No glue oozed out and I had no other hiccups.

 the top

Used miller dowels to attach the top to the sides. I don't see any difference between these dowels and dowels that don't come through. Wood movement isn't a problem because the top and sides have the same grain alignment. 

no gaps

I wasn't sure what to expect with this. I used clamps to hold the top on the sides while I drilled and inserted the dowels. I removed them after that and the top didn't move.

ditto

The other side is as good as it.

 split or a crack?

This is a side for one of the dresser drawers. There are splits/cracks on both faces. I couldn't spread them apart and break them. This was the only one that extended out to the end. I forced as much glue into the split/crack as I could and set it aside to cook.

 it fits

The 1/4" birch panels I bought fit in the cherry cupboard door grooves. I expected the panel to be wobbly and loose and it isn't.

 hmm.....

This plywood is a 64th under a 1/4" thick. Along with that it doesn't look that bad with its 3 inner laminations.

 door frame dry fitted

No problems dry fitting the door back together. There was some evidence of hide glue but it looks like I did a decent job of cleaning it off of it.

 where ?

Used the door to figure out where to cut the panel. Moved it around until I found something I liked. What I was concerned with was the panel grain next to the stiles. The center of the panel will be hidden behind the tile so it only the outside edges I needed to see.

 dry fit

I had to clean/chisel off dried hide glue on two tenons - it was keeping the bridle joint from closing without gaps.

glued and cooking

Last time to check that the door is laying flat on all the clamps. I don't want to have to make another door because this came out twisted. The door looked flat so I set it aside.

 the warm spot

This new furnace doesn't radiate any where near the heat the old boiler did. It is warmer here than it is by the workbench. I used hide glue for this and I'll brought it upstairs when I killed the lights.

needs a rabbet

The hanging rail needs a rabbet for the back plywood panel.

ready for the panel

Squared the corners and flushed the top of the hanging rail with the carcass.

fits again

I wish I could have this one back again. I had to cut off about a 3" wide piece that isn't much good for anything else.

dresser drawers

The parts are oversized 4-5 frog hairs. I planed the top edges of all the parts and labeled the bottoms. I am going to use through dovetails on this because all the parts are a 1/2" thick. I would have liked the front to be thicker, say 5/8 or 3/4. This is a shop dresser so it will be ok. I have some thin pine somewhere that I might be able to glue on the drawer fronts to hide the dovetails. Just have to find it.

needs a crest rail

Putting this on tops has become a calling card for me. I will say I don't like a plain, flat top. Besides it keeps things from rolling off the back.

 chamfer

Used a block plane to chamfer the straight away and a chisel to do the curved ends.

 done

Changed lanes and the chamfer got rounded over. I was happy with how the chamfer came out but not how it looked. I couldn't tell/see it on the finished crest rail. Rounded it over with a sanding block and that I can see now.

 only a 1/2" thick

I think it was due to the size of the crest rail and the size of the chamfer that doomed it. The chamfer was only a 1/8" in from the edge - kind of small and not noticeable from a few feet away. The color and grain absence fooled the eye too.

 double, triple checking myself

Making sure that I have sufficient height for the dowel max and the plywood bottom. I'm going to try and bury the front edge of it in the inside bottom of the drawer front. I'll use slips for the sides. This way I won't have any grooves running end to end. 

accidental woodworker

Dowel Max storage dresser pt 2........

Wed, 11/20/2024 - 3:16am

UPS said they were coming today between 1000 and 1400 with my cherry panels. When I checked at 1530 the pkg was on the front porch. Yeah, one point for the home team. I'll be able to get the door glued up tomorrow barring the creek doesn't rise and the gators get free again.

hmm......

This is very interesting indeed. The groove made with the tongue & groove plane is a frog hair above snug. You could have knocked me out with a feather. I was able to seat the plywood in the groove without snapping off either wall. That really surprised me and I think I'm going to use plywood panels rather than solid wood raised panels.

 sanded with 180

Sanded the other face 3 times and once on this face. The plywood seated with hand pressure. I didn't feel like I was stressing the walls and causing them to fail. I tried the three different 1/4" plywood scraps I had and all kind of fit. One spread the walls  - it was the thickest one. I got all 3 seated with a minimal amount of sanding. I'll try planing a shallow rabbet on the dresser panels when that time rolls around.

rabbets and dadoes

Started on the dresser by doing the bottom rabbet first. Chopped the shoulder and then split out the end with a 2" chisel. Cleaned it up with my LN router.

 rails dry fitted

One of the 8 rail to dado connections was loose. And of course it was a top front one too. No hiccups chopping the dadoes and they went front to back. I wanted to use a dovetail connection for the front rails but it didn't happen. I cut the front and back rails to the same length. But the front rails would have to be longer than the back ones. 

If I did use the dovetailed rails the drawer openings would have been too small R/L. Decided to butt the rails into the dadoes at the front and back. I didn't have any spare stock planed to the rail thickness so that is why I settled. If this had been for a big boy dresser I would have made new rails.

 dry fit

None of the drawer guides fit in the dadoes. I had to plan each one individually to fit its respective dado. The bottom ones I didn't need to plane because the rabbet was a few frog hairs wider than the guides.

 ready to go

I did one last dry fit and labeled the rails. 

 toe nailing the rails

Used a gimlet to predrill a hole for the cut nails. None of the nails popped out to say hello and neither did anything split on me.

glued and cooking

I didn't think the nailing operation all the way through. I nailed both sets of rails on one side first. There was no way to nail the top rails. I should have nailed just the top rails on one side, put them in the sides, and nailed the opposite end. Wash, rinse, and repeat for the bottom rails.

As it is now one side of the rails are nailed and the other isn't. The bottom rails are nailed on both ends. After this has set up I might be able to nail them but I am not overly optimistic about that. There is limited room to swing a hammer to drive a nail home.

Miller dowels

I have had a lot of success using these and I'll try them out here too. 2 dowels in the end of each rail should work (they're 1  1/2" wide). Also thinking of using them to attach the top to the sides.

 for the base

I thought this board was extra and I almost cut it up for drawer fronts. This board is for the base for the dresser.

last thing

Noticed this when killing the lights. I forgot the drawer guides for the bottom. I applied glue only to the front end and about 1" of the guide. I thought of screwing them but the sides are thin and I didn't want to risk a screw poking out to shake hands.

 hmmm......

I couldn't understand why this weighed so much. I had forgot that I had added 1/4" birch plywood to the order. Unfortunately for me I can't remember what I bought it for. I was also spent the entire day (until now) thinking it was wednesday and not tuesday.

accidental woodworker

Dowel Max storage dresser pt 1........

Tue, 11/19/2024 - 3:48am

I emailed Lie Nielsen on friday and I got a reply today. They are planning a production run for 2025 for the chisels I want. Tom also said that they will be on the website before they are available. Don't understand that reasoning. However, I do know the correct name for the chisels, or at least what LN calls them. They are drawer lock chisels and they come in pairs.

Like an idiot I had a pair and sent them back to LN because they sliced and diced my fingers. I got quite a few comments saying that is normal and I should have filed the edges. My thinking on that is the machinist who made them should have filed the edges. If and when I get another set I'll keep them and file them if necessary.

I went on the WWW and drawer lock chisels are out there. I didn't find any on eBay but I did find someone selling them on ETSY. A set of two for $180 plus about $10 S/H. I got an email out to them asking what they are made of. LN is A2 and I would rather have O1 steel. I don't know what LN will charge and I don't remember what I paid for the first set I bought from them.

 rough dimensions

I made up a drawing so I could start on the Dowel Max dresser. These are mostly minimum dimensions with drawer openings being the maximum.

 notebooks

Brought some notebooks to the shop because the loose papers usually don't hang around too long. I transferred all the info from these two loose pages into one of the notebooks.

 dresser stock

I can get all the needed parts from one 1" x 12" x 6' pine board. Before I do anything I had to deal with this cup. Not too bad as it is only about a 16th.

breaking down the board

One board will give up the sides, the 2nd one the top, and 3rd one along with the off cuts will supply the rails and drawer guides. I find it easy to prep smaller length boards vice longer ones.

planer table

I dragged the planer table in the driveway and this leg went nutso and broke up. This wood is very dry and even having the bottom edges chamfered didn't help. I glued it back together and set it aside to cook. 

