I guess that a metal plane might be a little easier for this job since there is not much weight in a wooden smoother. But you can't have light weight for travelling and heavy weight for shooting.
After the shooting, I sharpened the blade of the grooving plane. I only have one blade for it which is 5/32. For the thickness of my stock, a groove of 1/4" would probably have been a little more appropriate, but Instead of making two parallel grooves adding up to the desired width, I decided that 5/32" isn't going to hurt anybody. I could probably make a new blade for the plane some time, but I don't feel for it right now.
I ran some tests on the grooving plane as well, and adjusted it to the grooves I have decided on for attaching the skirt of the chest.
Today I planed / plowed the grooves on the boards. I have made the grooves a tiny bit further in on the board than the actual width of the groove. That way, I can always adjust the fit by planing a little of both pieces. I tested the interlocking grooves, and they were a bit tight, so maybe I will need to resort to planing them once I am attaching the skirt.
When I cut dovetails, I normally like the tails first approach, but on a ship without decent work holding, it is easier to do it pins first. The pieces are so small, that that it is not difficult to balance them on an end for marking the tails. So that is how I do it out here.
I made one set of dovetails, and they were OK.
I haven't found a miter gauge, so instead I used a small stiff piece of cardboard as a dovetail marker. I cut of one side in a ratio 1:6 which is pretty standard for soft wood.
Tomorrow I plan on continuing with the dovetails.
The shooting board lid of the tool chest.
Hi Jonas,
ReplyDeleteIt looks to me like although your shooting setup works, it might not be ideal. Is there a way you could put a hook on the underside of your shooting board/chest so you can stand behind the plane and push it away from you? It might make things easier as far as getting your lower body muscles involved.
That was a pretty good idea. I suppose that I could glue or screw a strip to the underside of the chest. Then I won't have to use half my power holding the shooting board in position, and the other half trying to hold the board steady and the remaining part (= none) on handling the plane :-)
ReplyDeleteI just checked the setup, and it is a little out of square, so I'll have to correct it with my rabbet plane once I get back home. It isn't much, but still out of square is out of square.
Thanks for the advice
Brgds
Jonas