Bedside cabinet made in ash. Sorry 
, I did not take any pictures of the work in progress. As usual I only thought of it afterwards. I promiser to take some of my next project.
The cabinet is fairly simple in construction, 2 sides, 2 shelves and a top all glued up from smaller boards. First mistake, I did not prepare enough ash so the shelf under the drawer is tulipwood. This does not really matter as it will not be seen, but still annoying.
The sides are joined to the shelves with sliding dovetails. This is the first time I have made this joint, lots of fiddling to get it to fit but once fitted it is very strong. Cut the housing in the sides with a router and a straight edge clamp. I cut the ends of the shelves using a simple jig. Nothing more than a piece of scrap screwed to the top edge of a piece of 18mm ply. This is put into the Workmate and shelf clamped to it, making sure the top edge lines up. This gives plenty of support for the router. A fence controls the depth of cut. I hope that makes sense.
The top should have been fitted to the sides the same way but I got it wrong, second mistake. For some reason the board did no glue up square, no problem as it has to be cut down to fit anyway. The problem comes when you mark the housings and cut them square from the back but trim the width by placing the front against the rip fence. The result is 2 perfectly cut dovetail housings at some obscure angle (not 90).Enough said about that. The top is now attached with buttons set in a dado in the sides.
The face frame is joined to the body with biscuits although the top rail is connected to the stiles with mortice and tenon joints as there is no shelf to support it. The 2 other rails are just biscuited on.
The body of the drawer is tulipwood made with through dovetails at each corner. This is the first time I have used this joint in anger and the results are quite pleasing. At this point I must say a big thank you to all the people on the forum who gave me help and advice when I asked about cutting dovetails. Your help, and the Rob Cosman DVD, gave me the confidence to have a go.
The knobs on the drawer and door are beech. Unfortunately this was all I could get from B & Q. I would have liked to turn my own but I do not have a lathe so it is not possible. They match reasonably well, I think.
The finish is 2 coats of danish oil followed by plenty of wax.
So there it is, in all its glory. I am pleased with the result, it works well, looks good (the grain pattern, especially on the top is lovely) and the family like it.
Hope you like it.
Bob
, I did not take any pictures of the work in progress. As usual I only thought of it afterwards. I promiser to take some of my next project.The cabinet is fairly simple in construction, 2 sides, 2 shelves and a top all glued up from smaller boards. First mistake, I did not prepare enough ash so the shelf under the drawer is tulipwood. This does not really matter as it will not be seen, but still annoying.
The sides are joined to the shelves with sliding dovetails. This is the first time I have made this joint, lots of fiddling to get it to fit but once fitted it is very strong. Cut the housing in the sides with a router and a straight edge clamp. I cut the ends of the shelves using a simple jig. Nothing more than a piece of scrap screwed to the top edge of a piece of 18mm ply. This is put into the Workmate and shelf clamped to it, making sure the top edge lines up. This gives plenty of support for the router. A fence controls the depth of cut. I hope that makes sense.
The top should have been fitted to the sides the same way but I got it wrong, second mistake. For some reason the board did no glue up square, no problem as it has to be cut down to fit anyway. The problem comes when you mark the housings and cut them square from the back but trim the width by placing the front against the rip fence. The result is 2 perfectly cut dovetail housings at some obscure angle (not 90).Enough said about that. The top is now attached with buttons set in a dado in the sides.
The face frame is joined to the body with biscuits although the top rail is connected to the stiles with mortice and tenon joints as there is no shelf to support it. The 2 other rails are just biscuited on.
The body of the drawer is tulipwood made with through dovetails at each corner. This is the first time I have used this joint in anger and the results are quite pleasing. At this point I must say a big thank you to all the people on the forum who gave me help and advice when I asked about cutting dovetails. Your help, and the Rob Cosman DVD, gave me the confidence to have a go.
The knobs on the drawer and door are beech. Unfortunately this was all I could get from B & Q. I would have liked to turn my own but I do not have a lathe so it is not possible. They match reasonably well, I think.
The finish is 2 coats of danish oil followed by plenty of wax.
So there it is, in all its glory. I am pleased with the result, it works well, looks good (the grain pattern, especially on the top is lovely) and the family like it.
Hope you like it.
Bob
