Saturday, December 16, 2006

Xmas is coming.....


Managed to spend a little more quality time in the shop. Had to steal it, though! Xmas is a stressful time and the Wife is not the calmest of people ;) The thought of me in the workshop "playing" is disturbing to the Missus when there are pressies to be wrapped (and a million other things) . Luckily I have a mission-the "gift" project!
So I have been busy dovetailing a small box. And what fun it has been. Pretty much straightforward-a shock, I can tell you. It has been a while since I cut some dovetail but they came out well. Accurate layout and preperation is the key (and a little bit of luck). I also used a block of wood as a guide when chopping the baselines, a new one for me. I have seen this in Krenov's books and thought it a bit silly. But no, it certainly prevents the chisel pushing back through the line.
Another mate popped by for me to make some picture frames. Me and my big mouth ;) But two frames later, a happy mate! Somewhere in between I managed to stain the panels for the bathroom cabinet doors (remember that?) and a bit of sharpening. A nice pile of sharp planes and chisels. Definitely worth 15 minutes of your time.
Merry Christmas,
Philly

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice looking box, Phil:)

Cheers,

Paul Chapman

Alf said...

"I also used a block of wood as a guide when chopping the baselines, a new one for me."
Sounds familiar - didn't know Krenov beat me to it!

Elegant box, Phil. Maple? Sycamore?

Philly said...

Thanks Paul, Al :)
Box was made from Cedar, and very nice it smells too! Krenov, in the Fine Art Of Cabinetmaking, describes his learning curve with dovetails and the ways he improved them. A guide clamped to the workpiece on the knifed line prevents one dovetail boo-boo. I like that ;)
Merry Christmas,
Phil

rookster said...

Beautiful job dovetailing. I especially like the layout of the tails, with the ultra fine center pin. Wow! You must have a much thinner chisel than any of mine.

Philly said...

Thanks Rookster! I was in a hurry so the layout of the joint was done a bit quick-it looks good though. At least, not run of the mill ;)
The smallest chisel I have is 1/8th of an inch-just about made it between the tails!
Cheers
Philly