Shoe Cabinet – Viewer Project
This week’s project comes from John. Let’s see what he has to say:
I can’t believe it – the shoe cabinet is done! :) It’s been a long process. With me being such a newbie, and having just a bit of free time to devote each week, it’s taken me something like 6 months to complete! This was a real learning project. Many firsts for me: loose mortise and tenons, edge joining wider boards, flush drawers with half-blind and through dovetails, routed inlays, sliding doors, staining poplar, etc. I based the design on David Marks’ tool cabinet (Woodworks #503), but much larger and with drawers on top. I used poplar throughout, and walnut for the inlays and handles. Finished with a 2lb cut of shellac followed by General Finishes American oak gel stain and 3 coats of Arm-r-Seal.
One of the big lessons from this project is covering up mistakes, of which there were MANY! :) The biggest oops came when I was routing the mortises in the top — the router bit somehow slipped loose and punched right through the top. Not a happy woodworking moment!! After wrangling with ideas about patching the holes, making a new top, etc, I took your excellent suggestion of filling the hole with epoxy, and then routing a complete perimeter inlay over the top of it. Hey, I meant to do that! :) It turned out great!
I also really struggled with the doors. Not having a band saw, and unable to find any good 1/4″ plywood locally, my “beautifully figured” sliding doors are actually just 1/4″ MDF panels. I used the same gel stain and sorta dragged the rag across to produce a fakey wood grain :) For the dovetails, I started with an old rockler jig – and just like you, I ended up wanting to drive a truck over it. I ended up investing in the Leigh Super 18 – nice! After spending so long fine-tuning the half-blind fronts, I was stunned how easy the through dovetails were in comparison! :) Took a crazy amount of time, but I just love those dovetails.
Thanks again for all your help Marc. You’ve patiently answered every one of my emails and given me numerous suggestions which you can see reflected right in the completed project. And I can’t count how many times I’ve come back to your videos for advice, design ideas, the dovetails, edge-joining with biscuits, mortise and tenons, pairing, wiping finishes, etc, etc – even how best to measure and mark when putting the door handles on. Looking forward to the next project.
Swelling Dovetails? – Question of the Week
This week’s question comes from Ben who asks: Why do my dovetails dry fit perfectly – but when I go to glue them up, they no longer fit flush? It’s cheap pine (this is a test project) – and I’m using a dovetail jig: if that helps? Any suggestions?
And this was my response:
Hey Ben. My guess is that the dovetails are sucking up some moisture from the glue and swelling a bit, leading to a change in the actual fit. That means that if left alone for some time, the swelling would go down and they might get close to flush again. That being said, I very rarely shoot for perfectly flush dovetails anyway. I always aim to have my dovetails a little proud. This way, after the glue dries, I can flush them to the surface. If you aim for perfectly flush, you might wind up slightly under, which means you now have to sand or plane the entire board to get a flush fit, which of course brings with it a whole series of problems. But if you aim to be slightly proud and you wind up a little short of your target, the worst that can happen is the dovetails will be nearly flush. And if you are slightly over your target, a few extra swipes with the block plane are all you need to remedy the situation. Hope that helps.
*** Anyone else have some slick tips for perfectly-fitting dovetails?***
27- When Dovetails Cry
High Resolution Version
MP3 Version
Most of you know by now that my schedule has been a little packed lately due to a long series of commissions. I promised you that once they were over, I would be able to focus nearly all of my efforts on The Wood Whisperer. And now its time to deliver. I am finally on the last of that series of projects and will be done within the next 7-10 days. This particular episode represents a taste of whats to come. With some new editing software, a new camera, and a little more knowledge and experience on my part, we are able to offer higher quality videos and higher quality content. The new format of the show represents what we would like to think of as “Season 2″. I hope you enjoy it.
I would have to say the most commonly requested episode so far has been dovetails. Handcut, machine cut, through or half blind……..you guys love your dovetails! Well, I have held off for a while because I wanted to make sure I did the process justice. This particular episode is a glimpse into the world of machine-cut through dovetails. Even though the episode is 30 minutes long, I feel like I just barely scratched the surface. The devil is in the details! And each jig differs in those little details. Fortunately, there are some common elements to all these jigs that make this episode useful to anyone, regardless of what jig you use. I happened to use what I consider to be the best jig on the market: the Leigh D4R.
No matter what jig you use or even if you cut them by hand, there’s no denying the “cool factor” surrounding dovetails. If you haven’t made them yet, they are easier than they look and it is certainly worth your time to learn the process. So watch the video and find out what it sounds like, when dovetails cry……….
***Error note*** Thanks to Steve and Brian in the comments section for bringing this to my attention. During the filming of the podcasts, I was using “props” for my cuts and consequently was not as careful with my organization as I should have been. Now you see why I use props. lol. I accidentally reversed the pins and tails. My rule is to cut the tails in the sides and the pins in the fronts and backs. I did the opposite in the video. I guess thats what happens when you are focused on filming and getting the right shot, instead of making proper dovetails. So don’t get confused. As long as you remember the rule (and you don’t try to make a show out of everything you do), you should be fine.
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