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College Practical techniques

College course: Day 14

Last (but one) day! Big day today, making up the drawer and then calamity as I messed things up on one of the joints. One day next week to fix things and get this little cabinet shipshape. Here’s the skinny…

On with the drawer for the cabinet. Here, the tutor Kate is showing me her method of turning the coping saw in a small dovetail, and removing the bulk of the waste, before using the chisel for clean-up. It means the chisel doesn't find it hard to eject the waste in such a tight gap.
On with the drawer for the cabinet. Here, the tutor Kate is showing me her method of turning the coping saw in a small dovetail, and removing the bulk of the waste, before using the chisel for clean-up. It means the chisel doesn’t find it hard to eject the waste in such a tight gap.

Most of the waste taken out, just some cleaning and squaring up with the chisel now. This piece is one of the sides of the drawer.
Most of the waste taken out, just some cleaning and squaring up with the chisel now. This piece is one of the sides of the drawer.

The piece I've now added 'tails' to, will be recessed into the side of the front panel of the drawer. This will give us a 'lapped' dovetail, meaning the joint will not be visible from the front, only from the sides when the drawer is pulled out.
The piece I’ve now added ‘tails’ to, will be recessed into the side of the front panel of the drawer. This will give us a ‘lapped’ dovetail, meaning the joint will not be visible from the front, only from the sides when the drawer is pulled out.

[warning]Top tutor tip! Some dovetails are pretty tight to work in, when you’re scribing out fine pins. One of these upholstery pins in the pic work well for getting into tight spaces.[/warning]
I didn't take any pics of the removal of waste, but here's the drawer after I've chiseled out the recesses and tapped the side into place. Fits pretty well, some tiny gaps that will hopefully close up a little with the glue-up.
I didn’t take any pics of the removal of waste, but here’s the drawer after I’ve chiseled out the recesses and tapped the side into place. Fits pretty well, some tiny gaps that will hopefully close up a little with the glue-up.

Here's another angle with the chalk rubbed off the joint. I rubbed chalk into the scribed lines when working on the dark walnut, otherwise the lines are hard to see.
Here’s another angle with the chalk rubbed off the joint. I rubbed chalk into the scribed lines when working on the dark walnut, otherwise the lines are hard to see.

I started working on the 'through' dovetails at the back of the drawer. These joints can go straight through each other, as I don't need to have a cosmetically clean face anywhere.
I started working on the ‘through’ dovetails at the back of the drawer. These joints can go straight through each other, as I don’t need to have a cosmetically clean face anywhere.

Here's the back of the side panel being offered up to the back panel for scribing. Shortly after this everything went haywire and I realised by flipping a piece wrongly in the vice, one of my rear joints was wrong. About an hour wasted. The last class is next week, so I'll need to cut a new back for the drawer and get it glued up, pronto!
Here’s the back of the side panel being offered up to the back panel for scribing. Shortly after this everything went haywire and I realised by flipping a piece wrongly in the vice, one of my rear joints was wrong. About an hour wasted. The last class is next week, so I’ll need to cut a new back for the drawer and get it glued up, pronto!