Late May, Part 2

yarrow

yarrow

bead-board miter

bead-board miter

choppings

choppings

alfalfa stack

alfalfa stack

40 lbs

40 lbs

barn-wood cabinet door

barn-wood cabinet door

gauging

gauging

marking tails

marking tails

coping out the waste

coping out the waste

winter pea blossom

winter pea blossom

butcher's block

butcher’s block

Jonah from behind

Jonah from behind

A Portrait of the Workshop in April

The provision for me in my shop this past week:  cutting dovetails in black walnut for a chest, some goat-milk and lime paint for the butcher block legs, and finishing up the milling of the mighty locust.

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.

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.