Monday, October 3, 2016

North Sea school box 5, houndstooth dovetails.

Since I am signing off the day after tomorrow, I settled on the fact that I won't be able to complete the school box build on board.
It is in no way a deal breaker, because I am still ahead of Brian Eve who is currently busy fixing a Roorkee, and by the way has to struggle with even more inadequate workholding than I have.

I suppose that I could have pushed on and completed the box according to the original plans, but given that I had already changed the till, I was already stranded with a non original school box.
The plans calls for a mitered skirt that is nailed on to the front and the sides. This is a noble approach and would surely look fine if a) I was able to produce a 45 degree miter, b) the dovetails all way around looked OK.
I suck at making miters. And one of the dovetails on the rear misses half the pin because of a knot and therefore looks a lot less than perfect.
On the other hand I think I am OK at making dovetails, and I manged to find enough wood to wrap around the entire box as a skirt.
So that's what I did.

While I attended the ATC class in 2011 at Dictum (which by the ways is the best class I have ever taken) I tried to make a set of houndstooth dovetails. They are actually not that much more complicated than normal dovetails, they just look that way.
The skirt for this school box had just the right size for that type to look OK.

I did the tails first approach on these because that would enable me to transfer the layout to the pins easily. The individual pieces were also resting against the sides of the box and on top of the workbench, so there were no issues with trying to balance some long thin sticks as would have been the case if I went the pins first route.
I worked from the baseline which was established directly form the box, and my very casual layout meant that all the dovetails ended up being around 1/4" proud - both the pins and the tails..

Once all the dovetails were cut I glued up the skirt and glued it to the chest at the same time.
Whenever I add a chest I usually go for strength before looks, so I orient my dovetails the other way as the dovetails on the box itself.

I let the glue dry all night, and today I sawed off the protruding parts of the dovetails.
The workshop has already been vacuum cleaned before the change of crews, so I didn't want to make a mess in there by planing the sides of the skirt.

All there is left is to wrap up the box and the lid which I have made, and get it into the bag and try to complete it at home.


The slightly dirty half completed North Sea school box.

The oversize lid.

Houndstooth dovetails.


14 comments:

  1. Ha! I might have a chance to catch up!

    Nice work with the hound's tooth. Safe travels!

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  2. Looks great. Your attitude to make the most of what you have available is inspiring and reminds me to stop posturing, do the same and crack on with it.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Peter
      Thanks for the nice comment.
      Once in a while the thing is to just get started and keep on going,accepting that everything might not be perfect from the start.
      Brgds
      Jonas

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  3. Great job and idea. I suck at miters also

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    Replies
    1. Thanks.
      I suppose that since I suck at the miters I ought to practise those a bit more.. But I also happen to like making dovetails, so I think I'll continue doing that.
      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete
  4. Nice! Now you are just getting fancy. ;)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Greg.

      Thanks.
      (And yes, this might be overstepping the line just a bit) :-)
      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete
  5. Who needs miters with dovetails like that?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jefski

      Thanks for the nice comment.
      Once these dovetails are planed they ought to look a bit better.
      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete
  6. Who needs miters with dovetails like that?

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  7. Looks nice. I'd be surprised if very many people could make good miters with what you have available. Takes a donkey's ear or a miter box, at least for me.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Andy
      Thanks for the nice comment.
      I suppose I should practise making OK miters, but it just takes a long time for me with some trimming etc. And if I have to use a long time I prefer dovetails.
      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete
  8. Looks nice. I'd be surprised if very many people could make good miters with what you have available. Takes a donkey's ear or a miter box, at least for me.

    ReplyDelete