When I was kid growing up in Westerly Rhode Island one of the treats I still fondly remember was getting fish 'n chips on a friday night. Back in the middle 1960's it was 99 cents per order. In 2023 that cost is about $10 with inflation. I had fish 'n chips today (at Gregg's) and although I liked it, it was nothing like my memory of childhood fish 'n chips. The fish portions were larger (or am I remembering that with child like eyes?) and the chips had a taste that no one replicates today. That is because chips back then were fried in a beef tallow and oil mixture whereas today it is all vegetable shortening/oil of some kind. On my to do list is to obtain some beef tallow and fry up a memory of childhood chips hopefully before my next birthday.
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chopping the pin waste
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This is the support I came up with to chop the pin waste from the
outside face to the inside. The board is a snug fit between the sides
and no problems or hiccups chopping the waste. I did the inside with the
outside face lying on the workbench. This worked out beyond what I
expected it to. I got a good, clean baseline on both outside faces. I
wasn't that anal about the inside because they won't be seen.
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MIA |
By the time I sawed this half pin there wasn't anything left. I sawed it off and I will epoxy in a half pin after the tails/pins have cooked.
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only two gaps
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The left gap I knew was going to be there and it isn't as bad as its sibling on the other side. The gap to the right is a strong 16th and I'll be shimming that one. I had two knife lines and I thought I was sawing on the waste side of the one I picked. I was expecting to have to saw some more when it came time to fit the tails/pins.
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needs some help
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I super glued small wooden pieces to the tails so the caul would bear down on them and close the tails/pins up tight.
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glued and cooking
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I wanted to use white glue on this but I used hide glue instead. This glue up went off easy but applying the glue to all the pins and tails ate up a lot of time. The white glue would have set up too quick.
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UGH, double drats, and )_W&)%#@Q)_)*#_^+)
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All of the drawer fronts that I had sawn out first are all short on the length. One drawer out of 15 was a loose snug fit. The remaining 14 were all a 16th to an 8th short. I'll be using all the drawer fronts for the sides of the single drawers. FYI boys and girls don't sawn ahead like I did thinking leaving a 1/4" strong would suffice. It wasn't enough for me and I shoulda, coulda, woulda, but didn't add 2".
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from drawers to sides
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Wish I could get the backs too but the sides are a good start.
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back to the toe kick
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This angle doesn't look shallow enough but it will do for this test run. I used the shooting angle indicator to tell what this angle is.
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short vertical leg
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I did a lot serious butt scratching here. Two angles for a 90° corner should add up to 90 but these two don't.
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it is square
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53 and 43 equals 96 but the square says it is 90°.
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adds up to 90
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The compass said one angle was 52.5 and this one is 38 which is .5 more than 90.
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checked with Mr Starrett
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The combo square will read dead square if I push the two legs into the corner. Gently placed it shows the outside corner is off 90 by a frog hair.
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don't like this look
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For whatever reason this doesn't look quite right to my eye. It looks top heavy and out of place. I also don't like that the angle looks a lot like two 45's even though they aren't.
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comparison |
I think the top right is the way to go with this. Having the thicker leg vertical looks more like it is stout and holding things up. The width of the vertical leg is dependent upon the angle that is on the horizontal leg.
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going to the source
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Instead of relying on my sieve like memory I got the CH Becksvoort pic of his 15 drawer chest. The horizontal leg is thinner than the vertical ones but I found that is because of the angle on the horizontal one. The horizontal angle is greater than 45 and the vertical one is less than 45.
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switched to plywood
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I didn't have any scrap wide pine to play around with to mock this up so I switched to plywood. I also changed my angles to 60° for the horizontal leg and 30° for the vertical legs. This looks to be closer to the pic of CH B's chest.
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didn't work
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I was hoping to use one of the curves from these templates but I couldn't get any of them to fit. I want the curve to start a 1/4" above the bottom edge and extend into the vertical leg 5/8". The horizontal leg is 1 3/4" wide and the vertical one is 3" wide.
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final fitting
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I shot the two angles on the plywood and I am happy with how they look. I got the curve figured out using the smallest french curve I have. It is a 1/4" on the horizontal one and 7/8" in from the inside edge on the vertical one. I shot the 60/30 angles on these two pieces of pine to ensure that they were 90° and they were. They were also square to the face which is something that I have problems getting off this shooting board.
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sears corner clamps
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I have had these clamps for 40+ years and they haven't failed in that time. They have a wee bit more than a 3" capacity for either leg and if they are 90, it comes out of the clamps at 90. The plywood is gap free and even the toes are tight.
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the toe kick
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I sawed out a 3" piece for the toe kick from the boards I set aside to get the drawer sides and backs from. Some of the vertical legs will be removed when the curve is sawn out but it will still be wider than the horizontal leg.
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biscuit reinforcement
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This gizmo shows the arc of the cutter for the 3 biscuit sizes. I don't care if it pokes out on the top because it won't be seen. It would be seen if it is over cut at the heel. This is for a #20 biscuit and it fills up a lot of the angle. However, I don't have any more #20s so I will have to make a road trip to Lowes which I really don't want to do.
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hmm..... |
The inner pencil line is for a #10 biscuit and it appears to be not much smaller than the #20. What this doesn't show is the space that the biscuit takes up within the saw arc. It is close to a 1/4' less at both ends of the arc so the #10 biscuit won't impart the same level of reinforcement as a #20 will. As much as I don't won't to I'll be going to Lowes tomorrow because I want to get this glued and cooking ASAP.
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dry fit
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I had to play with squaring the miter edges to the faces and I might have made the
top one short in its length. I'll find out tomorrow after I get the
clamps off the top of it.
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double drawer guide
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Keeping it simple. The middle stile has more than enough room to expand/contract in/out and the drawer guide/separator is just glued to the middle stile. I am depending up the drawer to keep the middle stile in the half lap. I don't think nailing or screwing it will be necessary.
accidental woodworker