I am almost finished with a toy/tool box for my grandson based on Chris Gochnour’s version in FWW. I made this one out of walnut from a tree his father cut down on my neighbor’s property. The plans call for a lid whose frame is joined by drawboring, a good excuse to by some drawbore pins which I did from Dave Jeske at Blue Spruce…so here’s my Question: why do they come in pairs? When I drawbored the mortise and tenon together I stuck one pin thru the offset holes, pulled the joint together and then pounded the dowel through the other hole. That done I then put another dowel thru the second hole. Doesn’t seem that two is required.
Neil
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It makes a project that much more special when there is a story behind the wood used, Neil. Hope you can put up some pictures.
Two drawbore pins allow you to pull joints together for a test fit and ease of releasing for adjustments. When inserting the steel pins, you wiggle and twist them to pull the joint tight. This creates a slight ramped chamfer on the tenon hole. It helps keep the wood pin from hanging up on a sharp edge when driving it in.. You wiggle in both steel pins, remove one, drive the wood pin, then repeat for the other one. Of course, M&Ts come in a lot of sizes. In timber framing, you use spud wrenches. These are used in steel beam connecting work, lining up bolt holes. A large wrench with a round tapered handle. Two drawbores can act like prying clamps, especially when working larger and/or stubborn joints.
drawbore pins
Thanks Hammer,
Makes perfect sense. Of course, I didn't do it that way and the underside of the dowels were abit frayed so the next attempt will hopefully come out better. The joint itself turned out well. I will post some pictures. I made a similiar version a few years ago out of butternut that turned out not too badly, alot of little errors that only another woodworker would spot. I got a little fancier with this one, making the top out of tiger stripe maple with an inlay on the top frame. Still had alot of little errors, just different ones.
Neil
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