Cutting the pins, rebates, sanding & glue up the carcase.

First thing today was to get the back panels glued up.  I had already machined these to 6mm and just had to lay them out in the right order to trim to correct width. 

 

The panels are booked matched and once each piece was cut to width, I glued them up with Garrett Wade 202GF glue. I really like the Bessey K-Body clamps.

While the panels were drying I went back onto the dovetails. I marked out the pins on the side of the carcase, using my sharp Japanese marking knife.  This step is the most important step in the whole process of dovetail cutting.  If you don't mark accurately now, you will end up with gaps on your dovetails.  

Next it was onto the bandsaw to rough out the waste, using a series of lots of cuts.

As you can see, most of the waste has been removed.

Next it was onto the bench and a 32mm thick MDF guide was clamped on the work and I slowly chiseled back to the marking lines.

With the work in my main vice I further pared back to my marking lines.  This was very hard work in this exceptionally hard Fiddleback Blackwood. I had to again sharpen my tools 3 times for each row of dovetails.

Here is the result, after several hours work. A perfect fit.....

I was going to fit the two central dividing walls using a sliding dovetail from the rear of the carcase, however upon measuring the panels which I had already glued up, I found they were not long enough. Instead of machining some more wood I decided to just Domino them in.  This is what happens when you are not working to exact drawings or plans.

Next I went back to the back panels I had glued up earlier and measured them for thickness and set up the trimmer router to rout the rebates for the back panels. This was done using a 5mm router bit, in two passes.

Out with the Festool random orbit sander.  I sanded only the inside faces, using 120, 180, 240 grits.

Later in the day the whole piece was ready for glue up. I decided to do this in stages, as I wanted time to make sure the whole carcase was square.  First I glued and clamped in the two central dividers and made sure these were square. I then clamped on the two ends to the bottom.

After several hours I removed the clamps and glued and clamped on the top.  I again used Garrett Wade 202GF for this and watered it down slightly, as my dovetail joints were very tight.  Note the special clamping block I made from Plywood, to put pressure on the pins only. I checked the diagonal measurements to make sure the carcase was square and only had to make s very slight adjustment to my clamps.

I am very happy with today's progress.  I now have a nice perfectly square dovetailed carcase. Next I have to begin thinking about fitting the back panels and then it is onto veneering to doors and drawer fronts. 

PROGRESS !! - Dovetailing the carcase.

During the week, since my last post, I have cleaned up the glued panels and have run them through the sander one more time to 120grit.  They came up really well, perfectly flat, with perfect joints.  I then worked out the final carcase size and cut the top, bottom and two ends to size on the Altendorf.

Next I was ready for the fun part  - Dovetailing the carcase.  I got out my marking tools and worked out my spacing on an offcut.  I just wanted something that looked pleasing to the eye, but it took a few goes to get it right.

I used my Colen Clenton marking gauge to scribe a line for the depth of the dovetails. This is one serious tool.

I find dividers are the quickest and most accurate way to make the spacings for dovetails.

On the blackwood however it was hard to see my small marks, so I highlighted them with pencil.

Next I used my Colen Clenton 1:8 dovetail gauge to mark the angle for each dovetail. I could have just used a bevel, but this tool is just so nice to hold and use.

Once everything was marked out I shaded in with pencil the areas to be removed.  I find this helps to avoid errors as it clearly shows the waste.

As the carcase is 1.8m long I had to stand on a ladder to cut the dovetails with my Japanese Dozuki saw. I found this did not work well as there was just too much panel unsupported above my workbench. Because this Blackwood is so hard, it was just too hard to cut to the line this way.

So what did I do ?  I reverted to the bandsaw.  It was just the ticket - fast and accurate.

The end of my panel was supported by a roller stand.

Here is how it is done.

I made a series of cuts in the waste area.

Next I clamped on a 32mm thich MDF guide, which greatly helps to keep the line straight and shoulders of the dovetails square.

Tap, Tap, Tap, I carefully removed the waste, working back to my line with my Japanese chisels, and then very carefully paring back the sides of each dovetail, right on the line.

Here are some of the Japanese chisels I used. 25mm paring chisel, 19mm Boxwood handle chisel, 6mm Oak handle chisel, 6mm paring chisel.  This Blackwood was so hard I had to sharpen these 4 chisels 3 times, for each row of dovetails. 

Here is the result

Dovetails are now cut, tomorrow I'll tackle the pins....

Gluing the carcase panels

Due to other work commitments I have not progressed very far with my masterpiece this week.

Today however I managed to Domino joint the panels for the carcase and to glue them up.

I used the smallest Dominos - 5 x 30mm, three for the carcase end panels and dividers and 6 in the carcase top.  To glue up I brushed on the glue to get an even spread to ensure a good strong joint.

For clamping I use my Bessey K-Body clamps, which are ideal for this task. Here is the carcase end panel clamped up.

Here is the carcase Top panel clamped up. Note the small 'F' clamps on the end to line up the face on the ends.  15 Minutes after clue up I scraped the glue off the surface, which is much easer than when dry.