Finishing off the Base of the Chest

The underside will be the least seen of the outside surfaces but still needs care and thought. To give the chest a little lift, I stuck on this 5 mm thick piece of matching walnut. It was about 75% of the area of the base so as not to be visible. I chamfered the edges with the excellent little Philip Marcou chamfer plane.

To prevent the base sliding around and getting unsightly scratches I added four leather bumpers. Rather than buy the felt ones which are too thick, I used some nice brown leather and double sided tape. This way I can choose the colour, thickness and size and they're a lot cheaper too!

Inlaying Name Plaque

When I ordered these little stainless steel name plaques I had planned to make a router template to inlay them in my work. However due to their small dimensions they are all slightly different in size and therefore need to be individually fitted. To ensure a tight fit I filed a small inside chamfer to each edge so that when I marked round with a sharp knife, it was a fraction undersize. A dab of double sided tape on the back prevented it slipping. I routed very close to the knife lines with my excellent little Makita trim router and carefully chiselled back to the lines and squared off the corners. A bit of persuasion with the rounded handle of my chisel hammer finished the job.
Forgot to say if anyone is interested the company is Blue Badger Branding.

Chris Becksvoort Router Bit

Here is the back panel to the walnut chest showing a nice even reveal. I've had this Becksvoort router bit for years and I use it on all my panels. It has a 22 degree angle instead of the usual 90 degrees which requires more care but the results are worth it.

They are available from Lee Valley.

Comfortable Shooting with Lie Nielsen No 7

I bought this plane recently mainly to shoot the edges of longer pieces. After only a few strokes it starts to be uncomfortable, so I made my own rough and ready side handle or 'hot dog'. It's just a piece of maple with a tight fitting slot and the edges rounded.

In use it allows me to hold the plane and apply sideways as well as forward pressure in relative comfort. The position of my hand with the palm behind the blade and the fore finger ahead of it allows me to apply pressure at the start of the cut at the front and the finish of the cut to the rear. This helps prevent rounding of the edge.

Alan Peters No 7 Bedrock Plane for Sale

A unique opportunity to buy Alan Peters No 7 plane. He used this plane all the time, even for small work and it comes with a letter of authenticity from his wife Laura.

The plane itself is an early Bedrock 607 from around 1900 but has a later lever cap, blade and front knob. These were no doubt replaced by Alan to improve performance and the plane should certainly work very well. You can see the E Bay listing here.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Alan-Peters-Owned-Stanley-607-Plane/202231878097?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

David Barron Bench for Sale.

Here's a small but very sturdy little bench I made a while ago being sold by a friend of mine. It measures 42" wide x 24" deep x 37" high and would make an ideal bench for a small workshop or as a second bench. The base was made from 4" square pine (I don't remember painting it that colour!) and the top is 2 1/2" solid beech. The two bench stops can be used in the multiple holes and making it ideal for hand planning. The low stretcher and relatively high top means you can work sitting down with your knees under, great for chopping out dovetails.

The wooden leg vice has a massive 2 1/2" diameter wooden screw (also made by me) which is a pleasure to use. You can see the E Bay listing here.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Woodworking-Bench-by-David-Barron/202231890672?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Sjobergs Bench on E Bay, Excellent Condition

Here is a classic cabinet makers work bench made a few years but in 'as new' condition, you can still see the factory planer marks on the top. This is not the lightweight 3' 6" version but their full sized model . The top (excluding vices) is 1500 mm long x 435 wide (655 at the vice end). In my view this is a much better bench than their current Elite model and offered at a fraction of the price, offers on £450.
The E Bay listing is poor with pictures upside down and very little detail on the description, I gained this info from corresponding with the seller, who seemed very genuine. It's located in SW London.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sjobergs-Broderna-Woodworkers-Bench/173146499602?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.
If you need a bench of this size it's one not to be missed!

Drawer Fitting

I've been able to spend a little more time on the walnut chest and with the drawers glued up it was time to carefully fit each drawer. I made a nice tight drawer support from 1" ply, to ensure the thin sides were fully supported and didn't flex during planning, higher angle planes with a super tight mouth were needed to avoid tear out on the highly figured sides.

When I get close to the required fit I use sandpaper for final tuning, it's amazing how easy it is to go too far!

The drawers are fitted from the rear, this should enter quite easily as the rear is a shade wider than the front, see previous posts for the process.

The fit at this stage makes sure the drawer can come out of the front but still binds a little at the rear. Final fitting will be done with the drawer bottoms in place.

The walnut is looking gorgeous, I can't wait to get some finish on!