dovetails
A Portrait of the Workshop in April
White Oak Relief Press
Druckpresse, Quercus Alba
Bread Labor
Finished Hope Chest
Here is the finished hope chest. The primary case, and lid frame are cherry, the drawer case and lid panels are black walnut, the trim is hard maple, the secondary wood for the drawers, till, and interior structural is white oak, the floor of the chest is eastern red cedar, and the drawer pulls are ebonized black walnut. The finish is 4 coats of danish oil.
Ebonized black walnut pulls.
The white oak till.
Hammered copper brackets for the lid support.
Hope Chest’s Frame and Panel Lid
Below are a few pictures of the frame and panel lid for the cherry and walnut hope chest.
A section of the cherry frame with a piece of walnut as a test panel.
The lid, dry fit with the panels installed.
A detail showing the hard maple ogee molding – all dry fit and held with gravity and friction at this stage.
White Oak Painting Cabinet
A dovetailed painting cabinet in quarter-sawn white oak. The tree grew along the Van Horn Branch just south of Boaz, Kansas, until it’s bank gave way. The panels will be gessoed and receive an oil painting. The cabinet is only dry fitted. It will not be glued up until the panels are fully prepared. In order to eliminate the center stiles of the frame and panel doors, the inside inch and 1/2 is a full tenon into the rail, while the rest of the panel will float in the customary grooves.
Hope Chest
Pictured below is the beginings of a hope chest in cherry and walnut, primarily. The pictures depict the joinery of the upper case of the chest, which is cherry, and will lit atop a narrower walnut case with a row of drawers.
Here the dovetails have been cut and the piece is clamped together in order to mark precisely the corresponding pins.
cutting the pins with a dovetail saw…
cutting out the majority of the waste with a coping saw…
chopping out the rest of the waste with a paring chisel…
the board with pins cut out on both ends…
the case dry fitted.