Let the drawer making commence!

Last evening I started with the drawer construction.  I would have liked to cut at least one practice joint in the walnut before diving into the real deal so that I could get a feel for the compression rate.  But since I used absolutely all of my walnut, save a few small cutoffs, I had no choice but to just jump in.  I knew that the walnut would have little compression and just guessed at how tight to shoot for erring on the tight side.  This first round of dovetails fit pretty good.  There are a couple of hairline gaps but I think those will closeup when the glue is added and swells the wood.

The joinery for these drawers is my standard fare.  Lapped (half-blind) dovetails at the front, finger joint at the rear, the bottom installs in a groove and everything gets bamboo pegs.  A little unconventional, but stout.

I’ll post more about the process in the following days.  So be prepared to be bored beyond belief.

Part 12 Greg Merritt Part 14