I took less than 30 minutes to plane the 3 boards to thickness. I wanted 3/4" thick stock but I ended up with it being a 64th less than 11/16".

 becoming a favorite

I find myself reaching for and using this hammer way more than I thought I would. I thought I would mix it up and use my 12oz rip claw hammer too but not so far. It is hanging out next to the Exeter hammer and it ain't getting any love.

got lucky

There were only 3 pieces that broke off and I managed to get everything back to where it was originally. Too much of it broke off to ignore even though this is a shop item.

 one more maintenance item

The bolt was hitting the screw as it came out of the T-nut. I took the screw out and chiseled out a channel for the bolt and set the screw head below that.

ACE hardware road trip

I noticed when I tried to screw the planer down none of the bolts tightened. The 5/16-18 bolts I have had a shoulder the same length as the threads. I needed to either get all threaded bolts or a 5/16-18 die. No all threaded bolts so I went with option #2.

 I only need about 3/16 more

I measured the threaded portion against the height of the planer and the planer is a few frog hairs higher.

 I need a machinist vise

This was the 2nd option. The first one was using vise grips to hold the bolt. That was working some what ok but it wasn't too secure. This method worked a 100% better and the time it took me to do 3 bolts was the same as time to do the first one.

needed some help

The die made the threads it cut pointy and sharp with burrs. I couldn't get the washers to go over the threads I cut. I had to file them - just a light 360 go around to knock things back a wee bit and remove the burrs.

 redid the first one

The dark portion of threads at the bottom is what I cut with the die. All of the bolt heads are within a 32nd of each other when fully screwed down. Don't know how I managed that but I'll take it.

temporary home

Got a wedge taped to the table to help with leveling it in the driveway. I'm going to let the table hang out in the shop for a few days to give the glue a chance to set up fully. It is going back out to the garden shed because I don't have room for it in the shop.

 getting final dimensions

All I was shooting for here was the width, depth, and height of the sides. The R/L will be governed by the length of the rails. The drawer openings R/L needed to be a minimum of 10 1/4" for the distance bar for the Dowel Max to fit.

not necessary

I don't use a level before planing an edge. However, I did it this time to see if there was any benefit to it. Spoiler alert, IMO, there isn't one. Whether the board is slightly up or down doesn't mean diddly to me. All I care about is that the plane will clear the stock on the exit end.

 5 1/2 first

Whenever a plane an edge I plane the middle for about a couple inches longer than the 5 1/2 is. I plane until it stops making shavings. This board had  hump in the middle. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. Regardless I plane until the 5 1/2 doesn't spit out anymore shavings.

dead straight

I use the #8 when planing longer boards.

 last board

Usually on shorter length boards like this I may not use the 5 1/2. I did today because there was a hump.

#8 shavings

Once I get a continuous shaving from one end to the other, I'm done. I check the edge for square at the ends and the middle and make any corrections needed. 

 cleaning both faces

Had a bazillion planer tracks to remove. The planer knives otherwise are still planing ok so I'll keep dealing with the hiccups until the knives dull.

 carcass parts

Sides, front/rear rails, and drawer guides. The top is sitting atop the cherry cupboard. I won't need to play with that until after the carcass is glued and cooked.

 1/2" rabbet

This rabbet is for the back which at this typing is going to be a two raised panel frame.

 preview

Still undecided how I'll attach the front rails. The back rails I plan to glue and toe nail.

 1/2" back

This is an experiment for me. The back will be 'finished' so it doesn't have to placed against a wall. It will be a frame and panel but the panel inserts are up in the air.

tongue and groove plane

The other options other than a frame and panel are bead boards. Another option I'm thinking of is mitered frame with a plywood panel. I would like to try and do the frame part of whatever option with this plane.

 hmm......

I expected the blow out on the left. The question mark I had going into this was could I plane a tongue on the end of this board? Question answered and it is in the affirmative. I'll have to allow for the blowout or clamp a sacrificial board on the exit end.

 this works for me

I have been watching AT restorations on You Tube for a couple of years now. He does a lot of restorations on furniture where it usually breaks it down to parade rest first. One that I watched the other day had a frame and panel back. I want to try and replicate it on this dresser. This is working so far.

 raised panel

Took me a while to get this plane to work for me. Initially it was clogging shut with the mouth stuffed with shavings. Solved that and planed one end and side so I could check the fit of the panel in the groove made by the tongue & groove plane.

 rabbet

The panel didn't fit in the groove - it was too narrow and the panel was too thick. I planed a rabbet on the back until the panel fit.

 I like how this looks

I have had this plane for 15 years and I have yet to make a panel and frame with it. I have used it several times to make box lids but no raised panels in a frame.I'll have to practice on making a frame to figure out how to size the panel to fit in the frame grooves.

1539

I lose track of time and got into a groove with this. Yes I can use the tongue and groove plane to make the frame. Sizing/making that won't be a problem. I have three options for the panels. Solid wood - I think I can bandsaw some solid wood panels (they will be about 4-5 inches wide?). Raised panels - the only headache I see with them is sizing them correctly to fit the frame. The last option I can think of is to use plywood. I can sand the edges to fit the grooves or plane a rabbet to fit.

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt 8.1

Mon, 11/18/2024 - 3:11am

I think we are finally dead in the water with the cupboard. I could drill the holes for the shelf pins but I want to do that after the finish is done. The door is awaiting parts so that isn't happening to the 19th. I could have made the flat moldings for the top and bottom but nixed it. I need to sharpen the #6 that I use for shooting 45s before I try shooting a cherry 45.

done

I came back to the shop last night and glued the bottom in with hide glue. I used hide glue because I couldn't get the yellow glue bottle in the drawer to lay a bead down. It was ready to go when I got to the shop in the AM.

 drawer stops

It was a trick getting both of the drawer stops installed. Both drawers ended up a little wonky due to my planing the sides. That means the drawers didn't go in and out in a straight line. Took a lot of fiddling but I eventually got them done. I just nailed them - no glue - because I might revisit these.

right hand drawer

I started on this one first. I had to put it at the back because it doesn't have slips. It originally was a 6 3/4" long strip, glued and nailed in place. I couldn't get the drawer face to be flush with that drawer stop. I removed it and did the left hand drawer and came back to this one. This drawer stop is 2" long and the drawer is kind of flush at the front. I cut my losses there and settled for as good as I'm going to get it without giving it flying lessons.

 more Dowel Max work

I watched all the Dowel Max instruction vids on You Tube and I went back to work trying it out. This is an end to end joint that is dead flush on the 'check mark' faces. I still did something wrong but I got half of it right.

 labels

I didn't drill in the edge marked with the 'X'. This jig is dead easy to use but I'm fumbling a bit on matching up my 'check mark' labels with the 'check marks' on the Dowel Max.

 dead flush

Drilled the holes again with the 'check marks' aligned.

 if you pay attention......

This is an incredible dowel joint. I have never done one that came out this sweet. The face and the top edges are dead flush. They aren't off even a frog hair.

 3 hole joint

The jig comes with a 3/8" metal dowel that allows you to offset the jig and keep on drilling holes. I had to try it to see how that would work. No hiccups (followed the 'check marks') and I think I could have gotten a another hole too.

 sweet

It isn't dead flush but it is so awfully close that you could ignore the frog hair it is off. 

 last one

I had to try a 45 before I quit for the day. I rough cut two 45s for the test joint.

shot dead on 45

There is one thing I have noticed with this jig and it is the stock needs to be square in all directions to be dead flush.

 oops

Part of the learning curve. The first hole I drilled I shouldn't have. It was too close to the toe.

 hmm......

The miter closed up on the 45 but both faces aren't anywhere near to being flush. I thought that at least one face should have been flush because of the 'check marks' aligning. Turns out that not only weren't the two 45s not the same thickness, the faces aren't square to either edge. I'm still happy with how this came out. I got this jig for help doing 45s. However, it is working so good I might start using it for a lot more joinery.

 I need a box

I thought about keeping the cardboard box and using that but nixed it. There isn't any room in it for the 1/4" drill guides and its goodies. I decided to make a dresser to hold the Dowel Max and its accessories along with storage for dowels.

 first two drawers

I used plywood to give me idea of the required drawer sizes. I will make them a little bigger than this to allow for any future accessories. The distance bar at the bottom dictates the minimum R/L size.

