Fine Tool Chest construction, nightmare.
Hi Folks,
Just though I would bring you up to date on the “adventure” I am having, on my road to becoming a better woodworker.
As a project I had selected a Fine Tool Chest as seen in Woodsmith mag. Issue 151, and I laid in a supply of Cherry to build the case and Maple for the drawers. You may recall I am not much of a woodworker, though carving and ship modelling are my strengths and am dealing with a brain injury.
The glue up of the stock went well, and I cut the case boards to size, and after adjusting/fixing the table saw cuts with the router, I finally got them square and the dados and rabbets cut. The case is dry assembled and there is just one dado that os out of alignment, the verticle left one that fits between the top and the middle/upper layer of drawers. It is out of alignment by about 1/16″from the matching one above it, the piece fits in, but slightly out of true. Don’t jnow how to fix that?
Then I began making the top row of drawers. Folks, I have a whole new respect for those who can do this joinery stuff! I am attempting to use box locking joints, and running into trouble. First one I tried, used the table saw, and because the saw zero tollerance insert doesn’t fit flush with the table, I can’t get the cuts accurate or at the right angle reliably. Looks easy on paper, “Set it like this, cut, flip it over and cut like this!” Next I looked at using the router, but because the material to be left between the slot and the side of the board is so small, the router would rip it off, so decieded against that. Tried the old table top band saw (new one isn’t up and running yet) and cleaned out by hand. Better…..but having trouble getting the clean out done, going to have to make some sort of sanding jig to clean them up square, glue coarse paper onto a strip of 1/4″ hardwood.
Damm but this is a challenge…..measurements seem to grow on their own, cuts just don’t want to be square or straight. Man, I’ll be glad when this is finished, it will be not “family heirloom”, more like the “family laughing stock”, but it will get made! I knew I should have stuck to carving !
Bob
Replies
>> It is out of alignment by about 1/16" ... Don't know how to fix that?
Well, the right way to fix it is to start over on one or the other of the two horizontal pieces and get the dado in the right place. :(
If that thought is too discouraging, remake the vertical piece 1/16" thicker and offset the top tenon to one side and the bottom tenon to the other side. You might be able to rabbet the vertical piece on one side and make the adjoining drawer front a little longer to disguise the fact that the vertical piece is thicker than the others.
Bob,
While I don't think I have quite the challenges your facing, I am in a similar "boat". I make gunstocks and am great at curved surfaces but all that straight/square stuff can be a pain and gives me fits.
Take your time, go slow, and don't forget, this is your first one! I got a couple of questions.
Are you making test cuts on scrap first? If not, you really should be!
Why is your zero clearance insert higher than the table? You need to either adjust it, fix it, make a new one, hammer the old one into pieces. Even the crappiest table saw should give decent square cuts. I have a old craftsman with a crappy fence. I have to use an inside caliper to set the front, tap in the back and then repeat until everything is right but then it works like a champ.
Are you giving yourself a break? Who gets the first of anything perfect? It works in the movies but not so much in real life. I often make a "workshop" version of something first to work out the bugs then I do a finish one that doesn't have so many mistakes in it.
Anyway, keep up the good work!
Michael
Do you have a jointer and thickness planer? If you aren't starting out with perfectly square straight boards, making a complicated piece like a tool box with drawers is almost impossible.
John W.
Chippendale didn't use a jointer and a thickness planer. I guess his stuff is OK. Still worth a few bucks.
This may sound obvious, but always mill more stock then you need to the same thickness. That way if a tenon is wrong, you can walk to the pile and pull out a new board to make a new piece. If you just mill wod as you use it, it adds another step to fixing things.
Frank
Bob,
John didn't say you needed a jointer and a thickness planer, he only asked if they were used. Even Chippendale prepped his stock and made sure it was true...which is the only comment John made.
Play nice...
He implied (in all caps) that you really need a jointer and thickness planer to get true stock to work with. Not the case at all. No point in discouraging somebody who's new to the craft. It takes more elbow grease and probably a little more patience, but I've seen and built many a piece with some pretty irregular stuff. Perfect stock is helpful but by no means necessary. Just hide the lumpy parts on the inside. A lot of early pieces are still roughsawn or hewn on the inside. Where its visible, they're carefully made. Where you can't see, they didn't spend the time.
A decorative spline hides a multitude of sins.
Bob,
I presumed from the information in the original message that the poster wasn't working primarily with hand tools, he talked about being new to woodworking and using a router and a tablesaw. He is obviously having trouble and I asked a question about what other power tools he had, I did not make a judgement about the merits of hand tools versus power tools, I don't care one way or the other in that debate.
I am a professional woodworker and worked five years in a shop that was hand tools only, so I have no prejudice against prepping stock by hand, in fact I love it. Working with hand tools, one can, as the piece comes together, correct for small errors in less than perfect stock.
Working with power tools, the better approach is to use the accuracy built into them by keeping everything straight and square right from the start. Using a tablesaw and router on warped stock is a set up for endless trouble.
John W.
Thanks for the tips folks, I appreciate the advice, and encouragement.
I'm working with a cheap benchtop tablesaw, an old but servicable router, and lots of wood! No planer or joiner, sorry, but I did have all the stock planed and joined before I started by a cabinetshop who knows their stuff. Maybe I should have had them make the chest too, but I'd never learn that way. None of my wood scraps go to waste, I'm a ship modeller and no scrap is too small, I "carve blocks "1/8" long, a gun carriage made up of 13 pieces is only 3/4" long.
I'll give the router set up a try, if worse comes to worse, I have a buddy who offered his cabinet saw to help cut the joints.
Bob
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