started the drawer......

The Christmas tradition at our house is opening presents first. As the girls have gotten older, the time that happens has gotten later and later. Amanda who is the youngest hands out the presents and we take turns opening them. This way we get to see what everyone else got from Santa.

After the presents comes the big breakfast. One thing the girls always request is home fried potatoes and my wife wants her burnt bacon. I've been introducing something new with breakfast for the past couple of years and this year was french toast. Except this was a kicked up french toast.

To the regular egg batter mixture I added some fresh squeezed orange juice and a shot of Grande Mariner (orange liqueur). It was a hit  for this year and I've got 12 months to come up with xmas 2016's  new breakfast item. Or I just might do this one again as I liked it a lot.

I wish sometimes I could sleep in on just one morning but it doesn't happen. I still get up at oh dark thirty every single day. Christmas day 2015 wasn't any different and since I was alone until almost 0900, I got some shop time in. This is where doing hand tool only work paid off. But I will say that even hand tool work can be noisy. I had to stick to sawing and planing mostly while the rest of the family was sleeping.

nice piece of quarter sawn pine for the drawer front

I did this on xmas eve night. The drawer will have half blind dovetails at the front and through dovetails at the rear.

sides and back

The drawer front will be 3/4" thick and the sides/back I thinned down to about a 1/2".

quick squaring of the ends

why I squared the ends

I didn't make a perfectly square end. I did it just enough so I could mark and see the scribe line on the end grain.

made a huge pile of shavings

I did the sides first and saved the back for last. Unfortunately for me, I thinned down the front rather than the back. I might have been able to carry on but the back and front are different widths.

when I noticed my mind fart

I only picked up on this when I snapped this picture. The full thickness board wasn't wider then the back. I didn't want to use the wrong thinned board for the back. It is a nice piece of quarter sawn pine that would be a shame to use as the back of a drawer.

new front 

I can use the wrong thinned down board for something else. On a good note - I did a good job on getting the thickness even on the board.

end grain mark  (new back board)

I got my bevels on the outside edges and the end grain mark to guide me. I tried something that Richard McGuire did on this last workbench video. He said to plane in the middle first and that would help with not planing a hump in the board. I didn't see anything different doing it this way. I can understand his explanation for it and I'll try it again.

I'm used to this

I think why I didn't see any difference was because I have been planing and checking the bevels and where I was in relation to my scribe lines. Richard doesn't do a scribe line on the end grain so maybe that is where this would really be an aid.

now I got it right

I got all my drawer parts sawn to rough length, width, and thickness. I let this sticker overnight so they could do any stupid wood tricks.

working on the carcass

I got the two outsides planed and scraped so they look good. I was breaking the edges with sandpaper and I caught something and lifted a sliver up. I super glued it and held it in place with blue tape. Xmas morning I took the tape off and scraped it. I used 120 grit sandpaper and removed the superglue overflow and broke the edge. This was another good tip from Paul Sellers.

done

I got 6 coats of shellac on the painted surfaces and 8 on the bare wood. I like this two tone look of the bare wood and paint. The next one I make I will do differently. On this one I didn't get a clean edge between the shelves and the ends. The next one I'll paint the ends first and then glue the shelves in place. I'll be making at least one more of these. I'll put it on the top of the bookcase I'm making for me.

drawer front right side

I've got a slight gap at the top. Since I am going to plane a 32nd on both sides, this gap will disappear.

drawer front left side

This side is square top to bottom . This is the way the carcass squared up for me too. I was dead square on the left and slightly out on the right top.

don't know what made these

Part of the normal dings and bangs during the building of the project. I would like to know the how on this one.

took a while

I finally got all the drawer parts flushed on the ends, to the same required lengths. and the problematic part for me, the same parallel width.

got a gap now

When I first thought I was done with this, it was too tight to fit. Getting the sides to width gave me fits. I had them flush and even in the width one way but when I flipped them 180, they were off. This is a woodworking class that I would like Paul Sellers to do. He talks about his parts being flush, even, etc, but he doesn't show how he did it. I'm sure it's a simple technique that I am missing or not doing correctly. I got it eventually but I lost 3/32 in finally getting it.

sawing the dovetail pockets

Sawing these with the board vertical I don't like doing. Richard McGuire did his with the board flat on the workbench. I liked that idea but not the bending/stooping part to saw it. This is my way of doing it and I didn't have to bend (too much) or stoop.

I don't over saw

I don't like over cutting into the drawer interior when sawing the dovetail pockets. This is another similar pins or tails first argument. I'm in the tails first and not over cutting camp.

I used a card scraper that is the same thickness as the kerf of my dovetail saw. I set it in the partial saw cut and the tap the scraper to complete the cut.

my last half blind dovetails

This is one of 3 boxes I made with half blind dovetails on this day. I can't find the other two and I know I have them. I keep them so I can compare this to what I did now.

not too bad for a first attempt and looking at them 3 years later

new way

Three years ago I chopped my half blind dovetails with the piece vertical in my vise. Richard McGuire chopped his with the board flat on the workbench. I liked doing it this way over the vertical approach. I've got most of the waste chopped out here.

lost a piece of the corner

vertical to do the final chopping to the scribe line and trimming

last ones done and ready for the moment of truth

right side

A little gappy at the top but overall not to bad for so long between doing this. The overhang at the bottom is the drawer stop. That will butt up against the front drawer rail.

left side

 This side is too gappy at the bottom. I trimmed the sockets a bit more and got rid of more bits and pieces in the corners. I will try another fitting tomorrow. I don't want to keep putting this together and taking it apart. Doing that will just make joint looser than it is.

the fit is acceptable

It's a baggy fit which I am ok with. I like and admire a piston fit but I like a smooth in/out action more.

the right inside

There is something hanging up the seating of the middle and top dovetail.

it's proud on the outside too

I cleaned out the middle and top sockets and tomorrow I'll try the fit and post the after pictures. I still have to to dovetail the back. I am going to use drawer slips on this too. I like using them more than making a groove in the sides for the drawer bottom.

I could have done the back but it would have been a rush job. My oldest was on her way over so I shut the lights out and got ready to open the presents.

accidental woodworker

trivia corner
What was used to erase lead pencil marks before rubber was used?
answer - pieces of bread

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