3 drawers

I don't anticipate needing more than two sizes in the dowels. I only have 3/8" and 1/4" drill guides and I'm stocking 1 1/2" and 2" dowels for both. I might as well start working on this while I wait for the cherry panels to come in.

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt 7.1 ........

Sun, 11/17/2024 - 3:22am

 Operated in slo mo most of today. There isn't a lot a can do on the cupboard until I get the new cherry panels. That ain't happening until tuesday. Today I got the second drawer done and then nada. All that is left to do on the cupboard is the door and putting the back panel on. 

left drawer

I didn't want to drive myself batty and take 'just one more.....' so I stopped here. The opening isn't square and there is a tad bit more R/L movement then I like. This is going to have be enough.

 right drawer

Still on the journey of comparing cherry to pine. The muscle memory tells me it is the same but with a question mark. So far just a wee bit more oomph needed for cherry. No hiccups knocking this out.

 too tight

The initial fit is much better than what I did on the left drawer. I didn't want to risk splits again so I shaved the tails a bit. I used my modelers rasp to get them seated.

 second one is usually better

Got a gap on the half pins that I don't like especially so when it is visible every time the drawer is opened. Do you shim it with cherry or pine veneer. As an aside, I have both of those veneers.

 the sibling
The shallow dado pays great dividends for marking the tails on the pin board. The half pins are better on this side. I am improving my results with dovetails but I still have a wee bit further to go.

 they have to match

I am using rabbets on the right drawer to match the left one. The right drawer will be about a 1/2" longer because I didn't have to cut off any tails. I didn't measure the depth of the rabbet - I just planed until it looked deep enough (and square).

fitting the back

I didn't nail the back on this time. After I got the length I glued, clamped it, and set is aside.

glad I checked it

The tails at the front didn't need any clamps. They were snug fitting and weren't moving. I assumed the box was square (with the clamps) but I didn't like the look of it. I checked the diagonals and they were off over a 1/8". 

almost 3 hours later

I waited this long so I could plane it to fit the drawer opening. I haven't had anything go south on me planing like this.

flushed the top/bottom

The front corners needed flushing. I then tried the fit in the opening.

oops

Had a mind meld with a rock. I forgot to plow a groove in the front for the bottom. And I also forgot to cut the back to width not that it matters now. However, in my defense I did have the drawer slips ready to go. I will have to come up with way to get a bottom on this drawer.

 hmm.....

The drawer is a slip fit on the top/bottom but a no go on the R/L. I was expecting it to not fit in both dimensions.

 disappearing

After my first planing run gaps opened up on the tails. On the 2nd pass with the plane they starting closing up again. Maybe I rasped a taper on the tails when I fitted them?

sneaking up on it

Concentrated on planing the sides as the T/B fit was ok. I got lucky that the grain on the sides cooperated and I was able to plane going from the front off the back.

sigh

Got tapered sides. I spent too much time planing one spot and the sides are uneven. If I planed the sides square removing the tapers, the drawer would have huge gaps. I took a few frog hairs off the thin ends of the tapers and called it done. I'll have to live with it as is. 

Fitting drawers give me fits. In spite of the crappy fit I got I consider this an improvement. For years I would only do overlay drawers whereas I like the look of flush front drawers. I will keep slogging away at it until the day I can ooh and aah over a truly fitted drawer with consistent and even margins.

 the drawer bottom

The plan is to glue 1/4" thick by 3/8" wide pine on the inside bottom edge. Then glue the 1/4" plywood bottom on top of them.

 bottom fitted

Marked an X on the plywood and the box so I could keep where I was trimming to fit so I didn't screw it up. I think for a drawer bottom this is good.

 wee bit of twist

After I planed the twist off I checked the fit of the drawer in its opening. It still fit and the top margin didn't have a noticeable change.

 glued and cooking

I don't use spring clamps that often because I'm not fond of them. I find that they either move/shift or they cause what they are clamping to shift move. I waited 5 mins before I applied the clamps to give the pine ledgers a chance to set up. I'll glue the bottom in tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt 6.1 .........

Sat, 11/16/2024 - 3:40am

Work progresses on the cupboard and there is no way I'll have it done this sunday. I might have but the cherry panels put the knife into it. I paid for 3 day shipping and they shipped it yesterday (ordered monday). UPS says I'll get it on tuesday. So no reason to rush and rush I didn't today.

dowel max experiment

I read the entire manual last night and I'm missing the DVD that it mentions in the manual. Included in the box was a you tube link with 14 vids so maybe they replaced the DVD with You Tube. Anyways I'm going to try to connect four pieces of wood together with 1/4" dowels.

using the first door

Squared the ends and sawed them to length. Labeled them with check marks just like the manual stressed I do.

hmm.......

 A couple of the holes I drilled were in La La Land. The nuts had loosened and that changed the position of the drilled hole. In spite of being able to tighten the nuts easily with hand pressure they still loosened with use. I didn't catch it for 3 of them because it was something I wasn't expecting.

 yikes

These are 3 of the holes due to the nuts loosening. I had one more on another frame part.

nope

The rails are proud of the stiles. I do know that the first two holes I tried to drill were wrong. I drilled in the ends (of the left stile) instead of the inside edge. I obviously screwed up aligning all the check marks. On the flip side if I turned the rails 180 they were flush with the stiles but I could only use 1 (instead of two) of the dowels.

 the key to this jig

There are two check marks on the wood - one on the outside face and the other on the top edge. You have to align these check marks with the ones on the dowel max. One thing that surprised me was the instructions stated to make hand tight on the nuts only. Do not use pliers to tighten them. Hand pressure is sufficient and that is one thing that worked for me on this.

I tried this one more time and I got 3 of the right with one OTL (out to lunch). It is going to take a few more practice runs with this before I will feel comfortable using it on the real McCoy.

right drawer tails

Tails done and I planed a shallow rabbet on the inside face. I didn't did this for the left drawer (why not Skippy?). I'm looking forward to see how the right drawer stacks up against the left one.

half blinds first

Pin sockets sawn and the bottom corners quasi squared with the card scraper. It definitely takes a wee bit more oomph in cherry vice pine. Another hiccup I picked up on was it was way too easy for the scraper to go down slanted and follow the grain. I'm glad I was watching it because I don't when I do the same operation in pine.

time for it to relax

It was almost 1500 and I didn't want to start and stop this. I'll let it chill out until the AM.

I couldn't wait

Not enough time to chop the half blinds but maybe enough to fit the left drawer. To facilitate that I had to remove the nails at the back. I thought I would get away with having to remove them from both sides but that was a big negative. I had to pull them from the other side too. After the drawer is fitted I'll put new nails in the holes. I have seen this done countless times on the restoration You Tube vids I watch. Spoiler alert - it works.

 first try

I thought I would only have to plane the right side of the drawer because that side is slightly tapered. The vertical drawer divider is out of square on the left side and square on the right side of it.

after the 2nd planing

The right side is ok but there is/was a hump on the left side. Pulled the nails and planed the hump away.

fitted

It took 4 planing runs before it fit in the opening. The last planing run was to knock down the top a couple of shavings. The margin on the left is good and I have to take a wee bit more off on the top right.

came today

I started leafing through this and ended up reading 60% of it. Even though I don't like this style of tool chest, I do like looking at the variety of them. One thing about them that appeals to me is having all of your (or mine) tools in one spot. If I did ever make one of these it would be a monster size. I would guess-ta-mate it would easily be 4-5 feet wide, 14-18" deep and 6 feet high. I have thought some on this already.

 at the end of the how to

I read every one of the tool chests featured here. One thing I noticed was the limited number of handplanes. I have 8 handplanes under my workbench along with 6 blockplanes, 3 tenon planes, and one bullnose plane. This is why my dutch tool chest would so big.

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt 5.1c ............

Fri, 11/15/2024 - 3:29am

Sigh. Things didn't go so well in the AM or the PM session. Sigh again. Nothing went all the way south but it still sucked the wind out of my sails. Tomorrow is friday and I'm going to Iggy's for fish 'n chips. I'm looking forward to that and also getting back in the shop and dealing with the drawers.

 ready

All chopped and cleaned up. Ready to dry fit the first drawer together.

hmm.......

Call me crazy but I think fitting this is going to be beyond awkward to fit the drawer opening. 

