Hand Cut Dove tails, take 1

Dovetails are a classic joint and are incredibly strong. A lot of times they can be found on drawers but are also used in some boxes. A dovetail joint can also be used as a design element. There are two major types of dovetails: through and half blind. Since dovetails are such a historic type of joint I felt like I need to learn to hand cut dovetails. Dovetails can be cut with a router and there are a lot of dovetail gig and bits available to make them. But for me learning to cut them by hand is where I want to start. I have watched a few videos on how to cut dovetails and read some article also, so I thought it was time to give it a try.

I bought a 1/2" thick poplar board that was 5.5" wide and 4' long. I thought this would be good stock to practice on and if there is any left it can be used to make the treasure chest I mentioned in my last post. I also bought a back saw and a coping saw. Both saws were Kobalt brand from Lowes. I know these may not be the best but just starting out I thought they would work, plus there isn't a woodworking store anywhere within a hour of driving.

First I lay out the tails (which are where the name dovetail comes from since the tails look like a birds tail). I made the layout lines with a knife and then went of the lines with a pencil thinking it would make the knife line easier to see. I think that by making the pencil makes I may have lead myself astray because it was hard to see the knife line and was easier to follow my messy pencil line when sawing.

I don't have a real wood working workbench with a vices so here is how I work on the piece. The work piece is clamped to a crude fence that I made in a attempt to re-saw with my band saw and then the fence is clamped to my work surface. The work surface is a piece of particle board sitting on 2 saw horses.

After I cut the tails I traced the tail locations onto the other piece to make the pins. I didn't have a good way to hold the pieces together while doing this which i think was a major source of error, not to mention my inability to saw where I needed to. The joint did go together with a little persuasion, but doesn't fit together nicely. But I did succeed in making a set of hand cut dovetails.

Overall it was a fun experience and I think I learned a lot doing it. I learned I need to practice sawing straight and along a line. I also learned my chisels need more sharpening and I need a real solid workbench.

Summer Time Ramblings

Coming up with idea of something to build is the easy part, finding the time and the financing is the hard part. Therefore a lot of my ideas don't get much further than an idea in my head or a 3D model in sketch up.

Right now it's the middle of summer so that means there is grass to cut, weeds to hoe, and vegetables to pick. My shop doesn't have air conditioning so it's not idea for wood working, both for my comfort and the stability of the wood. One evening recently I went to work in the shop after the kids went to bed (shop therapy) and at 9:20 pm the temperature in the shop was still 86*.

My 3, almost 4, year old daughter has been asking for a treasure chest to put the items she finds outside in (rocks and things like that). She watches a lot of Jake and the Neverland Pirates on the Disney Channel and I think that is where the treasure chest idea came from. So that will likely be something to build soon and I will probably build a pair of them so little brother will have one when he starts finding things he wants to rat hole. The treasure chest will probably be designed in a way that in the future it can be used as a jewelry box.

Shop built tools, part 2

There will probably be many parts to this series. I actually had a chance to work in the shop 2 days in a row. I cleaned up the hickory blank that will become mallet head some more on the band saw and have the 4 sides mostly smoothed with a hand plane. In the process of cleaning up the hickory blank I noticed that the hickory blank isn't think enough by itself. I am going to sandwich the hickory between some walnut.

The hickory blank is on the left and the walnut on the right is being planed flat.

Shop Built tools

Last night I started making a wooden mallet. I cut a blank from a piece of hickory to shape the head out of, and milled a plank of cherry from a piece of fire wood. I am going to make the handle from the cherry. I can't say these are hand made tools since I used the band saw, but I did get one side of the cherry board smoothed using my hand planes.

Small Project

With limited shop time and limited supplies on hand I am trying to come up with some ideas of things to make. One item I am going to try to make soon is a wooden mallet. I think I should be able to make one from the smaller pieces of wood that I have been able to harvest from the fire wood pile. After I make it then I could use it with my chisels instead of the rubber mallet I have used while playing with the chisels. Also it would be project where I could practice making mortises. I was thinking about using walnut for the head, cherry for the handle, and some maple to pin the head on the handle.

I would also like to make a marking gauge that could be used for layout.

Garden Fencing

I know this supposed to be a wood working blog, and this does kind of belong here. Gardening with a 3.5 year old can be difficult. They don't remember to watch where they are stepping, and have a tendency to step on plants. Last year we put down straw to make paths showing where it was safe to walk which helped some. Also I dug a hole in one corner and our daughter would play in it while we worked in the garden.

This year we decided when laying out the garden to give our daughter an area of her own. To start with this was marked out by some stakes and a purple rope. I mentioned to my wife that I should build a fence to define the child safe area and she liked that idea.

Saturday morning I built the 3 sections of fencing that can be seen above. I think it looks nicer than the rope and everyone seems happy, except I was told by my daughter it needs more sides and a gate. That will probably be next weekends project.

Shop Therapy

For me there is something therapeutic about spending time in the shop, even when I am not working on anything in particular I enjoy just being out there. It helps to melt away stress and calm me.

I mentioned in my last post that I had gotten some new tools. My new chisels needed sharpened and the new block plane needed tuned up and sharpened. This was a good chance to relax in the shop.

I used some 80 grit sand paper on a piece of flat steel to flatten the sole of the plane. Once all the milling marks from the factory were gone I worked my way up in grits. I used 80, 150, 220, and 400 to bring the sole of the plane to a almost mirror like shine. I would have went finner yet still, but 400 grit was the highest grit sandpaper I had on hand.

After I flattening the sole of the plane I cleaned up a few other milling marks on the plane body, then sharpened the blade. I need to get a new sharpening stone and a angle guide, but I did a decent job sharpening the plane iron free hand.

To sharpen chisels you first polish the back of the chisel, then polish the bevel. The chisels like the plane iron would benefit from a angle guide and a new stone, but they still cut nicely in some walnut scraps I had on hand.

This all took place in a couple of therapy sessions. I think I am due for another round of therapy.