Andrew Pitonyak
09-15-2012, 3:03 PM
In my quest to produce hand-cut dovetails, I decided to cut one a day in 1/2" cherry stock with two tails. Things were looking kind of OK after the first two weeks, I upped the ante and decided to build a small chest of drawers. I used 5/8" hard maple and it was much much more difficult than the Cherry. I figure it is because the maple is much harder and this time the board was much wider.
The first two attached images show a head on shot sitting on top of the unfinished rolltop desk that my Father purchased for me in the 80's and then finished for me (Love that desk). The side shot shows that the dovetails are not perfect by any means, but pretty nice for getting started. This is one side shot of a drawer. The drawer front is 3/4" hard maple that I then routed with a Whiteside (5951) Medium Raised Panel Bit, Ogee Pattern. This is an almost exact match for the drawer profile on the desk (the desk does not have the final raised ridge on the panel, but I preferred the ridge). I was a bit nervous turning a 2-1/2" bit with my Bosch 1617, but that was not even remotely a problem it turns out. Great little bit. I also purchased the miniature version (5751) just in case it was too much for my router.
241197
The case is very simple, and it probably would have looked better if I had run a bar horizontally across the front, but I am fine with how it turned out as my first chest of drawers. It is 48" wide and under 9" tall. The back panel is 1/4" oak ply, as are the drawer bottoms.
241198
I did no measuring of any sort while laying out the dove tails, I mostly just eyeballed where I wanted the tails (or pins), marked the wood (so that it would be easier to cut square / perpendicular. I tried both pins and tails first, and found that I seem to be more accurate with tails first, but that may just be because I have done almost exclusively tails first.
Here is the other side of the drawer. Notice the strange layout of the dovetails on this drawer. I have a half pin on the top and a half tail on the bottom. I did this so that I would not need to worry about the bottom pin rubbing against the wood runners. I did not do this on the first drawer or two, and then it occurred to me that perhaps it was a decent thing to do. I suppose that it fails the symmetry test...
241199
I learned a few lessons along the way, mostly things like verify that you are cutting the correct piece of wood every time and at the correct spot. At least once I left the waste and removed the "not waste" portion. Another time I fitted the wrong set of tails to a set of pins, which would not have been a problem, but I had already cut the mating tails for that piece as well.
I had to completely redo one drawer because it did not come out square (my fault.... duh).
While fitting the drawers, I needed to trim just a smidge off one of the drawers that had a bottom tail. So, I grabbed an old chisel that I received from my Father (who can't LOVE a Father that gives him old chisels), and I left the chisel sitting on my bench while I was trying to fit the drawer fronts to the drawers. Well, I managed to knock the chisel off the bench. I saw it go down pointy end first. Luckily for the chisel (and unluckily for my leg), my leg broke the fall to the cement so it ended up hitting head first saving the tip.
The initial cut was split open, so I knew that a regular band-aid would not suffice. Luckily, I had purchased some butterfly band-aids. The idea (in case you don't know) is to pinch the wound shut so that it can heal shut rather than open. This image is less than 24 hours later. You can see that it is still pulling open a bit.
241200
I found that the butterfly band-aids were not adhering well to the skin, so I opted to use Wound Closure Adhesive Surgical Tape Strips. You can see the tape. The middle piece is a full piece, the two outer strips were cut in half. There is some Neosporin on there that you can see as well. As I write this, the entire thing is covered up by one huge band-aid, yeah, I have them that big. Those 3M Nexcare bandages are expensive, but they sure hold well. They are called "Knee & Elbow" bandages. I highly recommend that you keep some wound closure strips for those rare times that you need them.
241201
I found that two of my drawers bound up a bit (side to side stuff), so I waxed the inside contact surfaces (sides and runners) and then I did the same for the chest of drawers. Made a huge difference. No binding of any sort.
I purchased some Red Garnet Shellac flakes from my local wood craft, and I mixed my own. Very happy with the results.
