Popular Woodworking Editors' Blog

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I, as many of you did, had friends in town. My visitor, John, didn’t come in for the food though; he came for woodworking. F&W Publications graciously gave employees a half-day off on Wednesday, and a full day off on Thursday and Friday. So, I used a half-day of vacation and gained five days in the shop (count the weekend) – four-and-a-half days if you take out the holiday dinnertime.
    
We started our reproduction tall case clock based on a New Jersey design nearly two years back, and this has been our first opportunity to get back to work on it since then. John doesn’t get a chance to get into Cincinnati too often because his schedule has been more-than-hectic for some time. The last session began with rough mahogany and we built the waist, base and got started on the hood before our time ran out.

As I moved the clock case from my garage to the shop in preparation for the upcoming session, I didn't think much about patina -- until, that is, we milled the stock for the waist door. The new mahogany looked extremely pink, especially next to the two-year old, unfinished structure standing in front of us. John couldn’t get over the difference and it surprised me as well. Wood sure does change over time. We forged ahead.

I’ve always say the best way to gain woodworking experience is to challenge yourself with projects that force you to learn or try new techniques. This clock, and its inlay, fit the bill for John and me. I’ve done inlay many times but I’ve done so with a power tool mentality -- fabricate a jig to trim store-bought medallions to size then cut appropriately sized recesses to install the inlay (my Baltimore Card Table article in Popular Woodworking magazine comes to mind).

This time I planned a different attack. We trimmed the inlay at the band saw, straightened the edges with files and created the recess by positioning the inlay, pinning it to the door then tracing the outside edges. The recess was routed close to the layout lines with a straight bit (you know I couldn’t give up the power tools completely) and finished using carving gouges with appropriately sized sweeps to trim to the lines. A little handwork and the inlay slipped right in place. Nothing is more fun than sanding the tape off the back of the inlay and watching the pattern coming to life. (The widebelt sander -- another power tool -- made it quick work.)

Later came the small pinwheels on the rosettes of the gooseneck mouldings. This is a new process for me, too. I was inspired by watching Rob Millard (watch for an upcoming article in the February 2008 issue) make simple inlay from shop scraps instead of purchasing a ready-to-use product. The pinwheels are eight sections of alternating mahogany and maple, all positioned into a 1-1/4" circle.

We used a plane blade to cut the pieces to size based off a full-scale drawing of the pinwheels, affixed them to painter’s tape and glued the assembly in place after trimming to the circle shape. Once the glue dried we filed the pieces to match the profile of the rosette. An easy process and one I’ll surely use again.

We felt we accomplished a major amount of woodworking for the time we had available. The clock, except for finishing and few other odds and ends, is complete. Not bad for just over nine days spread over two years. All we can do now is wait for the new additions to gain a bit of patina. I plan to move the clock to New Jersey where John can apply the finish before he places it in his home.

-- Glen D. Huey

A few months back, Senior Editor Glen D. Huey taught me his "no fail" method for cutting through dovetails, and, following Editor Chris Schwarz's advice, I cut one set a day for 30 days (OK -- I cut them only during the work week, and ended up with about 24 sets). I posted the method and accompanying pictures on this blog in two parts. For Part 1, the Pin Board, click here; for Part 2, the Tail Board, click here.

For half-blind dovetails, the method really isn't much different -- you still mark, saw and chop. You simply don't saw all the way through the half-blind tail board. I learned to cut half-blinds while making inset drawers for a Chimney Cupboard that will be in the February 2008 issue. First, I milled 1/2" stock and cut the through-dovetails for joining the drawer sides to the drawer back. Up to this point, the method is the same as detailed in Parts 1 and 2 above.

Then, I set my marking gauge to 1/2" (aka the thickness of my sides), and scribed a line at that setting on the inside face of each of my drawer fronts. My drawer fronts are 7/8" thick, and the idea is to leave at least 1/4" of material in back of the pins, so I had to change the setup on my marking gauge to mark the depth of cut on the end. Use this same setup to scribe the baseline on your tail boards (the side pieces).

Saw down to the line 1/4" from the front edge; at the same time, you'll be sawing past the scribe line on the back face of the drawer front by about 1". (I had trouble believing this...so I went home and pulled out drawers from various pieces of antique furniture I own. Lo and behold — there were saw kerfs on the inside face of every drawer front.)

It's on to chopping out the waste, just as you would with a through dovetail. The only difference is, you stop when you get down to your 1/4" scribe line, and square the bottom. As always, undercut each just a hair. To keep from breaking out the pin edges, chop the top edges of the waste at an angle to the pins and knock it out.

New listings for woodworking schools are being released about now. We, the editors at Popular Woodworking magazine, are making announcements about gigs we have coming in 2008. Here’s my proclamation.

Just after July Fourth holiday, I’ll be teaching a class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking (MASW) in Indiana on building a Massachusetts Block Front chest. The exact dates are July 21-25, 2008.

The Block Front is a highly sought after piece of furniture in the antiques world. There are a few design features found in the Massachusetts version of the chest that are not found in Block Fronts built in other furniture centers, namely Newport, R.I. The chest features a moulded top shaped to follow the contour of four graduated blocked drawers all on a conforming step-moulded skirt with matching bracket-style feet and a center dropped pendant.

If you appreciate 18th- and early 19th-century furniture, especially the New England designs, the Massachusetts Block Front Chest should rate high on your list of "Have To Builds." It was on my list for years. It’s such a great project I included it as one of the projects in my latest book "Building Period Furniture" (Popular Woodworking Books).

You’ll discover a number of new woodworking techniques and make a piece that is both a challenge to build and a triumph to finish. If you have the opportunity, join us in July at MASW. I’m looking forward to a great week.

-- Glen D. Huey