The drawers/shop are looking good. Your dovetails are certainly better than mine are.
Also, nice tattoos.
Member
The drawers/shop are looking good. Your dovetails are certainly better than mine are.
Also, nice tattoos.
[OP]
Guest
Jeffery thanks for saying so.
Im pretty happy myself. I have been wanting to build these drawers for many many moons. Originaly i was going to purchases a router jig for the project. I bocked at the cost of one being i could also purchase all the hand tools needed to hand cut tails for about the same amount. I was scrared to go the handcut route out of fear it could take me longer than this first project to figure it out. I also felt like i was cheating myself as a woodworker doing it with a jig.
For some reason when i log into my SMC account many of the responses in my thread all but disappear. A poster up thread mantioned putting a back cut on the end grain of the tails or sockets and that to date nobody had yet to throw this out as a suggestion to me.
I found this insight kinda funny as that is exactly what made my dovetails transition from slight gaps to tight with no gaps. I also had concerns with regard to the intgrity of the joint being compromised. I figured the backcut has to be a pretty comon tactic among those that hand cut dovetails? As a carpenter by trade it is a tactic that i use all the time for various reasons and tasks.
Contributor
It might have to do with you you have your viewing preferences listed. I do mine in 'hybrid view' that will only show the most recent posts if the little dot next to the title is clicked. Sometimes posts disappear with the "below current level of depth" in the list of posts. Not sure how it all works. Just know that sometimes I have to look around to find it all.For some reason when i log into my SMC account many of the responses in my thread all but disappear.
I am not sure what is meant by a 'back cut'. I sometimes notch the wood out for an easy start to the sawing. Sometimes I start across the top and then follow the line down one side and then follow the kerf down the other.A poster up thread mantioned putting a back cut on the end grain of the tails or sockets and that to date nobody had yet to throw this out as a suggestion to me.
What ever you are doing, it looks like it is working.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
They look good so far! Sapele nearly always crumbles and tears out when I use it. REALLY sharp tools are my suggestion for that part. I keep a strop of the bench when I use Sapele for that reason.
In addition to the chisel "Notch" along the paring line, I knife mark all the lines deeply. I find that the deeper line helps a saw follow, and also helps the tear out problem.
My dovetail chisel is a used up small triangular file that I annealed, ground the teeth off, ground to shape, hardened and sharpened again. It is a little more brittle than I would like, but I only use it on dovetails, and it works perfectly for the more extreme corners on a small 14 degree dovetail.
Tons of good suggestions here though. Everyone finds a way that works for them with time.
Making furniture teaches us new ways to remove splinters.
[OP]
Guest
Not as much progress as i would like this weekend. I lost a full day Saturday to household chores. Another half day today to errands and football related preprations.
I did get my second door planed to fit and sanded out and ready for finish for the most part. I also finished roughing and cutting tomsize the stock for the two smaller drawers. I also got the bottoms glued up for the small drawers.
Hopefully next weekend i can finish the other two drawers. Go easy on ke on the cabinet. I built it out of scrap wood left over from various jobs. At the time i needed some kind of bench and chop saw station. I never envisioning i would build a full fledged shop with the intent of building furniture. The bench of scraps is still not done. To be honest it has a long way to go. Clearly the birdseye is not scrap but the rest is. Mostly its all ramdom off cuts from various mahogany decks i have built. Its probably a mix of maranti and mahogany with some baltic birch plywood and MDF.
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[OP]
Guest
Well i am done with round one of the drawer project i started a few weeks ago now. I have four more to go for this specific project. I appreciate thos whom took the time to pass along their advice. I learnt a lot building these drawers. I would say each one planed to fit the cabinet took about 1.5 days maybe more maybe less but not much either way. In the end it was clear. The more tails i cut the better they got. All and all i am vetr happy. To be honest i never thought they would come out as well as they did. They are not perfect and there is a small mistake here and there but nothing that most will ever notice myslef in included.
