As promised, dovetails have come. Sometimes I like to do a practice set before getting to the pieces that count. It feels like a while since I last made dovetails so I was making sure I can still do it ha. Also taking a real look at the spacing I had planed... nothing like going to town only to see that the plan on paper doesn't quite make it in wood!For this spacing I didn't really use any measurements (except the box dimensions) I just plotted a few options on paper, picked the "best" and copied them. The tails are a bit off from mirror images but I am not a machine nor do I want to be. A little wabi in your sabi wont hurt.
Surface prep! One of my favorite activities. It can get a bit stressful at times, especially dealing around joinery. Also one can exhaust oneself in chasing the slightest humps, dips, or other such-what, things so small that normal people think you're crazy. But you get in a zone and you can't think of anything else. All that exists is the work piece, your bench, your plane, yourself, and your quest for the ever elusive... and maybe a hankering for a nice cup of coffee. Ok so call me crazy but I think it is a nice (maybe not the right word) to be in.
This project is too small to REALLY get in the groove but I hope to find it again. At least it seems I still have a touch for a hand plane!
Cut those pins!
I have found this cut of Maple to be pretty brittle for the species. This tree was attacked by fungus and had spalting starting in some areas. My guess is that it has someting to do with it's brittleness.
There's one set of pins cleaned up. Oh yes, if you haven't seen that block apparatus before it is known (to me at least) as a "chopping block". It comes in very handy when you want to cut something at a certain angle and straight... well if you're really crazy you can do some curved ones too... but who would do that? Right? Double curve???
Fast forward all the tails and paring and POOF box... almost. As it will have a sliding lid the back corners get five tails and the front four and a half tails.
I am moving on but I might get stuck a bit because I do not yet have some router bit modifications done yet. AKA I need to hear back from the custom tooling guy!
Ok well I think I'm going to email him right now.
Till later, happy chopping?
3 comments:
So far so good :) Looking forward to the next post :)
Ian
just a warning nick, im totally bustin' yah flav and making a lil box too with the left-overs of the cabinet =)
those D.Tails are sharp
Thanks guys.
Yeah scraps can be nice though I am usually hesitant to do something like a box with them. I usually think more of drawer fronts. It's hard for me to find nice wood and I'm a picky bugger when it comes to color and grain matching in my projects so the more inventory I have for it the better. If the box is for something special I have no problem with it... or if the material is abundant.
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