Latest Project, Part One

I've designed a small single drawer chest for a three day course next year. I'm going through the making process to make sure the project is challenging, whilst still being able to be completed within three days. Above are the two book matched olive ash boards which have been band sawn and allowed to settle.

Shooting the edges, note the marks 'up' and 'down' referring to the way each board is planed to ensure a nice flat result.

With accurate planing, the only clamps needed are stretched masking tape. This is much better than using ordinary clamps which could easily warp the thin board.

With the parts for the carcass planed and cut square it was time to introduce a minute taper to the carcass by planing the ends of the top and rail with fine stop shavings. The taper will be helpful in achieving a piston fit drawer which is the goal of this project.

Verifying the taper shows that the front of the cabinet will be 0.15 mm narrower than the rear.

Using a template for marking out the 17 dovetails on the top corners. There are no end pins and an extra wide gap on one end was left for shaping the curved front which will be done later.

Here's my dovetailing kit, you'll notice the Optivisor loupe (with a no3 lens) which is invaluable for working on a small scale.

Here's the carcass glued up showing the through wedged tenons for the rail. These were quite time consuming and I think these may need to be omitted for the course.

The curve for the front was marked out and rough cut on the band saw before being refined on a disc sander. The table was set dead square to ensure an even finish and a light touch was needed, disc sanders can remove material fast!
The drawer parts were then all shot into their respective openings before cutting the half blind dovetails. The extra thick lap will be cut down to a nice thin one when the drawer is curved to match the carcass.