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Thread: Walnut Cabinet

  1. #1
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    Walnut Cabinet

    Caveat: I'm not doing this entirely by hand, but since my dovetailing is largely manual, I figured it's fair.

    I'm making a small walnut cabinet and started dovetailing the carcass today.

    I finally started using the 'blue painters tape' trick to mark my pins. On this dark wood, I can finally see the layout lines. The FWW article that suggested this only put tape on the top of the pin board. I found it useful to use 2" wide tape and tape all 3 sides. True to the article, it gave me more confidence to saw up to the line. Having the tape on the sides makes cutting straight so much easier for me.

    Last, I'm not sure why I haven't seen something like this before. When cutting, paring, marking, measuring dovetails, I have 3-10 tools on the bench at any time, half of which want to roll off the edge as soon as I turn my back. A notched 2x4 makes a nice tool till (holds 'em 'TIL you get around to hanging them properly.)

    I know, I don't cope very close to the line. That's because I clean up the bottoms with a pin router.
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    Last edited by Prashun Patel; 01-26-2016 at 2:00 PM.

  2. #2
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    Awesome, looking forward to seeing how you progress.

    Will this be a wall mounted cabinet?
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  3. #3
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    Last, I'm not sure why I haven't seen something like this before.
    You may have seen it but didn't register.

    Here is something I made for a chisel rack and posted many years ago:

    Chisel Rack.jpg

    It keeps them from rolling, I have a couple of them. Just glued blocks on a strip of wood.

    I know, I don't cope very close to the line. That's because I clean up the bottoms with a pin router.
    BLASPHEMY!!!.png

    Just the same, I am looking forward to the rest of the story.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  4. #4
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    Brian-

    Wall cabinet. It's going to be unconventional in that the doors will not completely cover the insides. It's an experiment.

    Jim, Paring with the grain is fun and efficient. Chopping across the grain on those base lines is painful, ugly, and hurts my elbows.

    Nice rack!

  5. #5
    That looks good. Keep updating
    Best regards

    Lasse Hilbrandt

  6. #6
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    ooooh, new build thread! Looking forward to seeing your next work develop, Prashun. Even if there is a pin router involved
    "You can observe a lot just by watching."
    --Yogi Berra

  7. #7
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    I have not seen the painter's tape trick. Am I right that you are laying the pins out on the tape, then cutting the tape with a marking knife, and then using the edge of the tape as a guide? Or are you just sawing through the tape?

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nicholas Lawrence View Post
    I have not seen the painter's tape trick. Am I right that you are laying the pins out on the tape, then cutting the tape with a marking knife, and then using the edge of the tape as a guide? Or are you just sawing through the tape?
    Hi Nicholas

    I have had articles on my website at least two years before the FWW mag article author "claimed it" as a new method. These two should give you added perspective ...

    Early one ..

    http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnitu...sinJarrah.html

    A more recent one ...

    http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnitu...hBlueTape.html

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  9. #9
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    Looking forward to see this as it progresses. I fully understand tools begging to get swept off onto the concrete shop floor and/or rolling for the edge at the drop of the hat. I have to use a 4" tool well in the center of my table just for the peace of mind at the very least. My marking gauges, small square, small ruler, pencil and marking knives live in one well, chisels as I am working in another well, extra dogs and clamping pads in another. I believe you said you are using a coping saw to cut out the waste on the pins - please, what saw brand? what tooth configuration? I have been making vertical cuts with my dovetail saw in the waste area down to just short of the base line, chop the bulk of the waste out with a chisel, then chop/pare to the base line. I use my Moxon face chop as a flat for my chisel to ride on to get a flat bottom. I would like to move to sawing out the bulk of the waste, but do not at all love my many year old cheapo coping saw that does not seem to really tension the blade and the blade itself must have around 167 TPI or something like that as slow as it cuts. Blue tape forever!
    David

  10. #10
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    Due credit to derek. I do find matt kenney and mike pekovich very knowledgable and informative too.

  11. #11
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    Jim, Paring with the grain is fun and efficient. Chopping across the grain on those base lines is painful, ugly, and hurts my elbows.
    Sorry Prashun, I should have put a smiley or something with the blasphemy as it was meant as a joke.

    I know the pain of aged and/or injured joints in the hands, arms and shoulders.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  12. #12
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    Jim, of course u were joking. No need to explain. Who u calling aged??????

  13. #13
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    In the midst of my first blue tape half-blinds DT's. Cutting the tape with regular layout tools was easier than striking lines in the wood itself. The total contrast between the tape and the wood is a great help when sawing. While the tape is not sufficient to serve as a reference or a guide, it seems to have some magical power. The saw never nipped the tape but always stayed right on it. That is certainly not how layout lines treat me.

    Derek planted the seed. FWW fertilized the idea. The drawers on my current project were the consummation. I'm totally sold.

    "Blue Tape Dovetails" sounds rather modern and cheesy. So, looking for some savoir faire, I asked Google to translate to French. I submit; Dovetails ruban bleu.

  14. #14
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    I submit; Dovetails ruban bleu.
    I wonder if the local trendy bistro will have that on the menu.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  15. #15
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    Fitting some pins and a question about the back

    I can't say the results are markedly better than previous attempts, but the process is getting a little easier. Until I get more proficient at fitting 'off the saw', i find it beneficial to work in small stages and break often. It's tedious hunching over a bench (my new bench-on-bench helps with this) and it's tempting to file or chisel off too aggressively in order to force the fit. But anyone can get pretty good results with sufficient patience and delicacy. Breaking often helps maintain that delicacy.

    Jim, another blasphemy alert : My favorite pin-fitting tool is a fine rasp. I notice that the more of these I do, the more I can quickly feel where the adjustments need to be made. Beveling the bottoms of the tails also helps me. Smaller pin socket corners are tricky to clean out for me. Unless everything's clean and sharp, the board will not bottom out properly. To that end, I found a new weapon: a fine cut saw (both my dovetail and Dozuki fit the bill). A quick slice along the tails gets at that pesky corner waste if the chisel is hard to work in there.

    I saw a tip from Garrett Hack to use a marking knife to get that waste out too. (Derek, did he steal that too )

    Question: for small wall hung cabinets (think powder room medicine cabinet size) how do you guys do your backs? A slot would sacrifice some depth. I'm partial to a rabbet in the back. I have it in mind to veneer some plywood. Is that something that's doable without a vacuum press?
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    Last edited by Prashun Patel; 01-27-2016 at 9:36 AM.

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