Yikes

I thought I might have been able to salvage the sides and just redo the back. That got flushed down the toilet real quick. The left side tails are facing the wrong way. I must have had the side facing the wrong way when I marked the pins off it.

 nope

I thought I could flip the side and have it fit. After all I tried to mark them them same but it wouldn't work. I have a finger and half tail that has to be at the bottom of the drawer. 

new side

This fit sucks pond scum and I split the front again too. The gaps are too big to ignore and use. I even trimmed the tails on the inside to improve the fit and that did diddly squat.

onto plan B, step 2.l-3, line alpha

Keeping the original side(s) because (they) it fit a lot better then the replacement one. I cut off the tails and planed a rabbet for the back.

early xmas present

This is a present from me to me. I always buy something for xmas that I want and know that I'll never get. I had wanted a good doweling jig for a long time and I pulled the trigger on it. Bought the Dowel Max from Canada. 

 the Dowel Max Classic

I got the 3/8" classic with the accessory 1/4" dowel guide. Nicely made out of aluminum and brass. I'm impressed with it and I haven't even used it.

 1/4" parts

It is an easy swap out between the 3/8 and 1/4 drilling blocks. I really like the knurling on the brass knobs. It is heavy and oh so easy to tighten and loosen them. 

 figured it out

I was looking at and fondling all the parts and I couldn't figure out what this was for. I had to search through the parts break down before I found it. It is a distance gauge for long pieces. I'll go through the manual tonight to familiarize myself with it. I'll hold off buying 45 mitering jigs and other accessories until after I've used it for a few projects. Did you know that James Krenov used dowels to build his carcasses?

dry fit looks good

Got the back dry fitted along with the two side drawer slips. Made a bone head mistake here. I glued the back on and the drawer slips. What I didn't do was glue the half blinds first. Kind of hard to remove the front if the back and the sides are glued and cooked.

I caught it in time and was able to remove the back, glue the half blinds, and the back and drawer slips again. If I had screwed this up it would have been the final nail in the drawer saga. I would have had to start over from square one.

 missed this detail

I wasn't thinking and I glued and nailed the back on. I was a little smug with myself thinking I saved myself from having to clamp the back and wait for it to set up. How will I fit the sides to the opening with nails?

It has gotten seasonal with the weather finally. The last couple of days have had the morning temps hovering around 32F (0C). The day time temps have warmed up with today hitting 73F (23C). Don't know how long this will last but the mornings are getting frosty.

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt 5.1b ........

Thu, 11/14/2024 - 3:14am

Life has ups and downs and making this cherry cupboard is having its share of ups and downs. To me it makes woodworking so exciting. Even though there are only a handful of joints to make the variation of them along with the myriad of ways to execute them is what really makes me want to go to the shop everyday. I think I'm at a stage in my woodworking career where I look forward to how I execute my joinery. Like today, it sometimes has more downs than up and on other days it is reversed. I'll think about today and I look forward to seeing what the up/down count is tomorrow.

 set

It is hard-ish. It isn't  solid like a rock but good enough for this. I'll take it because I was expecting it to be squishy soft still.

 back off

The wax did its job and it appears that the epoxy hasn't oozed out to where it shouldn't have.

ditto

The bottom one was/is the smaller 'hole' of the two. Both filled up that hole and nothing else.

 done

No epoxy in the groove walls or bottom. I was concerned about this but what I did worked. The 1/4" scrap in the groove I put a piece of veneer behind it to force it tightly against the groove wall with the 'hole'.

flushing the epoxy

Epoxy planes very easily and it doesn't have a grain to be followed. 

 ain't getting better

The over spill ain't going away quietly. I sanded it and card scraped it and it is still visible. The amount showing after sanding and scraping didn't improve much. Hmm..... I'll have to think on what to do with this.

got to fix this

The leveling screw on this side just spins and won't go in or out. This has been annoying me for months but I've been ignoring it. Stock steps down at this point and the saw blade make a tapered deeper cut there. 

first batter up

The insert is made out of MDF and I'm going to try soaking it with super glue and hitting it with accelerator. If this doesn't work the next batter will be using a bigger screw in a new hole.

Spoiler Alert - it worked. The super glue made the hole smaller and the screw going in it cut new threads. Solid feeling and the inset stayed flushed while making the door bridal joints.

done

I had a few downs and some ups making this. Got confused again when doing it but it was recoverable. I did the tenons first and I screwed them up. Recoverable but the top and bottom tenons aren't the same size. I don't know how but I made them too thin and I caught it after I did the top ones. I then made the bottom ones too thin also but not as thin as the top ones. They are still adequate for bridal joinery.

 good - a B+

I couldn't use the same setup to do the bottom and top tenons. The slight gap is from tear out - the top tenon face looks the lunar surface. I had to center the stile on the rail and mark the slot mortise. Another hiccup that made this so much fun was the groove isn't centered. One wall is a 16th less than its neighbor. I did good and gave myself a pat on the back.

one of the bigger tenons

I'm happy with the fit at the four corners. I also think that the tenons will be more the strong enough for the door and to support the weight of the tile on the panel.

dry fit look

The door is a shade over a 16th long T/B and R/L. I'll fit it to opening after it has been glued and cooked.

a down into an up

The panel from the first door fits. Sometimes you get lucky or so I thought.

dry fit

The door is square. The LV square read dead nuts at all four corners. The clamps were in the way of using a tape to measure diagonals.

a real big down

The panel didn't fit and I caught it after I had glued and clamped the door together. I seated the panel in the bottom rail and that left a 1/8" gap at the top rail. Super, super, super happy that I used hide glue for this glue up. Broke it apart, gave the panel flying lessons, and wiped the hide glue off. If there is any left the new hide glue application should melt into the old one. I'll do the next glue up of the door with warm hide glue.

last pin socket

Doing half blinds in cherry isn't any worse or better than pine. The cherry leaves a better wall, but the chopping is exactly the same.

 some gaps

Cherry is not as forgiving as pine. I had to trim all 3 sockets before it fit. I used 1:7 dovetails on this and I'm going back to my other dovetail guide, I like the slope of the tails on it much more. These look almost straight to me. I also made the tails bigger so I would cover more of the end grain. I usually make  half pins and center one tail between them.

 the other side

A wee bit tight and I forced it. I was using pine muscle memory. Glued and clamped the split until the AM.

 hmmm.......

It would appear that I am missing the left side of a tail.

 saved it

It is the finger and half tail on the right that screws with me. I have fewer times that I get right and more getting it wrong. In my defense I will say that I don't remember a time where I had to shitcan it and start over from scratch. 

time - 1515

Quitting time and this will have to wait until the AM. I made a groove in the front and I will use drawer slips on the sides. Burying the groove in the bottom dovetail wasn't that bad. I didn't lose that much depth of drawer vice using drawer slips on 3 sides.

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt 5.1a .........

Wed, 11/13/2024 - 3:13am

Progress is moving forward on the cherry cupboard. The door didn't get done today and it was something I wanted to knock out. Just as well because I had to stop and think about how I did the first door. I didn't have any hiccups with it and I want a repeat for the second one. The key is to do the tenons first and then the slot mortise. Doing the slot mortise first is what undid me on previous bridal joints. Maybe tomorrow I can whack out door #2.

I'm impressed but cautious

Both of the breaks feel solid but I'm not even going to cross my fingers on it surviving.

 nope

It broke right after I was going to bring it upstairs. Tried some heat to melt the break back together. That didn't work and I started and stopped doing another fix. Started thinking about that and thought what will the microwaves do to the epoxy?

I brought it upstairs and put it in the microwave with one break still together. I'll let this go as is and when and if it goes south I'll buy a new microwave.

prepping

Put wax paper in the groove an d filled it with a 1/4" piece of scrap. The knot goes from the top all the way into the groove.

ready for epoxy

I got both sides of each one dammed up. Fingers crossed that the epoxy won't ooze out to where I don't want it.

 black leather dye and 5 min epoxy

I used this before but not with this 5 min epoxy. 

 filled it

This stuff was more liquid than I expected it. This one is not that bad but I overfilled the other one. I went to Wally World after this to stock up on band aids. A half hour later it was still soft. Should have been set as it is 5 min epoxy.

