as promised...

...although a little later than expected

I had the chance to exercise my left brain for a while, stroke the anal retentive, OCD and sort some hardware

Tiny oval drawer stops are screwed into the back of the front stretcher, accommodating both the upper and lower drawers, a quick swivel and the drawers can be pulled free.

Now this doesn't mean I stop, another ugly piece of plastic needed to be replaced, and this was pretty simple. A few scraps from the tabletop(s) and voila...

nice place to put stuff, a series of holes in the cherry top for screwdrivers and files, and a couple tombstone cleats, and that plastic is gone!

and then there's Xmas. Started early this year with a couple purchases from Ron Bresse, a few chunks of well dried wood and four weekends.

I would show you more but you'll have to guess for now

And my favorite holiday of all!!!

Actually had a whole day to work on these, each little guy found his own personality

If at least one kid refuses to walk up to these and get free candy, then well, I've done my job

process

as summer flows past in its irregular heartbeat of projects one thing has remained the same, the plodding progression of drawer building. Just when it all appears to be nearing completion, the last dovetail cut, the last groove plowed, widths and lengths tweaked, a few questions arise.

Do I really like these knobs?

well... not really, they interfere with the design in ways I can't quite figure

too small, too busy, wrong color

so it's back to the lathe, a strip of hard maple trimmed from the tabletop, and the lessons learned from the previous bunch. One afternoon is all I need this time, thirteen pieces from one stick, though it was a little hairy near the beginning.

And then it's time! Glue-up...

no wait...

Maybe I should finish the insides of the drawers first, after all sanding between coats will be so much simpler, just don't finish the tails or pins...

where to put all these pieces!

After the insides are complete I can do the glue-up (no I'm not procrastinating) final fitting, and then finish the outsides. Then I can show you the finished pictures, I think you'll agree the new knobs really made the piece!

dog days

When I say it's hot, it's hot

Hot enough to strip lead paint from cheap plywood

these are the days your planes look worn

drips of sweat tarnish in an instant, grain raises in tiny crop circles on your piece

dust doesn't move, weighed down by the relentless summer dank

a row of pins is all I can manage before taking a stroll in the flower ranked shade

another row, maybe a groove

a little pairing

or maybe it;s time to sit my butt down and spin a few knobs

delicate pen blanks in black and white Ebony, too small for anything else, but perfect in proportion to the drawers, I can pull five from each blank and a failed handle makes two more.

I'm just now beginning to see the enormity of the task, only five drawers fitted and over a month has passed, the worst of the summer doldrums yet to come.

Dare I buy a fan?

or just keep on going despite the heat?

one drawer at a time

What you are about to witness may confound your senses, cause you to feel emotions youl'd rather not talk about in public, force you like a madman to run wildly (and nakedly if the need arise) out or down or up or over to your shop and set to work

I just spent the afternoon rabbeting five small bits of wood, four rabbets each, plus two pieces with only two, so a sliver over a sixteenth of an inch ran the span between the front and back stretchers. Each rabbet took twenty four to thirty passes with a large rabbet plane, on my fence equipped shooting board, and maybe only twice did the cut have to be mended. A good plane is predictable, true, a good plane should cut a flat surface the same amount so that after thirty two passes, the surface is completely parallel to its origin. It helps to know how to hold the plane, how to push, how to steady, and hold plumb, when to skew or tilt or dip, you learn the sound, the feel, you anticipate a calamity and prevent it.

This is what I love about hand tools, each becomes a part of you. I work all day with routers, table saws, chop saws, radial arm saws, jig saws, sanders of all colors and sizes, a massive dust control system and some really uncomfortable safety gear, it's like getting suited up for a joust, then taking it all off and shutting everything down for ten minutes just to think and measure and yes, actually do math, then don the armor, turn on the noise makers and get er done.

Thank the gods for filler!

There's no finesse in a production shop, it's pretty as long as you don't look too close. I'm constantly heckled for my desire to be accurate, they call it "working too close"

Oh crap, if only they could see my furniture.

Finally making the decision to fab each drawer individually may either be the stupidest idea ever or the best. I considered at length dimensioning all sixty pieces, smoothing and ganging up the dovetails, then realized I didn't want to fall into the production mode. Each step requiring much more than the snippets of time I have available.

So, in essence, I gang up four sides, layout and saw all the dovetails, then find the best matches, prep two backs and two fronts, and put them aside. Dinner sometimes gets made, a movie watched, a beer or two. Some nights I make it back out, chop a few tails, complete the layout (there's a crap-load of layout!) I figure about four hours for each drawer, unless I blow out the spalted maple. Did I mention the front shoulder of the half-blind is 3/16 of an inch. Lesson #7543 always chop the half blind front first in case the just mentioned does occur, because you can always chop the rear fulls while you wait for the glue to dry.

In the mean time I have to show you what I do for work:

From Australopithecines to Zoetroupes I do it all

And I can make matched sets

That is an LED fired, hydro terrariun, by the way.

Oh yea, this post is supposed to be about woodworking

Nice thing about the drawers, each will be unique, thinner walls, different dovetails, attention to its own attributes.

Four down, eight to go!