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Thread: A little practice for a lot of drawers...

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Windsor, ON
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    G,
    What is with using a fishtail chisel?

    Did you grind your own, or buy one?
    w
    There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going! WCC

    Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind - Dr. Seuss

    Crohn's takes guts. WCC

  2. You'll be able to do them with your eyes closed when you finish this project.

  3. #18
    Nice project!

    Will be watching for updates!
    --
    Life is about what your doing today, not what you did yesterday! Seize the day before it sneaks up and seizes you!

    Alan - http://www.traditionaltoolworks.com:8080/roller/aland/

  4. #19
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    Jan 2007
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    West Simsbury, CT
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    Gary, great dovetails, but I was also struck by what looks to be a real nice workbench...homemade or bought?

    Thanks.
    Kevin

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Stony Plain, Alberta
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    Thanks Kevin

    I had my bench built by LN.

    Being a left hander the vices are switched from end to end.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
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    Saddlebrooke, AZ
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    Gary,
    Your dt's look great....nice job....I was going to ask you about your bench...looks like your front vise is of the Frank Klausz or Rob Cosman era?? Very nice!
    Have you taken any classes with Rob?

    Jim
    Last edited by Jim Barrett; 01-03-2009 at 9:57 PM.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Stony Plain, Alberta
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    Jim

    I have taken some of Robs classes. First one two summers ago.

    Before I got there I had never even attempted a hand cut.

    5 days and 70 hours of shop time later we all went home being able
    to do hand cuts.

    When I had LN make my bench I had them custom build one like Robs.
    Works like a dream for hand cutting dovetails.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    North Carolina
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    Gary,

    I'm impressed with the fact that you think you need to practice your DTs. From what I could see they looked perfect. I threw out my DT jig 6 years ago. I cut all my DTs by hand. None of my completed furniture projects has DTs that look as tight as your practice ones. I thought I had it down. Now I have a crisis of confidence. Seriously, good luck with all those drawers.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Stony Plain, Alberta
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    Thanks Willie

    Any time I used to any dovetails I would do a few things.

    Make sure my skew block plane was set properly, make a bunch of test cuts with the saw, cut a few pins out with my fret saw.
    Now instead, I do couple of practice rounds and gets me tuned up again.
    I guess if we did it every day it may be different, but as a weekend warrior
    I may not do one for a bunch of months.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
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    Laguna Beach , Ca.
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    Gary nice dovetails....You have got it down. Very nice bench it looks like a Tage Frid
    "All great work starts with love .... then it is no longer work"

  11. #26
    Join Date
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    West Simsbury, CT
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    Thanks for the info on the bench, Gary. Do you perhaps have any other photos or maybe posted in another thread already? It looks like the traditional European style with tool tray? Do you recall dimensions? About how long did it take them to build? It looks like they have their old backlog worked down and are accepting orders again. Big question: would you do anything different or is it just the way you wanted after using it for a while now? I do wonder about 3" thick legs...seem they should be a little larger maybe? What made you decide to buy vs. build? (Sorry for all the questions!)

    Thanks again.

    Kevin

  12. #27
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    Stony Plain, Alberta
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    Kevin

    My bench is 8' long and 37" high.

    For me this is the most comfortable height to work at.
    It took a long time to get the bench as the first one didn't have the vice it was ordered with.
    The snags were taken care of and am very happy with the bench.
    There is only so much time I can spend in my shop and decided to order rather than build. Maybe someday I will build another one....


    There was a thread about the bench I think it was LN bench #2 I will try and do a link

    http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=78824
    Last edited by gary Zimmel; 01-04-2009 at 11:25 AM.

  13. #28
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    Jan 2007
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    West Simsbury, CT
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    Thanks, Gary, I recall your original thread now. After several months of use, do you still feel you wouldn't have ordered from them or do you feel better about it now? I suspect you got caught up in their huge rush of orders and perhaps it wasn't up to L-N standards (not making excuses for them, just thinking out loud).

    Kevin

  14. #29
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    Sep 2008
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
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    Gary - Comment about preventing the sides from cracking when assembling dovetails - you can very quickly determine whether you've got an issue when you first put them together by running a graphite pencil over the inside of the tails, then attempting to put the tails just a little ways into the joint. The graphite will rub off on the pins where the joint's too tight, which makes paring to get a looser fit very easy.

    One other thought is that you may have a rough time if your drawer sides and drawer fronts are equally hard woods (like walnut and maple, for example). One the ways that Rob Cosman and others get air-tight dovetails on the first try is that they use a soft wood for the sides like eastern white pine, poplar, aspen, basswood, etc... Without the soft wood's compression, even their precise dovetails would split fairly frequently.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    KC, MO
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    Gary -

    That is a terrific project and those dt's look perfect!! Keep us posted and clue us in on any 'tricks of the trade' that you have learned.

    Very nice!

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