Tool Chest WIP

[B3nder]

Interesting about the waterproof dovetails, at the moment I'll focus on standard ones.

So I have ripped some random wood and planed to size is (not too critical as is a tool tray within the chest).
Repeated the same process for the sides of the trays but using some walnut:

50% there

 

[B3nder]

Then marked the walnut up, with masking tape. Took the bits off to saw and then answered a phone call. . .

. . . then carried on with sawing and chopping.

Resulting in sawing on the wrong side of the line for half the cuts, managed to notice by not the tightest joint:

A bit blury but you can hopefully see the joint.

This is intended to be the rear of the tray so not too worried. It's much trickier working on smaller and thinner dovetails, but this one fitted straight off the saw!

I'll do the rest of the tray tomorrow.

 

[NickM]

That's looking good.

I cut on the wrong side of the line making some dovetails the other day (like you, I'm knew to this). It was just a practice piece so I just cut the pins off and had another go. I'm now trying to get in the habit of marking the waste and then always cutting on the waste side of the line.

 

[B3nder]

Yep, next time I will mark the waste.

Also sharpened the marking gauge made a big difference. :mrgreen:

 

[That would work]

For a decent marking gauge yes you can sharpen a marking gauge spur as suggested but you should consider making yourself a proper one.... I have one that I made mine using an old jigsaw blade and putting it into an existing marking gauge. Much better.

 

[B3nder]

There was a thread that I can't find which used 3 pieces of wood and a wedge lock setup.For a neat gauge.

Verh neat, but I can't finx that thread. I was thinking of using an old jigsaw blade.

Need to finish the tool chest first though!

 

[Nigel Burden]

Richard Maguire has a video on his website obout making a marking gauge.

https://www.theenglishwoodworker.com/a-good-gauge/

Nigel.

 

[Nigel Burden]

That link isn't the video, but I'm sure he has one on his website.

Nigel.

 

[B3nder]

Thanks but I don't think there is a video. :-(

 

[TheTiddles]

Being aware that most of the boats I’ve worked on a carbon fibre, I still can’t see any use in a tortuous path on a joint to keep water out. In general if you might have it getting in, you give it plenty of opportunity to come out again or it sits and rots (this is actually a very sound engineering approach if you need it). Putting a small rebate on a board end with the dovetails gives you a shoulder to locate with and makes production faster, that one is a well know trick
Aidan

 

[B3nder]

I was getting a little bit annoyed with the lack of space in the shed, due to the current chest build.

So I wanted to get a tray sorted, and made one tray to sit on runners in the chest.
Below are the pics the first two pics show the first two joints and the last two show the final 2 joints.

Quite pleased with the improvement from start of the tray to the finish. Still issues, some tear out and the lighter wood being a different thickness at one end.

 

[B3nder]

Quite pleased with the progress so far, not as bad as I thought it would be. Plus it looks rather good in the chest which is what I wanted:

not bad for some off cuts of walnut and random unknown wood. I just need to replicate 3 more drawers and have a think about the runners and tray width so that they only fit in a certain order.

 

[B3nder]

More shoddy dovetails, to make everyone smile.

Another tray finished:

Other side:

Definite improvement from the first tray.

A pic of the trays together:

Solid little trays which will hold some bits.

 

[B3nder]

Also glued the chest up over the weekend, and managed to sort one side this evening, one of the photos is a bit naff:

Next one is better (in focus but a little dark):

So just need to repeat for the other 3 corners and then tidy up the outside a bit.

A good strong chest, which thus far I've enjoyed making, more importantly learnt a lot and already seeing improvements.

 

[B3nder]

It's been a while, so time for an update.

Another tray has been completed:

Swapped the woods around this time. Getting better, was a little over eager and there was some tear out.

Now I've also fitted everything into the chest:

Including the drawers from a relatives house clearance.

Next step is to make the lid. For which I've just been given another piece of wood. . .

 

[Tom.D]

Great work and good progress. I think a lot of people are too hard on themselves when it comes to woodwork. I'm happy if anything I make ends up looking remotely like what it did in my head before I started !!!

Nice contrast on the dovetails.

 

[Trigs]

good job, I found it difficult in the past to get crisp dovetails when using cheap materials to practice with, but found a big improvement when I used some ash and to be honest my cutting technique wasn't any different but I did spend a lot more time setting out and switched to a Japanese saw which had a finer kerf than the saw I had been using. Keep at it, looking forward ti the finished piece.