Sunday, July 5, 2015

Treasure chest with curved lid part 3 dovetails and glueing up the bottom.

Today I chopped the dovetails of the four corners of the chest. A benefit of using spruce is that you can make the dovetails really tight since the wood compresses very well.
This time I made the tails first like at home, and I do find that I am able to make nicer dovetails that way compared to when I make them pins first.

Last year during the chairbuilding extravagnza, Brian Eve brought some liquid hide glue for us to use.
It stayed at my place, and I found out that it actually passed its "best before date" a little while ago.
For some reason, I have never tried using liquid hide glue for dovetails. Out here I am always stressed during glue ups because my normal white glue will dry very quickly because of the temperatures in the workshop especially during the summer months.

While at home, I decided to bring the liquid hide glue with me on board this time, so I could use it before it gets way too old.

My plan is to try using the liquid hide glue as the only glue on this project. I don't know why I feel all excited and insecure about that, since it is a pretty time tested glue type. The only thing is that it could be too old, but I kind of doubt that the "best before date" means that the glue will not stick to anything as soon as you pass it.

I found some more spruce that could be glued up to form a bottom.
First I jointed the mating sides, and then I discovered that there was a crack in the wide board.
I opened the crack by bending the board a bit, and squeezed some glue into it. I then applied hide glue to both surfaces and pressed the joint together with a couple of clamps.

Adding glue to both sides of a joint is a habit of mine from working with white glue. I have no idea if it is required or even encouraged when using hide glue, but I figured that it wouldn't hurt.

The joint went together as it should the first time, so I didn't have any reason to use the slow setting time to shift the joint around anyway.

After some time the glue had already dried, but I have still left the clamps on, because I won't be working on the bottom until tomorrow anyway.

Dry testing the dovetails.




8 comments:

  1. I have used old liquid hide glue before without problems.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to hear that.
      I just seem to remember reading that it can get too old. But I rarely bother with those best before dates, except on fresh milk.
      Cheers
      Jonas

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  2. Agreed, my bottle of Titebond liquid hide glue has expired this past fall, still working the same as always...
    Bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bob.

      Then I should be on the safe side.
      I think mine expired in April.
      It still smells the same, so I guess it is still OK.

      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete
  3. It looks great! Were you still using the hacksaw, or was there a Japanese style saw that you had (if I am remembering correctly)?
    Bill

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    Replies
    1. Hi Bill

      I used a hacksaw.
      You remember correctly that I am bringing a small Japanese saw, but that one is cross cut.
      I actually tried to see if it would work, but the hack saw was better for the job.
      I did use the Japanese saw for trimming of the ends to make room for the half pins.
      brgds
      Jonas

      Delete
  4. One can get a 200 year old piece of furniture in which the veneer is lifting, heat up the veneer, and it will re-set the glue, I guess they did not have "use by" dates in the 18th century so the glue does not know it is not supposed to work

    Another interesting comment; I find I make nicer dovetails if I make the pins first. Everybody has the method which works best for them.

    I like your project.

    Johann

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    Replies
    1. Hello Johann.

      Thanks for the nice comment.

      I like the idea that the glue doesn't know that it is not supposed to work. My concern was that since the original hide glue was used as a heated glue, it didn't have any additives in it. And I frankly didn't know if the salt or urea or whatever they add to the glue could cause it to go bad. But I guess the manufacturer would like to be able to sell a new batch to people, so maybe that is why they put on an expiry date.

      I have found that pins first will almost always work no matter how strange a joint I am trying to execute. For the slanted ends on the curved lid, I tried to do the tails first, but it didn't work - so I had to do it the other way.

      A thing I like about the tails first approach is the possibility to make a small rabbet on the inside. That gives me a nice tight appearance on the inside of the joint,

      Brgds
      Jonas

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