Tool Chest Build 06 - Dovetail Drawers

Well it's been a while since my last post... life got in the way a bit... actually I spent the last couple of weekends getting my car fixed and had no time to be in the shop. But now my car is all fixed (thanks Mom!) and I have gotten back into my shop. Ok so last time I said I would probably work on the top next but I decided to tackle the drawers first instead because I might change the top design a bit.

First I milled up the walnut drawer fronts using my planer to get the stock flat and then the table saw to cut them to rough lengths... and when I say rough lengths I usually mill them about 1/16 larger then they need to be so I can finesse with my hand tools.

Then I used my plane and shooting board to get them square and to final size, final size being a tight fit into the drawer slot, I make sure they are super tight so that once the whole drawer is finished I can plane them down and give it some breathing room, usually about 1/64" side to side and 1/32" top to bottom to allow some expansion and not get locked in during the humid months.

After the drawer fronts are fit I moved onto the blind dovetail sides. First I cut the tails on the side boards and then using those I mark the sides of the front with a knife you can see the fine lines on the picture, using a saw I rough cut and I use chisels to finish it. First I chop the bottom a bit then chop down about 1/16" at a time.

Here is a picture of the final mortise all cleaned and at this point I am about to fit the side to it so I was hoping it fit.

Oh good it fit! There is a small little gap on the right side but hopefully it will swell a little with the glue and fill the gap. But other than that I impressed myself...

Hey the glue did swell it a little and the gap is not so noticeable. Want to mention that before I glued them up I did drill holes for the drawer pulls and counter sunk the backs so the screw is hidden. Do it before the glue up because it's harder after, (learned that one the hard way last time LOL!)

I glued up the sides, back and front and then slid the bottom panel in and we have a completed drawer, at this point I fit it into the drawer slot and it was way to tight, but I was expecting that, so I took the hand plane and shaved down all the sides, tops and bottoms fitting it every few shavings.

Now for the final fitting, sliding in perfectly and fit really nice. I was so excited to see the fit of the closed drawer that I made a super rookie mistake, and It is a great tip to share... wait for it...

Ok so this next picture shows the final fit I am really excited that they fit so perfect. Ok now for the tip... see those pieces of tape, well when I first fit the bottom drawer it was stuck, since it has no pulls yet I couldn't pull it back out....ooops, I actually had to do a lot of work with a chisel, ruler, tape and finally what saved me was that I had drilled the holes for the pulls and I was able to use a coat hanger to pull the drawer back out... reminded me of trying to open a car when you locked your keys in it back in the day. Then I put tape on the bottoms so I had temporary pulls and could keep fitting and be able to pull it out...LOL!

Now I am waiting for the drawer pulls they are coming from the interweb, and will be starting the lid as soon as I decide on the design... Stay tuned.

Tool Chest Build 05 - Glue Up and Clean Up

So after finishing up all the parts and giving them a light sanding... mostly to the inside parts because they will be hard to get to after the glue up I started to glue up and parts, I followed the sequence I had planned out in the last post (Bottom, back, divider, back, divider, back and front) I clamped all the pieces together... I am really happy I used the liquid Hide glue because this glue up took just under 30 minutes and regular glue would have set up way before that.

Here are a few pictures of the glue up.... "YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY CLAMPS"

The Front:

The Back:

The Top:

Ok now to let it dry... 24 hrs later... and I was able to take the box out of the clamps, looking at the piece after removing it from the clamps you can see all the places I left proud so that I could flush it up later... of course this is when I realized that I could have left less things oversized and have less work at this point but it's ok... it will look good... I think?

Here are the pictures of the box straight from the clamps:

The front, you can see lots of glue to clean up and lots of joints to flush up:

The back, more of the same:

The top, for sure could have left less material above but should be easy to plane down... I think?

Divider detail... this one is interesting... at this point I couldn't tell if it was just proud or if the joint wasn't tight... here's hoping...Gulp!

Ok now another 24hrs... had to go to work, but I was now ready to start planing down the surfaces and get this all cleaned up... or so I thought... Damn I have to sharpen my planes... so I took out my diamond stones and started to sharpen all 3 planes I was going to use... 1000 grit... 4000 grit... 8000 grit and then a little stropping on leather and the blades are ready. Now to plane the box... Damn how do I clamp something this big to the bench so it doesn't move... this way, NO! that way, NO... hmm? Oh I know I used a clamp down to the top of the bench and the bench vise to hold the clamp (wish I took a picture but I didn't). Ok started planing and found that ASH (wood I'm using) planes really easy as long as you go with the grain not against it, ( I think there is a phrase about this).

Ok now the pictures after the initial clean up... at this point I have only used planes and a little sandpaper to get to my initial cleanup... still will have lots more to sand once the whole thing is complete.

The Front, not too bad, most joints look good... maybe little gaps but I can live with that.

The Back, Oh good the joints look tight.

The Top, this worked out just as I thought it would, but I am now out of breath... and my shoulders are getting tired next time leave less material to flush up dummy...

Ah the Dovetails, actually most of them turned out really nice and tight, way better than I thought they would... but of course there is this one...Damn $#@%#$, son of a $^%@$@... Oh well it will stand there taunting me forever... FCUK!!!!! Any ideas on wood filler? This is how you know it was done by hand right? NO!!!! LOL all this aside I'm happy with the box so far and well there is nothing I can really do so be it!

I haven't decided what I will be working on next the Frame and Panel Lid or the Drawers yikes more dovetails... maybe the lid first then.