The ned to dvelop the skill to setup and sharpen my planes with ease may be the biggest lessson learnt. Being new to hand tools at times my biggest struggle was sharpening my #4 smoother and getting it to work as i needed it to.
The project overall has a long way to go still. I need to make a number of face frames, a couple end pannels and five doors. Much of that will have to wait as once i am done with these next four doors my plan is to build a 9' Roubo out of French Oak. When that is done the old bench that abuts this current project at the far end of the photos will be ripped out. That will become a 11' x 33" x 6" ash bench built again in Roubo style. The shelves at the far end will be replaced with a large cabinet to house my hand tools.
Big aspirations and maybe silly to some for a workshop but it keeps me stoked to get up and go to work hacking out custom homes everyday breaking my back so i can come home on the weekend and hone my hand tools skills.
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Last edited by Patrick Walsh; 02-15-2016 at 5:56 PM.
Contributor
Gorgeous work!
I don't mind shop furniture at all, it makes the time spent more enjoyable.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
[OP]
Guest
Thanks for saying so.
I figure it this way.
As a carpenter by trade i have pretty high expectations of myself. Work does not always allow for me to meet those expectations but that is another thread. Building over the top or exuberant shop furniture not only aids in my shop time being more enjoyable but also provides me the opportunity to first hone my hand tool and furniture making skils before i embark on building a piece of furniture intended for my home that i end up wanting to throw out as i cant stand the sight of it.
This way i can say "eh its in my shop, chances are its gonna get beat to crap anyway so if it is not perfect what are tou gonna do"...
Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe
Contributor
I look at shop furniture in a few ways. Some reminds me of my mistakes and how they have become corrected. Others remind me of how far my skills have come over the years.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
[OP]
Guest
Everywhere i look i see mistakes
Contributor
Very nice drawers and what is wrong with making shop furniture? Beats sitting in front of the TV. It's your time, your shop, your tools. Go Patrick go.
David
[OP]
Guest
Can anyone tell me about working with ebony.
Specifically i want to laminate some teak and ebony together to make some drawer pulls or knobs. I'm not sure if i will turn them or fab them in some other manner. I dont have a lathe so if i turn them im gonna have to purchase a new toy.
Clearly i like toys however i only like really really nice toys so i am not inclined to purchase a lathe as of yet. OneWay is pretty much all that is on my radar and thats a big purchase. I suppose i could purchase a Jet mini lathe for the time being and sell the Jet later. That kinda feels wasteful though.
I also want to inlay the fence or maple scale to my miter saw with a fair amount of ebony also. I am thinking the full length so like 9' and at least a 1" strip and maybe 1/4" deep. Maybe the whole face 1/4" deep i dont really know yet?
Can i work ebony with a sharp plane or do i need to sand it?
Contributor
A nicely sharpened plane works well on Ebony. I use a Bailey#3 with a Hock aftermarket blade. But a good old Stanley plane blade should work as well (the blade that came with the plane was too pitted). Set the cap iron properly and ensure the blade is sharp!
Shawn
"no trees were harmed in the creation of this message, however some electrons were temporarily inconvenienced."
"I resent having to use my brain to do your thinking"
[OP]
Guest
Shawn,
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Should i be anymore concerned gluing ebony to teak than normal when working with teak. How does ebony deal with glue i guess is what i am asking.
They look very good to me. The more you do it, the better they will be. I'm a pins first (ala Frank Klausz) guy which I'm seeing definitely puts me in the minority. Therefore, since the tails are last in my case, it is a 90 degree cut, so I cheat and use the bandsaw (free hand) simply for speed.
In truth, while we all certainly strive to make them as nice as possible, they don't have to be perfect in order to be functionally sound. We do it more for decorative reasons while the old boys did it for function and many times painted over them. In your case, I think you are certainly on top of it. In six months, you'll wonder how you ever struggled.
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