Apothecary chest - part eight

[Derek Cohen]

Part eight - I think that this is the 7th weekend of the build. The plan is to start building the drawers, or at least have a plan for the drawers. There is not as much time available this weekend as I would have liked.


First, I needed to complete the drawer sides. About one half of the sides prepared were glued from two sections. The joins needed to be smoothed to leave each side appearing seamless.


I started out using a scraper ..


https://s19.postimg.cc/4mhko1mtv/1a.jpg


.. and ended using a smoother, which was quicker. The smoother was set to take extremely fine shavings - which came off like fine hair - as I did not want to remove any more of the 1/4" thickness than absolutely necessary (the boards began a smidgeon over 1/4", and so ended up close to dammit) ..


https://s19.postimg.cc/oh3ma576b/1-3a.jpg


The sides were jointed square on two sides ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/gblkc0t83/2-1a.jpg


https://s19.postimg.cc/5orr6kxxf/2a.jpg


... and then fitted to the cabinet ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/4z8yu7hyb/3a.jpg


It took most of Saturday, but finally ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/hdvquk4bn/4a.jpg


Sunday afternoon arrived and I was back in the workshop. The goal here was to see if my devilish plan for dovetailing curved drawer fronts would work. The following is a test, so let me know what you think and whether you can come up with an easier strategy.


Each row of drawers with be made from a single black walnut board, and so the figure will flow without interruption. Actually, the boards used made two rows each, and all the drawer fronts will come from the same original board.


For now I am using a scrap to test the method. Briefly, the drawer front will remain flat until the sides are dovetailed on, and the curve will be added later.


The first task is to fit the drawer front into the drawer opening, and this requires that the sides are mitred. This was done on the table saw ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/z3xffkur7/5a.jpg


This is the fit into the drawer opening ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/q8wl538jn/6a.jpg


The curve can be added by sliding out the drawer front and tracing along the drawer blade ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/5c0d0fi8j/7a.jpg


https://s19.postimg.cc/bcy1xickj/8a.jpg


That will be shaped later. For now the challenge is two-fold: firstly, the mitres complicate how the dovetails will join the two parts. In the photo below, what will happen if the walnut receives sockets (as in half-blind dovetails), the tails will extend over the drawer front and into the drawer.


https://s19.postimg.cc/netfrntir/9a.jpg


The solution I came up with was to mitre one side of the drawer front, and rebate the other side ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/xc4gkqo9v/12a.jpg


I concentrated on the mitred side today as this is the more difficult of the two.


The first step was to mark the width of the drawer side ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/6r1xp66gz/10a.jpg


The second was to use edge planes (these are by LN) to add a mitre that was square with the angled side ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/bppg3phzn/11a.jpg

[Derek Cohen]

The second challenge would be to secure and transfer the tails to the pin board, then to saw and chisel the sockets. Here is the first challenge ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/g42it4plv/15a.jpg


Trying to hold the tail board at an angle, and steady so that it did not move while the tails could be traced to the pin board ... well, I needed another set of hands!


I finally came up with a solution, recalling Alan Peters/Rob Cosman's rabbet trick. In this case, I added two layers of blue tape to create a fence ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/pom5g1237/17a.jpg


This made it possible to stabilise the parts ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/kd78vcqb7/16a.jpg


Using blue tape to transfer the markings ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/w2b8j9z9f/18a.jpg


Sawn ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/gtlb5j0g3/19a.jpg


Kerfs deepened at the baseline end with a kerfing chisel ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/4274yzo37/20a.jpg


Clearly my chisels were not sharp enough as the walnut was crumbling ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/wf2mphk43/21a.jpg


It cleaned up enough to pound the drawer side on ..


https://s19.postimg.cc/un9nul8gz/22a.jpg


What was reassuring was the tight corners.


The "drawer" was slid into the drawer opening ...


https://s19.postimg.cc/uai9ofl2b/24a.jpg


A bit more practicing, and I will be ready for the real thing.


Any thoughts how else this could be done?


Regards from Perth


Derek

[Hasin Haroon]

Thanks for sharing Derek, great learning opportunity for the rest of us.

[Jim Koepke]

My thoughts are in line with yours on this.

One of my projects on a long to do (and honey do) list is to build a hardware cabinet with a lot of drawers.

jtk

[James Pallas]

Work looks great Derek. It looks like you have a good plan for the dovetails. At best that work is fiddlely. Patience is the word for it.
Jim

[bill howes]

Nice solution Derek. I would need a support of appropriate height at the far end of the drawer side o hold it while marking , but I am not as steady of hand as you.
Can you show us a side view of your Kerfing chisel?
Bill

[Derek Cohen]

Bill, the kerfing chisel has a blade the same thickness as the saw plate ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/KerfChisel_html_m253242d2.jpg

There is an article on it here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/KerfChisel.html

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/KerfChisel_html_m25a489f9.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[bill howes]

Thanks Derek
I try to learn something new each day. Today's work is done
Bill

[William Fretwell]

So the front of the carcass is curved but the drawer front is flat? If you steam bend the drawer fronts they would match. Once you get the form worked out it may not be so bad. You could bend one whole piece for each level of drawers then cut the drawer fronts.

[Derek Cohen]

William, all the drawers will be curved. The drawer fronts are only flat at this stage - easier to dovetail when flat as you maintain a reference side, plus easier to hold in a vise. The fronts will be worked into curves at the end.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Chet R Parks]

It's going to be interesting to see the type and style of drawer pulls and how they will be mounted on the curved surface and still stay in line. Also if their mounting position will be made before or after the curve is put in the drawer front. This project is so far above my talents I have no idea how I would do it which is why I find it so interesting.

[Jeff Ranck]

great job Derek. I can't see a better way to do your dovetails than you show above. Not that I expected to. You're much better at this than I'll ever be.