So, that is my first chest of drawers. To continue my Dovetail saga, I have already started a Tansu jewelry cabinet (at the request of my wife). I opted for Ash, so I am in the process of cutting dovetails in Ash. The carcass for the Tansu uses slightly over 3/4" thick wood, which I have been finding even more difficult to get right.
The first two attached images show a head on shot sitting on top of the unfinished rolltop desk that my Father purchased for me in the 80's and then finished for me (Love that desk). The side shot shows that the dovetails are not perfect by any means, but pretty nice for getting started. This is one side shot of a drawer. The drawer front is 3/4" hard maple that I then routed with a Whiteside (5951) Medium Raised Panel Bit, Ogee Pattern. This is an almost exact match for the drawer profile on the desk (the desk does not have the final raised ridge on the panel, but I preferred the ridge). I was a bit nervous turning a 2-1/2" bit with my Bosch 1617, but that was not even remotely a problem it turns out. Great little bit. I also purchased the miniature version (5751) just in case it was too much for my router.
241197
The case is very simple, and it probably would have looked better if I had run a bar horizontally across the front, but I am fine with how it turned out as my first chest of drawers. It is 48" wide and under 9" tall. The back panel is 1/4" oak ply, as are the drawer bottoms.
241198
I did no measuring of any sort while laying out the dove tails, I mostly just eyeballed where I wanted the tails (or pins), marked the wood (so that it would be easier to cut square / perpendicular. I tried both pins and tails first, and found that I seem to be more accurate with tails first, but that may just be because I have done almost exclusively tails first.
Here is the other side of the drawer. Notice the strange layout of the dovetails on this drawer. I have a half pin on the top and a half tail on the bottom. I did this so that I would not need to worry about the bottom pin rubbing against the wood runners. I did not do this on the first drawer or two, and then it occurred to me that perhaps it was a decent thing to do. I suppose that it fails the symmetry test...
241199
I learned a few lessons along the way, mostly things like verify that you are cutting the correct piece of wood every time and at the correct spot. At least once I left the waste and removed the "not waste" portion. Another time I fitted the wrong set of tails to a set of pins, which would not have been a problem, but I had already cut the mating tails for that piece as well.
I had to completely redo one drawer because it did not come out square (my fault.... duh).
While fitting the drawers, I needed to trim just a smidge off one of the drawers that had a bottom tail. So, I grabbed an old chisel that I received from my Father (who can't LOVE a Father that gives him old chisels), and I left the chisel sitting on my bench while I was trying to fit the drawer fronts to the drawers. Well, I managed to knock the chisel off the bench. I saw it go down pointy end first. Luckily for the chisel (and unluckily for my leg), my leg broke the fall to the cement so it ended up hitting head first saving the tip.
The initial cut was split open, so I knew that a regular band-aid would not suffice. Luckily, I had purchased some butterfly band-aids. The idea (in case you don't know) is to pinch the wound shut so that it can heal shut rather than open. This image is less than 24 hours later. You can see that it is still pulling open a bit.
241200
I found that the butterfly band-aids were not adhering well to the skin, so I opted to use Wound Closure Adhesive Surgical Tape Strips. You can see the tape. The middle piece is a full piece, the two outer strips were cut in half. There is some Neosporin on there that you can see as well. As I write this, the entire thing is covered up by one huge band-aid, yeah, I have them that big. Those 3M Nexcare bandages are expensive, but they sure hold well. They are called "Knee & Elbow" bandages. I highly recommend that you keep some wound closure strips for those rare times that you need them.
241201
I found that two of my drawers bound up a bit (side to side stuff), so I waxed the inside contact surfaces (sides and runners) and then I did the same for the chest of drawers. Made a huge difference. No binding of any sort.
I purchased some Red Garnet Shellac flakes from my local wood craft, and I mixed my own. Very happy with the results.
So, that is my first chest of drawers. To continue my Dovetail saga, I have already started a Tansu jewelry cabinet (at the request of my wife). I opted for Ash, so I am in the process of cutting dovetails in Ash. The carcass for the Tansu uses slightly over 3/4" thick wood, which I have been finding even more difficult to get right.