A little sneak peak at the Walnut veneer I will be using both for the lid panel and the drawer fronts... really cool stuff.

STAY TUNED!!!!

Tool Chest Build 04 - The Rails

Ok after I finished the horizontal dividers from the last post I moved onto the vertical rails. The tool chest has 4 vertical rails the back of the chest has 3 and the front 1, why? well the chest is divided into 3 sections, 2 drawers and a top section that will be accessible from the top lid.

This picture shows the side panel with all the grooves cut into it. You can see the 3 sections and how only the back gets grooves for vertical rails because in the front the drawers will cover those areas.

This next picture shows how the rails get a rabbet cut into them that will fit in the grooves.

Here are the parts I am working on now. The sides and the rails.

Here is how the rails fit into the grooves and will look like they are just flush.

Here is how all the rails will fit into the sides... understand that this image doesn't have the horizontal dividers yet but shows how all this will look once the dividers are in the grooves.

With these rails done I now have all the main case parts below you can see starting from the left:
1) Bottom Panel with through dovetails joinery.
2) Horizontal Dividers (2) with sliding dovetail joinery.
3) Case Sides (2) has all the joinery needed, dovetails, sliding dovetails, dadoes for the rabbets.
4) Top Rails (2) the top front and back rails with rabbet joinery.
5) Bottom Rails (2) the back bottom rails also with rabbet joinery.

With all these parts now done, I can sand and then start the glue up. It's going to be a bit tricky because it all has to be done in the right sequence starting with the bottom panel dovetails, then the first back rail, then the bottom divider, then the second back bottom rail, then the second horizontal divider and last the top rails both front and back. I will be using hide glue because that will give me about 20-30 minutes of open time and I think that is going to be close. Update on how it went in the next post... Stay Tuned.

Tool Chest Build 03 - Sliding Dovetail Dividers

So after finishing the bottom panel dovetails to the best of my hand cut dovetail ability I dry fit it to see how well they fit together... and while there were some gaps, they weren't too bad and once the glue makes them expand a little they should look pretty clean... and will hold the bottom panel from ever falling out.

The closeup shows the fit.

and the dry fit looks good.... so far!

Ok now for the Sliding dovetail dividers. I decided to change the design a bit here, originally it was going to be through mortise and tenon joint for the dividers but I liked the idea of keeping it dovetails. As the dovetails in the bottom hold the panel from falling out from the bottom, using sliding dovetails on the dividers will hold the sides from ever opening out to the sides... Now I mentions why these joints were originally used to hold the parts from falling apart for to tell the truth with todays modern glues and the fact that this will never have enough force or weight applied to it all these joints are total overkill but its cool to know what they are there and truth be told with these joins like this I could put it together without glue and it would hold... but you are gonna have to take my word for it cuz I'm gluing it.

2 dividers so here is a closeups of the dovetail grooves on the side panel.

Here is what the side panels look like so far.

and here is with the divider slid into the groove looks like, its left a little proud so that it can be hand planed down smooth and flush once it is glued in place.

Ok well that is it for the dividers, learned an new technique as this was the first time I had ever used sliding dovetails. Next up I will be ploughing the groves in for the back and the front panels of the box.. Stay Tuned.

Tool Chest Build 02 - Dovetails

After Dimensioning and cutting the lumber for the main parts the fun starts.

Dovetails.
I laid out the dovetails using a knife and a 1/8 slope, these dovetails will be a strong joint holding the bottom panel so no matter what it cannot fall down... even if the glue fails (Which it won't) but even if it did the mechanical bond created by the shape of the dovetails will not let it fall out. Ok so after I laid them out it was time to cut them, I cut them with a hand saw and cleaned them up using chisels. I love doing joinery by hand I just enjoy it more.

First I cut the angles with the saw and cleaned them up with the chisels.

Close up shots are cool....LOL!

After the tails are done I use them to make the pins, then again cut with the saw and and chop down with the chisels. Shown above before the chisel step.

Here is a wide shot of how I work on my bench. Using a Vise on the edge which isn't seen here to hold the boards while I saw them down, then I lay them flat on the bench and use a holdfast (Metal clamp that uses holes in the bench to essentially clamp down the work).

Ok well I really hope the fit once I put them together...

Tool Chest Build 01 - Design & Sketchup

I am starting a new project today, it is a tool chest. The original design is from Fine Woodworking Magazine #234, I will be changing a few things but for the most part I am going with that.

This is the image from Fine Woodworking, I am posting so at the end of this I can compare... Not sure if this is a good idea LOL!

Ok so I usually first start by using Google Sketchup to model it, even though the article has plans, this serves 2 purposes. 1) I can see how the changes in size I want to make will look. 2) When I use sketchup I model the parts as if I was building them in wood, so I know what I need to cut, how parts will fit together and how the joinery will work, helps my brain get around it.

Here is the Sketchup model I made pretty close to the original but the sizes are different and I will be using Ash for the Light wood and I have some cool looking Walnut Burl coming for the drawer fronts and the lid panels.

Ok well the easy part is done... Now onto making some saw dust.

Computer Stand Pt. 5

FINITO!!!
So after 4 coats of Danish oil and a rub out using paste wax applied with steel wool the computer stand is finished. I think it turned out great and it feels awesome... I took some pictures of it tonight showing the details of the stand. I am delivering it to JD in the morning and I hope he likes it and I can't wait until he send me a picture of the final setup, mainly I just want to see the Mac Pro (Turbine) on the stand.... LOL!

The Sides:

The Front and Back:

Top Shelf Details:

Bottom Shelf Details:

and as they say.... That is that! Finito!!