The leather dye is alcohol based (I think) and maybe that effected it somehow. The only other thing I can think of is maybe I didn't squeeze out equal amounts of A&B. I put it on the dryer and I'll check on it in the AM.

 right drawer fitted

This wasn't that bad to do. Did the bottom first then the two sides and finished with the top.

ready to half blind

The left one was a bit tricky to do because of the tapered out of square right side. I still did it the same way as the right one though. It just took three times as long.

 did them all

I didn't have to do all the pins/tails. To keep them all the same I applied the super glued cherry sawdust to all.

hanging rail

Missed this and I thought of it while applying the glue/sawdust to the tails. I had to make a rabbet on 3 edges for it to fit the existing rabbets.

 rabbets done

Did them on the tablesaw and used my rabbeting blockplane to fit it.

 done

Glued and used 3 screws to secure it. I don't think screwing and hanging the cabinet from the 1/4" plywood back would be a good choice.

 tails done

Started with the left drawer due it being the wonky one.

too short

The drawer sides don't reach to the back support thing. Marked them in the front face vise.

dull

I'll need these two to do the drawer tails. They were adequate for the these but neither of them are cutting cleanly. I'll do that in the AM.

6 hours later

It is still soft but not as soft when I checked it after Wally World. I hope it firms up overnight.

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt 5.1 ........

Tue, 11/12/2024 - 3:41am

The time line for completing the cupboard I think has slipped. If it hasn't it definitely has stepped a banana peel. Had a hiccup happen in the AM session that wasn't recoverable. I'll have to wait and see if I can still maintain the timeline.

On a brighter note I have lost weight each of the past 3 weeks. The last weight loss was only 1 pound but I'll take it. As long as I lose and don't gain I have a happy face on. I have changed my diet upside down. I am now going out for breakfast every monday and lunch on fridays. In between I'm watching what I eat and I'm not on a starvation diet. I'm eating protein and limiting my carbohydrates and eating lots of veggies and fruit which seems to be working.

 top of the divider

Tiny gaps that I filled with cherry sawdust and superglue.

 bottom of the divider

Gaps, the left side of the dovetail is off, and a chip missing on the right. I used super glue and cherry sawdust here too. I'm thinking of painting some of this with black paint to mimic gum pockets.

 next project

I watched a You Tuber restore a 1940's school desk made out of oak. I bookmarked it and I'm going to make two of these - one each for the grandsons to use.

 out of the clamps

The door looked good to me here but I didn't know it would bite me on the arse in a little while.

 consistent gap on the top/bottom

This gap should get a wee bit bigger after flushing the proud tenons.

 almost an 1/8

Sizing the R/L might be tricky. I'll have to balance it and shave the same amount off of both sides.

 inside look see

You have to be searching for the veneer strips to see them. At least this part of the door worked out well.

 flushing the tails

This being proud was bugging me so I flushed it. It sure is nice to have both of the 36" quick grips working. I had to stand on my shop stool to plane the tails flush.

need some cherry sawdust

Grabbed the sawdust under the tablesaw and sifted it through this mesh strainer. I am going to use the same super glue and cherry sawdust on the tails. I saw it on You Tube (he was making a cherry stool) where he used gel style super glue and mixed it with cherry sawdust. Filled in the gaps and hit with accelerator. After that he sanded it smooth and applied a finish. No close up pic of it, but it did look good.

this is working

This is what I got from the first sifting. It was working better than I expected it to.

 20 minutes later

I think I have enough sawdust to do ten cupboards

ouch, it is toast

I was hoping that there were wood chips or something under the door but there wasn't. The door was twisted and twisted pretty bad. Even I'm not stupid or (stubborn) enough to try and fit a twisted door.

it is real bad boys and girls

Each line on the winding sticks is a 1/8" and this is over 2 lines. Which means that my door is twisted by more than a 1/4".

can I salvage anything?

The cherry panel can be repurposed for something else. The 3 frame parts on the right are all twisted - they teeter end to end when pushed on. The lone part on the left appears to be twist free. I am going to try and get the 'frame' for the tile out of these.

off cut

This is the offcut from the first panel and I think it is big enough for the 2nd one. I ordered 2 more panels today and I'll have them by friday.

what's behind door #2?

Going with a different look for door #2. The rail grain is kind of straight but it has a lot of color to it and a couple of gum pockets. The stiles have more straight grain and the color doesn't match. That doesn't look good against the rails.

why not

I had to decrease the width of the stiles and the top rail but I was able to get all of the parts from the same board. The stiles have a knot that I like and I'm going to use it. I will fill it in with epoxy and black dye. I have the other set of straight grain stiles to fall back on if needed.

very low expectations

Epoxy and plastic don't seem to like each other. I have yet to do a repair with epoxy/plastic hold on me. The only way I've had success repairing plastic breaks is with heat. This is the ring out of my microwave oven. I had checked on the cost of this a few years ago and it was ridiculously high. I can by a new oven cheaper.  I have the time so I tried it.

 15 minutes later

Used 5 min epoxy and it still hasn't set up and bonded. Full strength is 24 hrs but I don't think I'll have a happy face on then. 

what I didn't do for door #1

Two of the frame parts had some twist to them. I planed that away and set the frame aside to relax until the AM rolls around.

 flushing the back
The top left corner was high. I didn't go nutso on this because it is the back.

 one last check

3 foot straight edge to check that four corners were all in the same plane.

need a rabbet

I had intended to do the rabbet with the electric router from the git go. I did not want to try and do a stopped rabbet before gluing the carcass up. Clamped a scrap board to it to increase the footprint for the router to run on.

so nice to have again

Both clamps worked fine and I couldn't tell you which one I put the new springs in.

 squaring the corners

I was going to round the corners on the back but nixed it. I don't know the radius of this and having gaps here would put my OCD into overdrive. Quicker, neater, and easier to square the corners with a chisel.

back fitted

It will be hidden but the panel has several gum pockets to see.

new door parts

I don't expect any stupid wood tricks but I'll give it until tomorrow. Hopefully the cherry panel I have will be large enough to fit the new door.

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt 4.1 ............

Mon, 11/11/2024 - 3:34am

I got a lot done today with things I had planned on doing yesterday. Since I don't have a clock to punch and no one is holding a gun to my head, it is ok as is. Don't want to jinx myself but I think I can be done with this by this coming sunday. I quit the shop early today but it wasn't because of any hiccups on my part. Just felt like relaxing and watching some Amazon Prime TV on the computer and muted football games on the TV.

I finished watching all 154 episodes of Elementary and then I found Castle. This was the 5th or 6th show I was previewing and I liked what I saw. I'm a 1/3 of the way into season two with 6 more to go.

some of my vintage chisels

I like these chisels - interesting styles with the handles, easy to sharpen, and most are firmer chisels. What I don't like about them is they don't hold an edge that long. Easy to get it razor sharp but it dull way to quickly compared to my Ashley Isles chisels.

 fitting the panel

Two of the panels were snug, one was just right, and the last one was loose. I sanded the veneer I glued on yesterday with 120 grit until I got a snug, slip fit with each of them.

 cooking

This is the front of the door. I picked the side of the panel with straight grain for it. The back side of the panel has cathedral grain. This grain is bland and it won't distract from the tile that will be glued to it.

 I
 didn't need a chisel

I used the marking knife and the small router plane to remove the waste for the tail socket.

 chiseled the tails

Easy enough to knock out. Used the dovetail square to ensure the slants were square to the faces.

 short

When I marked this, I left the pencil line thinking that it would give me some wiggle room. No wiggle room in this universe. Threw this in the shitcan and moved on to #2.

 gum pockets

I wanted to use this but now I can't. I checked my extra cherry boards and none of them had any gum pockets to display.

 extra stock

All that I need from this pile are the flat moldings for the top and bottom.

 awkward but doable

Took my time and used my marking knife to make the vertical cuts that I would have done with a chisel. These are the smallest tails I can recall doing.

 worth the $$$

I could never tighten the original brass screw that came with this. This nut works great and no hiccups with tightening it and the iron staying put.

 what is this?

