Well, it is another glorious day here in Paradise and the carrying case is coming along quite nicely. Only 3 weeks and my honey and I will be vacationing alone at an all inclusive resort here in C.R. Can't wait for some alone time with my wife. I love being with my kids but there is nothing like spending some quality time with the one you want to spend you entire life with. Hopefully later this fall we will be able to take the whole family.
Well, in the last post the carcass parts were rough cut, smoothed out, re-sawed to 1/2" thickness and cut to size. Today is dovetail day for the carcass and cutting and installing the back panel. I think I might have mentioned in the post when I dovetailed the drawers that I really like how Rob Cosman and Tom Fidgen teach dovtailing, especially with regards to layout. No measuring just dividers and a dovetail marker, which makes it so much less complicated. One thing I always had a problem with was when cutting the tail board I could cut the line straight to the bottom but staying perpendicular to that line was where I would mess up. Watching one of Rob Cosman's videos on youtube helped me out when he suggested to put a board behind the tail board and draw the lines not only on the tail board but on the scrap piece behind it as well. That way the line is longer and helps you stay perpendicular to the angle line you are cutting. It is more wood to cut but really helped me in my attempt. I decided to go with larger pins just because I am still developing my dovetailing ability. I know smaller tight pins look nicer, but I just wasn't ready to attempt it. Overall I think the dovetails turned out nice. Not as many gaps and I did need to pare down the tails and pins to get a nice fit.I am actually liking the exposed joint on this project.
So once that was done it was on to the back panel. As you can see in the photo I decided to go with the grooved panel.
So once I got the dimensions for the back panel I had to flatten it out. As you can see there was a bit a wind in the board. I use 1/2" angle iron for my winding sticks. I learned that from Chris Schwarz a few years ago.
As so the board is now flat.
Then it was on to re-sawing. This was my most challenging piece being the biggest and widest of them all. As you can see in the photo my saw is pushed all the way up on the other end and so I only have about 6" of saw stroke to work with. Short choppy strokes for this one. Oh well, maybe some day I can get a Badaxe one. As you can also see I have my waste side marked out to remind me how to position the board. One thing I had learned from Tom Fidgen when he was demonstrating re-sawing larger planks was to angle your cut on each side so you are in fact cutting less wood than just one continuous cut when cutting level. That actually helped in preventing the blade from veering off and so this plank turned our quite well compared to the carcass planks.
So here I started to make the rabbet for the back panel using my Stanley no. 78. this time it actually worked quite well and I was able to get a nice looking rabbet.
It was a little bit more difficult cutting the stopped dado on the carcass pieces. I tried my Stanley no. 45 but just couldn't get it with that. The 45 did help me mark out the dado though. Instead I just slowly, using only hand pressure cut a knife wall, that is how Paul Sellers would put it, with a wide chisel. Then took my Lie-Nieslen small router plane and slowly carved out the groove. The small router plane has a 1/4" blade in it which was perfect for what I needed.
It worked out pretty well and I really enjoyed my time working on the rabbet and dado. I would have to say the router plane is one of my favorite tools to work with. I am sure there are many other ways to cut a stopped dado, maybe quicker too, but I prefer the router plane for a number of reasons. It is peaceful work. You can sit there listening to some good music and just enjoy yourself. It is slower work which brings a sense of calmness to the shop. Any chance I get when cutting dados I reach for the router plane.
So here is the back panel partially installed. Again I think it turned out quite well based on my ability. So far I have really enjoyed this project and hope to be able to do more like this in the future.
Up next is the drawer runners, bottom panel for the upper section and the front panel. Then all the parts for the case will be completed ready for assembly prep as well as finishing. Hope you enjoyed the post my friends.
Well, take care and as always God bless.
Mark Hynek
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