This is a WIP of a project I started properly on Christmas Eve. It’s a copy of a small cabinet from Mike Pekovich. A few distractions have led to it being a trial run as I’ve learned a few things along the way!
First I dug out some oak out from my wood store.
I rough cut it down to thickness on the bandsaw and left it for a week before dimensioning accurately by hand on Christmas Eve.
It was giving a reading of 12% on the moisture meter so pretty much good to go.
I was granted some workshop time on Monday so cracked on with the dovetails. These are oversized. Pekovich tends to oversize by 1/16” but I just use two rulers!
The dovetails are spaced to allow for a sliding door on the front. The Moxon vice definitely makes dovetailing easier although I found last night when cutting the half blind dovetails for the drawers that the front edge needs to be chamfered to avoid the saw catching when cutting at a slant.
I know I’ve shown it before but this is the jig I use to align the pieces when marking the pins – simple but absolutely bloody brilliant!
Here is the first dry fit at the point before it all went a bit awry!
Brace yourselves for some stupidity. Yesterday I was granted some more workshop time.
I decided to cut the grooves for the door and back at the router table. I was all set up and ready to go and my daughter pops into the workshop to say goodbye before she heads off home. Once she’s gone I don’t stop to think what I’m doing and forget to stop the groove for the back before exiting the half tail. Easily fixed with a small insert once it’s put together but really annoying.
Phone then goes as I’m on call for work. Half an hour later with disaster averted I return and still thinking about work measure for the groove for the shelf from the end of the tails rather than the shoulder line. Hey ho!
I carried on and did some menial tasks so as not to make matters worse such as chamfering the edges while muttering expletives.
I am part way through a recovery plan but this one is very much going to be a trail run ... more to follow...
Apologies as I forget to take pictures as I am going along. Any constructive feedback on how I could do things better will be appreciated - I think the main thing I need to do is avoid distractions!