It was great to take a week off and go to the cool northwest — Spokane, Washington plus time in Rossland, British Columbia and a fantastic bike ride that was in both Montana and Idaho! The bike ride was on a portion of the Hiawatha trail that is part of the rails to trails program. This is a picture of me at the start of it which features a 2 mile long railroad tunnel. After 12 more miles of trail which included numerous tunnels and trestle bridges we reached the terminous where old school busses took us on a winding, rough road back to the first tunnel. This meant we had two more miles of wet, dark tunnel to go. Great experience with my daughter and two grandsons. She had them hooked to her bike the entire time in an off road carriage! The only negative to the whole trip were the numerous forest fires currently ravaging the entire northwest. The smell and sight of smoke was a constant reminder of the fires that are all over that area. After celebrating the boys birthdays it was time to fly home and get back to work.
A few days before our vacation I received a convo from my Etsy store. There was (sold now!) one of the hand cut dovetailed Pine box and they wanted to know if I had another like it or how long it would take to make another box just like it. She was very understanding about the vacation plans and went ahead to order the additional box even though I couldn’t make her initial time frame. Work began on it the day after our return from the vacation starting with the preparation of the Radiata Pine. That’s the only machine process for the box and I’m always happy to get into the quiet, hand working phase of the projects. The Pine has some very interesting grain pattern and like the link says, a faint, resinous odor — I like it!
Stanley 140 Trick
Those of you that have read my blog before know I employ my “Stanley 140 Trick” whenever dovetails are called for. It’s done on the tablesaw and creates a rabbet on the tail edge of the joint. I find that it leaves a cleaner junction on the inside of the corners.
Once that rabbet is established the tails were laid out and cut using the original box as a guide for their layout.
I left it at that point last night as it was getting late and 101 degrees in the shop. Better to chop out the waste in the relative coolness of the morning; 89 degrees!
Tonight I’m hosting our monthly Sin City Woodworkers meeting. We take field trips to other members shops so that is part of the purpose but also I’ll be discussing the design process I use in my work. That meant the Armoire needed to be 100% complete and ready for its debut. All that remained was installing the back panels and bottom dust panel. They are the only pieces of plywood used in the otherwise traditionally constructed piece. I chose to use small, brass escutcheon pins to hold the pieces for the drawers. Each area has a 1/4″ x 1/4″ rabbet so they are flush with the back. The bottom panels were attached with brass screws and finish washers. All that remains is getting it upstairs — can’t wait for that.
There is some variation in the Mahogany plywood used for the backs which adds interest I can live with since it won’t be seen.
Woodworks by John 