What do you call this hiccup? A chip, a split, or something else? I like a lift up split that is still connected. I super glued it back in place.

too tight

The bottom of the vertical divider was too tight and wouldn't fit. I had to plane the sides of it before it seated.

ugh with a big sigh

Didn't notice this until after I had flushed it with the front with the carcass. Couldn't have happened in a more visible spot.

 drawer divider

There isn't any need for this to be a bazillion inches high - just enough to guide the sides of the drawers in/out will do.

 door cooking too

I used hide glue for the door. I had good, snug fitting bridal joints and I didn't want to use yellow glue on them. I also glued the panel into the grooves - it is MDF and ain't going to move.

sizing the drawers

The drawer openings are almost a dead on match. They are out maybe a couple of frog hairs. The right drawer barely fits the height and the left one didn't fit. I plan on planing both to fit snug in their respective openings.

 sample stick

I don't want to have to plane the sides of the drawers other than to clean and smooth them up. Using this sample stick to get the R/L dead nuts.

 this sucks

The vertical divider is square on the right side and out a 16th on the left. It is a tapering out of square too. Wider at the top than at the bottom. I used a square against the left side too when I knifed the tails.

 drawer sides and backs

Using 1/2" pine for the drawer backs and sides.

 bandsawn boards

This will be on the back face of one of the drawers. No need for it to be pristine on this face.

 cleaned up a wee bit

I used the #7 and the #3 to clean and smooth all the stock I'll use for the drawers. I didn't bother trying to getting them all within +/- two atoms of thickness. 

 all cleaned up

The four boards at the fronts are extras in case I have brain fart and make a me-steak.

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt 3.1 .............

Sun, 11/10/2024 - 3:39am

Got a late start in the shop this AM. I watched a couple of You Tube vids before heading for the shop. The first one was over an hour and a half - the latest from Matt at Diesel Creek. Nice to see someone else on this planet besides me who likes old construction equipment. The timeline I had running through the brain bucket yesterday went awry. (Translation for awry - it went south on the express)

different pic from yesterday

There is a coffee cup in this pic that was missing yesterday. Took the clamps off with no issues.

 flushing the back

This was a bit awkward to do. I started with the 5 1/2 and I was tipping the cupboard up when I got close to the other end. The grain was squirrely which didn't help. I finished it with the blockplane. I'm leaving the back of the drawers  open too like I did with the prototype cabinet.

 stiles and rails

I stickered these overnight and no surprises a day later.

 sigh

The front end of the drawer guide dado is wider than it is at the back. When I fitted this vertical divider I did it at the back. 

 snug fit

I couldn't find the rough sawn cherry I had yesterday to get the new vertical divider from. This was hanging out on the tablesaw's horizontal storage space.

 another big sigh

The test piece I used to set the groove was not the same thickness as the rail and stile stock. I have a 16th gap between the panel and the groove. I set this aside and I dealt with it later.

 bridle joints

I decided to do the slot mortise first. I studied the pieces before I marked them for sawing. I ran the procedure through the brain bucket a few times before I was satisfied I was doing it right. And that I foresaw any potential me-steaks.

 sawing the cheeks

I think I had done it right this time. I didn't feel odd or that I was going off into La La Land. I had some clean up to do with both the saw and chisel - I was short on the height of the slot mortises. Better to be short than to be over.

nailed it

The top to bottom is less than a 16th and the R/L is about a 16th over. Nice feeling that it didn't come up short. But if it had I would have put cock beading on all four sides.

dry fit

It looks good but it still needs a bit of shaving and trimming here and there.

making veneer

Ran this cherry board through the tablesaw making a four 16th thick strips of cherry.

 fits

Two of them fit snug and two fit a wee bit more than snug. I could still fit the panel with hand pressure. Not sure yet as to how I'll deal with that. It would suck pond scum if the veneer swells between now and when I glue up the door.

second dry fit

I put two pieces of the veneer in the groove and clamped it again. This was mostly a check to the fit of the panel. The panel was solid in the rails/stiles with no rattling or movement.

too wide

The veneer needs to be a 1/4" wide and these are a 1/2" wide. I don't like sawing strips any thinner than this. It looks like crap having it extend past the rails/stiles and I had to cut it down to a 1/4".

 one done

I marked a line a 1/4" in from each edge and superglued the veneer to the back of the panel.

 first one I cut off

I superglued the veneer on at the pencil line, held it for a few, and then hit it with accelerator on both sides. The marking knife easily cut off the proud edge of the veneer.

better look

The veneer is a frog hair below the tops of the stiles and rails. I did not want to have to trim any of them if they were proud. This is the back of the door and probably won't be noticed at all.

self supporting

Besides gaps, having a loose, rattling, noise making panel will set me off in an eye blink.

 now I have two

I found the MIA extension cord while looking for my stash of old chisels. 

 too tall
This would be perfect spot for offset mortise lock chisels. Lie Nielsen used to sell them but no longer. I quick search on the internet and  nada. I'm not sure what the proper name for them are and that could be the problem. If anyone who reads this dribble knows of them drop me a comment on it please.

I think I might cut the handle of this chisel down. I can't think of a way to clear waste at the back of the vertical divider tail slot. 

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt 2.1.......

Sat, 11/09/2024 - 3:33am

Things are looking better now that the carcass is glued up. I can actually see this done by next weekend. Everything I learned with the prototype is paying off with the cherry one. There isn't that much left to do - a door, drawers, moldings, and then ooh and aahing repeatedly.

 8 helping hands

Used the F clamps to get some squeeze out from each tail. Nothing moved, shifted, relaxed or said aah when I took them off.

 diagonals didn't change

The front was still a 32nd off and the back was dead on.

surprised me

Based on how much it was proud at the top left corner I was expecting to see a healthy amount of twist. Instead I saw almost nothing - maybe a frog hair.

no twist

I flushed the four corners and checked for twist and saw none. Used the 3 foot straight edge to check that everything was flat in the same plane 360.

marking my gaps

Used blue tape to mark the tails/pins that had gaps (3) for me to fill.

 stopped here

I was going to plane/sand the tails/pins flush but stopped myself. It didn't make any sense to do that first and then fill any gaps. Shimmed the gaps first and then plane/sand later.

 chip missing

I only had this one chip to deal with.

 sizing the fixed shelf

Got the left right dead on. Next up was the notch at the front of the shelf. Had a bit of tussle with the brain bucket trying to wrap my head around it. Took a bit of back and forth before I figured out the negative and positive parts.

 oops

This has been falling out quite frequently lately. I have been putting it back together and carrying on. However, today it was not staying back together. I thought I didn't have any epoxy and I was going to stop at Wally World on my post lunch stroll to get some.

 test drawer divider

Used the bandsaw to saw the two notches on the fixed shelf. This was the test set up block. I only used one but it was the 4th and final test cut that finally fit.

 dry fit is good

I had to shave the ends twice before I finally got this to seat all the way. I'm flush at the front with some proud at the back. That I will plane flush after it has been glued and cooked.

 acceptable

The clamps aren't excessively tight with the fit between the notch and the carcass side being minimal. The right side looks better than this side.

 right side

I chiseled the dado a little at the back edge of the notch and it improved the fit here. I did the same on the left but it did diddly squat for it.

teeny rabbet

Used the LN 140 to plane a 1/4" wide, almost nothing deep, rabbet on both ends. The rabbet faces down into the drawer opening and won't be seen. There is barely a frog's hair between the rabbet shoulder and the side of the carcass.

 I had some

I'm glad I checked this. I was looking for the epoxy kit that my wife had given me and found this. Didn't know I had any 5 minute. Mixed a batch and attached the errant knob to the handle. I let it set up while I filled the pie hole.

 need horizontal and vertical dividers

I cut off a piece that I then hand planed to the thickness to fit the drawer divider dado.

 reference face

After I got the reference done I ran it through the tablesaw to get close to the thickness. I planed the sawn face until it fit in the drawer guide dado.


 

good fit

Longer than I need it to be but it is a good, self supporting, snug fit.

vertical divider

I have two of them with sufficient stock to make new ones for any potential me-steaks.

hmm......

My eyeballs deceived me. I thought the dado wasn't running square to the front but it is. It widens a little at the back making it look like it isn't square. 99.9% of it is.

which face?

This is the adjustable shelf and I was trying to pick which face would be up. I really the black gum pockets in cherry and this was my first choice.

 the winner

I'm going with this face because the grain of it and the fixed shelf are the same. 

