First dovetails (and wood identification?)

[dwfait]

http://imgur.com/a/3aEVH

Not perfect, but I'm happy considering I'm pretty new at this. Big flaw in that the holes are too close together for the size of the handles. Oh well.

Could anyone help with identifying the wood? It was kindly donated to me, but I have no idea what it is.

 

[Frank S]

The wood looks like sapele.
f.

 

[rafezetter]

It kind of reminds me of Ramin wood, but darker. The dovetails look fine to me, and better than many I've seen on older furniture. The trend now of super perfect tight dovetails has led to the belief that anything less is inferior and "unfit to be seen" when infact if the wood joint does as it's supposed to, then that's all it needs to do.

 

[hagdahuk]

Good job! Especially if it's your first one!!

Hard to say which wood from a pic. I would suggest it's Meranti anyhow.

Cheers

 

[Graham Orm]

Meranti. Well done,it's all a learning process.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Meranti I thought as well.

 

[custard]

I'm always impressed when a newcomer pushes themselves to try hand cut dovetails. That's shows woodworking "right stuff" so good for you!

=D>

Incidentally, I'm not that far away so if you ever need any timber machining to dimension, or you want some decent sized off-cuts suitable for these sort of small projects, then drop me a PM.

 

[dwfait]

Thanks for the kind words all.

I'm inclined to go with Sapele for the wood - I think it's quite commonly available around here, so would make sense.

custard - thanks very much for the generous offer, I'll bear that in mind

 

[rafezetter]

Meranti. Well done,it's all a learning process.

How did I miss it was meranti... :roll: oh well.

 

[Benchwayze]

Nice work, although it's not a dovetail as such; the sides should have the tail, and be dovetailed into the top. Too much weight for too long and your joint could pull apart eventually.

I'd describe your joint as a section of a sliding dovetail; similar to the half-dovetailed housing joint sometimes used for fixing shelves to cabinet sides. Please don't think I am having a go here! I am not, because it's still nice work for a beginner.

Best of luck.

Cheers

 

[JonnyW]

Really good effort, well done to you.

And well done for having the cojones to upload pics of your work.

Jonny