Carver's Chest Build-along

[David Carroll]

This project has been somewhat frustrating in that there are so many components to it, 25-pieces just in the carcass and top, another 20 in the drawers. Preparing all of that, fitting and fussing has taken a lot of time, and planning. There's a lot that had to be done before it could be glued up. So it doesn't seem like a lot of progress is being made, despite the many hours I have devoted to it. (I never keep track of these things because I am doing this for enjoyment, as much as necessity). Doing it completely by hand has added to the time (and the enjoyment).

But the carcass is now together! I had to do a bunch of touch-ups to the dovetails. repeated dry assembly & disassembly of the joints has loosened the dovetails which were B- work to begin with. So I have spent a pleasant morning cutting tiny slips of wedged shaped chestnut and gluing them in place to hide my sloppy work. I've gotten quite good at this if I do say so myself.

I guess you either can get good at cutting dovetails, or you can get good at patching up mistakes. Do better on the former and you don't have to do quite as well on the latter. Leave it to say I've gotten very good at fixing boo-boos, and am still working at making my touch-up and repair skills unnecessary.

Here is a shot of the process.

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There were a half dozen or so repairs like this that had to be made. Also, I ran the grooves for the till-bottom all the way through the back panel, but they should've been stopped at each end. Oops! So I had to inlay little blocks to fill the holes. I tried to match end-grain as best I could. But, like some impressionist paintings, the joinery looks best the further away one stands!

I've finished the touching up, I still need to trim back the dovetails, which always makes them look better. Now I start on the top.

DC