I got the fixed shelf glued, clamped, and cooking. Got into a groove with it and didn't get any pics of it. The hide glue was a good choice as it 'oiled' the ends as I seated it in the dadoes.

slight defect

Another reason I picked the winning face. This defect would have been on the bottom of the fixed shelf. With it reversed it disappeared when I planed a chamfer on it.

planed a chamfer

I ran into a bit of awkward grain in a couple of spots. Not a terrible amount of tear out but I'll have to card scrape the chamfer to smooth it out.

vertical divider detail

This is something that I wanted to do on the prototype but didn't. I will do it for the cherry one. This is just one end of the vertical divider. The top will look exactly like this one. Both of these aren't going to be that easy to chop especially the back top on both sides. The drawer opening limits the chiseling I can do there.

 reusable

I thought I was going to have to make a new drilling guide for the shelf pin cups but I don't have to. Regardless of soft or hard wood the shelf pin cups require a 7/32" hole. Without using the cups the drill size holes in soft and hard wood are different.

test run

I could flatten and sink the cups flush with the cherry. I didn't think I would have been able to do that but no problem. Instead I'm going with the raised lip on the cups. I'll use super glue to secure them.

stiles and rails

Haven't decided on the joinery for this yet. The choices are miters, mortise and tenon or bridal joints.

 flushed and labeled

I flushed everything to match the thickness of the bottom stile because it is the widest of them.

 lots to come on saturday

I'll probably get the door done first. It can get it glued and cooking while I work on drawers. I think I'll do the adjustable shelf cups after the finish has been applied. That way I don't have to be fussy with keeping finish out of the holes.

accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt ?.......

Fri, 11/08/2024 - 2:40am

 I am not sure which pt this is on. I kinda fell to the wayside numbering while doing the dovetails. Those were the go/no go point for this build. Dovetails are done, dovetails are good, time to move on with the build. I think I'll start numbering this one as #1.1 until I get past what have numbered already.

 cooked

Ready to check this and see how well it healed. I wasn't expecting any issues because it looked and felt good yesterday. As long as it didn't shift I should be ok.

 glue squeeze out

The three sides of the split are aligned and almost dead flush. One side is maybe a half of a frog hair proud. The glue squeeze was higher than that.

 super glue to the rescue

Chip is solidly secured and I flushed the top of the chip with a rasp.

 hmm.......

I was happy with how this glued back together. There was only a 1- 1/2" long spot where the break was slightly proud. I flushed that with the card scraper.

 where is it

I can see the break on the top of the handle but I can't see/pick it out on the outside. I can't believe how well this glue up healed the handle.

prepping time

Got the cupboard on the bench with the back facing up. Checking that my corner labels agree and the top is at the top and bottom is at the bottom.

 dadoes are next

Before I glued up the cupboard I wanted to chop the 3 dadoes needed. This one is the bottom dado for the drawer divider. I marked this one wrong - I didn't reach under on the sample divider stick and this dado was a few frog hairs too wide. It is wider than any of the stock I have already planed. I'll have to think on how I will deal with this gaffe.

tight

I got a nice, clean, flat bottomed dado for the fixed shelf. I didn't screw myself marking for it wrong like I did with the drawer divider dado.

 sibling dado done

The second one came out as tight as the first one. I purposely made it tight so I can plane the shelf to fit dead nuts.

 from Rob Cosman

This nut tightens and looses with an allen wrench. Before I couldn't tighten this to hold the iron. It would slip and move as I pushed/pulled the router. I bought an allen ball driver and that works sweet. Nice not having to deal with the iron going off into La La Land on me. I bought one for all my LN routers.

back to glue up prep

I was erasing the pencil marks on the inside of the cupboard. I usually forget this but not today. I also looked over the condition of the inside and I left it as is (right of the planer). The pic doesn't show it but, I wiped it down with alcohol and the grain popped. This cherry is going to look drop dead gorgeous when the shellac goes on it.

hmm.......

I wasn't having any hiccups erasing the pencil marks with alcohol.  However, the pencil left the impression of itself on the cherry. The aren't too deep but I can see them. I'm not sure if sanding will remove traces of it. These are on the inside corners of the cupboard and will be in shadow/darkness. They also tend to blend in with the cherry.

done

Got all the pencil marks erased on the in and out sides. One more check before glue up.

nope

I'm glad that I checked this before trying to glue it up. This is the corner that popped off and I glued back on. It won't fit and it is about 2 frog hairs too tight. I shaved the half pin 4 times before this corner went back together.

done

All is well in Mudville. I dry fitted all four corners and all four fit. I shouldn't have any surprises other than missing a glue drip.

 less than a 16th

Due to the snug fit I used hide glue. I didn't want the stress of having to deal with glue freezes or having it set up before I got the corners seated. I had no issues with the hide glue.

The diagonals on the back were almost dead on. On the front they were off a 32nd. I tried to fuss with it a bit but gave up. I can live with and adjust for a 32nd on something as large as this cupboard.

on the front of course

This corner of the cupboard is a lot higher than I would like it to be. The kitty corner to this one is high too but only by a couple of frog hairs. I'll deal with this tomorrow after the glue has cooked.

accidental woodworker

the dovetails sont finis...........

Thu, 11/07/2024 - 3:15am

It took me a while to get over the shock of who won the presidential race before I finally got to the shop, late. I had better news and results there - I survived my first trail by fire with cherry dovetails. I tried hard wood dovetails several years ago making a box out of maple and walnut (?). I don't have that box and I'm pretty sure the dovetails were total crappola. Much better results after fast forwarding a few years. BTW 'sont finis' is french for 'are finished' it is some the few french words I remember from high school.

 hmm.....

Getting to the last two that have the potential to go south on me. The 3rd tail shouldn't present any hiccups but I wasn't so sure about the last one.

 3rd one chopped

I wasn't sure how this would chop. I was expecting a lot of flaking and chips coming off but it chopped clean.

 two chips

Chopped the 4th one with only two chips to deal with. Unfortunately for me I didn't scoop them up right away and lost them. Not particularly fond of the cracks/splits in the pin but it does feel solid. I'll fill the splits with super glue and cherry sawdust after it is glued up.

 better

I chopped the pins on the last board without coming in from the end grain. I dealt with chopping the slanted trough leaving the majority of the waste as support. The baselines came out pretty good with a minimal amount of tear out.

 fitting the 3rd set of pins

So far all three sets of pins went together off the saw. I was not expecting that all. I would have bet a lung I would have had to do a wee bit of shaving here and there.

 bit of a gap

Glue isn't going to swell this shut. I'll shim it after it is glued up.

 no appreciable gaps on this face

3 for 3 so far and will I go 4 for 4?

I'm impressed

3 for 3 on no gaps on the inside. This is a 70/30 affair with me. I'm getting better at it but I still not a 100% with it. This is encouraging seeing it in cherry.

 Yikes!

I noticed a split on this half pin and I tried to open it a wee bit to get some glue in it and it popped off. Glued it back on without any issues and set it aside to cook until tomorrow.

Holy bat turds Batman

The chisel felt funny when I was chopping with it. I ignored it initially until I saw a big crack in it. I'm pretty sure that the handle is bubinga of which I don't have any. I bought a set of these Ashley Isles chisels for the grandsons so I could use that 1" chisel in the interim. Making a chisel handle will be another first time attempt for me.

another chip

I paid attention this time and taped it to the board right away. Of course it is on the outside face. It is too deep to plane and it would behoove me to glue the chip itself back in place vice making a dutchman for it.

went 4 for 4

The ordeal and fight in my mind about doing cherry dovetails has proven to be unfounded.I would rate these cherry dovetails a notch above any of my outings in pine.

 one more )@O(&@^(%_)@#*% gap

Got a gap on the tail side but they are all seated pretty good. The gap and the seating cancel each other out.

 pin side

This tail board is a wee bit proud. It is a tapering proud too going from high on this end to nothing at the other end. This will plane off easily. I just hope the grain is running from this end going to the left.

 wow four for four

I was happy with all four of the inside joints. No gaps at all or they were so small I didn't pick up on them.

hmm.... 

What to do with this? The only viable option is to remove it and make a new one. Before I drive down that road I'm going to attempt to glue it back together. However, that will negate being able to strike this chisel with a mallet.

 cooking until the AM

I got a better squeeze out and a tighter fit in the vise than I got with a couple of clamps.

accidental woodworker

what month is it?.........

