Box Assembly, Stand Stuff

Here we are again, and as promised I'm back with the glue up.
With 14 dowels per joint and four joints per box that adds up to 112 dowels plus the two dowels per apron to side joint gives a grant total of 128 dowels!
The dowels I got this time around (same dowels I always get) are harder than they have been in the past. Hand rolling them with a file to compress them was becoming a pain in the neck, and arm.
I decided to take a piece of brass and drill a 15/64" hole in it (1/64" smaller than 1/4") then tap/hammer the dowels through. Turns out it's a sloppy fit.
Well today I happened to need to go to the tooling shop to pick up another end mill bit. I bought an alphabetic "C" and "D" sized twist bits that are both between 15/64" and 1/4"... see if one of those works out for me next time.

Whole lot of clamping going on.

While glue-ups were drying I thought I'd get going on some brackets for this project. These are what I needed a new sized end mill for. I'm attaching the box portion with #6 sized screws with brackets that need to allow for movement. The 1/8" bit I have is just too small and 3/16" too big. I got a 5/32" bit. Haven't gotten back to the brackets yet though.

Onward to stand stuff!
Cut the stubby little legs to height and the aprons to length including that 2 or 3 degree angle I'm using.

Spent a little time cleaning up the end grain cuts on the aprons fine tuning that angle and making the leg end grain smooth and square.

Hadn't decided how I was going to get the slight angle in the aprons to match the legs. Decided to plane it in and use square(er) joinery. My work horse 45 degree smoother wasn't giving me the best result with the temperamental Kwila. I grabbed a higher angle smoother I made in school that I haven't used since I've been back. Quickly trued the sole, ground and honed a new edge, and gave it a test run. Seemed to be what I needed. Opened the window to the cool air set my blade for some fine shavings and got to it.
As small as this step was, the different between top and bottom edge is only 1/32", it was probably the best moments with this project thus far.
Bringing another plane into use again, making some fine shavings, freedom of shaping, sight sound and smell of the kwila, the air; it all just came together.

In short order it was back to machining. Mortising. Though with the joinery so relatively simple and square it went without much fuss.

I had decided to keep the legs square for joinery, now it's time to give it some tapering. I made a little jig to help me out. These are the first "straight" legs I've made since my first year in MCTC!? I usually can't/don't use jigs with curved legs.
The jig just cradles the leg and I cut the taper I want into the side of the jig that hits the fence. Quick and low-tech!

Ok, calling it quits on this entry here!
Maybe I can get these done in another two weeks?? hmmmm