Wed, 11/06/2024 - 3:29am

Today was a beautiful day with blue, sunny skies with a high temp of 76F (24C). Two mornings past the temp was 32F (0C) when I got up. I wanted to spend the day outside and enjoy it. However, the gas people parked their heavy equipment outside my house. They were digging up the road to install new gas lines. I couldn't drive so I walked. Went on two walk abouts today. Once in the morning to run errands and after lunch. If this weather holds true this winter is looking to be a mild one again.

 ready to saw

I knifed the top end and dropped my square lines on both faces. I then knifed my baselines - I only knife each pin between the pencil lines. 

 knifing the pins

I reach under the pin a frog hair - about the same as I do for dadoes. I then use the knife line to saw in. I usually always get a snug fit when I do it with pine. Doing it the same way for the cherry. If they don't fit it will be because they are too tight and I can shave the pins if necessary.

 sawing the pins

No hiccups or heartaches sawing all the pins. I first saw on the top knife line and then I saw downward at an angle following the pencil line. Exactly the same way I would have done it if this was pine.

think I dodged it

There is knot on the first pin socket on the right. At first I thought I would have to chop the knot but I don't think so after eyeballing it. The baseline is clear and knot free so I shouldn't have any issues. 

chopping the pins

Other than not excavating as much waste, this went hiccup free. I took my time and spent a lot of calories initially chopping on the baselines. I took 4 small bites before I did a healthy thump on the chisel. I did not want to move the baseline with a chisel chop.

Lee Valley tool

Came today - a multi tool for setting shelf pin cups. It has 4 different size heads and I have 3 different size shelf pin cups. 

over a hundred

I bought a 100 more cups and it doesn't look like I added any at all to what was already in there. 100 cups is enough for 25 shelves. 

 2nd one?

I would have bet a lung that I had bought one of these last year? I searched and couldn't find it so I ordered another one. For a 12gauge wire extension cord the price Lee Valley is selling it for was too good to pass on (again).

one side done

This is something that I rarely do for through dovetails. I try to leave as much waste attached as possible chopping from both sides. I was having trouble chopping down and digging out the waste. So I came in from the ends like I was doing half blinds to remove the waste. 

first pin cleared

No break out in the middle. I was expecting some but I got lucky. I was going slow and easy, doing lots of chopping and removing waste in small bites.

second pin socket

Got a line with a little bit of break out. Not that it would effect the fit if it did happen.

 sawing

This is the back side that I don't see when sawing at the front. For the most part I sawed right on the pencil line removing it. I'm getting better at sawing square on the back sides.

3rd pin socket

This is the type of break out that I was expecting in all the sockets. This isn't that horrible looking nor does it eat up much of the socket.

 done

One good, one almost good, and two not so good. Considering I was chopping unsupported wood this is better than to be expected. And again, it doesn't matter to anyone except me. Seeing that break out makes me think something is OTL (out to lunch).

hmm.......

The pins and tails are started with no creaking, groaning, or any other protestations. I was expecting this to be tighter than this.

 can't complain

I think there will be a gap on the right half pin. There is a chip missing from it too and I'm not sure if it is on the back or the front.

 left half pin

The fit on the left side is as good as the right. This half pin doesn't line up that good. There is a definite gap that is larger than the right one.

 I wet myself

To say I wasn't happy with this would be like saying ducks don't like water. I gently tapped this together with a mallet. No headaches or hesitations driving it home. I didn't feel or see any binding or hold ups neither.

 extremely happy with this

A couple of tails aren't full seated but overall the fit is fantastic for off the saw. In cherry too on my first go around with cherry dovetails.

it can't get any better

No gaps on the inside and this isn't even glued and clamped. One down and 3 more to whack out. I stopped here for the day because I didn't want to jinx myself and try and hurry up to get the other end fitted. I'll come back to this in the AM.

 accidental woodworker

cherry cupboard pt III........

Tue, 11/05/2024 - 3:24am

The cherry cupboard progress continues in spite of my doubts. Today I finished the tails on it. Survived that ordeal I put myself through and I am happy with the results. They didn't come out any different then ones I have done in pine. 

I was thinking about the cherry clock I made so many years ago and I know it didn't have any dovetails in it. I still have the plans for it and I looked them over last night. The carcass was put together with rabbeted joinery and even the moldings were in rabbets. Today I would make this same carcass with dovetails and forgo the rabbets for the moldings (5/8" cove moldings). Instead of using rabbets to house the moldings I would mold them on the front and sides with a molding plane. Things have changed and my skill level has risen a few notches in the past 40 plus years.

hmm......

This tail on the right side wasn't square to the face. I didn't need the square to tell me that because I could see it. I used this to check all the tails for square. This was the only one OTL (out to lunch) on this end of the board.

 checked the baselines too

I do not undercut my baselines. I try to chop them flat and square to the face. It doesn't make any sense to me to undercut them and only have two super thin edges supporting it. IMO it is akin the edge on a tool be it a chisel or plane iron. You want the two edges to come together and reflect no light. Not much meat there for support eh?

 done

Sawn, chopped, and cleaned up. Again, I fretted over this for nothing. I have been dovetailing now for almost 15 years. I wonder how well I'll do on the pins. Will I be able to achieve a fit like Paul Sellers does in oak as easily as I breathe air?

 thinking out loud

After eyeballing my first side board I starting thinking about it. The first thought was maybe I should have used the dovetail guide on the right. It is a 1:7 and I don't know what the left one is. That is the one I use to mark without regard to what the wood is or the purpose of them. 

The second thought I had was maybe I should have added another tail. That would have decreased the  end grain to long grain glue surface. However, I went with this number of tails to decrease the sawing. Besides I like the wider look of these tails.

 another 1:7 advantage

Using the 1:7 guide would have also resulted in the outside top tips being less pointy. That is one thing I have noticed with pine tails - if I'm not careful the tips will break/chip off. That is less of a concern with cherry or at least I hope it is.

 the difference

The 1:7 guide straightens the angle a wee bit. If I do hardwood again I will try to use the 1:7 guide. I don't think it would have any negative effect on the pull out of the tails and pins. I might try it on my next pine project to verify that.

 just noticed this

I have had these chisels for several years and I assumed that they were all the same length. Of these four I use the far left one and the two on the right the most. I never realized how much I had sharpened and ate up some of the length on these.

 McMaster Carr order came

One thing I like about McMaster is the fast shipping. I ordered these on saturday night and they came today. They are expensive on some things but they usually have what I am looking for. Fingers were crossed on the springs bringing some joy.

Got 3 boxes of #4 brass round head screws to up the order $. I hate paying close to or more for shipping than what I bought.

 all #4 screws

I now have 3 types of wood screws to choose. Flat head, oval head, and finally, round head. I thought I had some black oxide and shiny nickel screws but I didn't have any #4s.

 much rejoicing in Mudville

I was not too sure about these springs. They didn't seem to compress that much. However, they were a dead on match for the springs in the working quick grip. They fit and worked a charm. I couldn't feel/see any difference in this quick grip with the McMaster springs and original springs. Glad to finally have this working again - it has been over 7 years (?) broken and useless.

 McMaster P/N

These springs fit the bigger Quick Grip clamps and will not fit in the smaller 6&12 inch Quick Grips. I don't know if they will fit in the Irwin clamps - they bought out Quick Grip and then changed the design of them.

overblown

I thought this little knick was a lot worse than it actually is. When I was sawing it I thought I had ruined this side of the tail. Easily chiseled away and squared up. This was one of 3 non glitches.

feeling better

Got the tails done. These took me all day to do and it was all I got done. Normally I would have had this glued and cooking by now. But I purposefully took my time and double triple checked everything I did. I chopped each and every tail - I don't saw the tail and pin waste. That would have certainly shortened the time line.

pin boards

I'll start these tomorrow. I didn't want to start on these and not complete them before quitting time.

 using this more and more

The piece of pine is the setting block for pin boards. I set the pin board flush with the pine set up block.

 ready to mark

Lay the back end of the tail board on the steady rest and knife the pins. I always place the pin board with the outside face towards the front jaw of the Moxon. That means the outside face of the tail board always faces up and inside face down.

 reference edge

I label the bottom/back and that is my reference edge. I square up that edge to the front face of the pin board. I always do it this way and the times I haven't, it saved my bacon. Something would look odd, out of place, or not what I expected if I don't stick to this regimen. 

 quitting time today

I could have probably knifed one pin board before 1500 but nixed it. I am still a little reserved about rushing this. I'll start in on it fresh eyed and bushy tailed in the AM.

I spent the early dismissal time watching the last of the Elementary series. I am on the last season with 3 more episodes to watch. I'll have to find something else on prime to occupy limited attention span.

accidental woodworker

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