Sycamore Drawer Box Build Process

Return to main project page

I only had an hour out in the garage this morning but I've done the rest of the half-lap dovetails:

I noticed after doing them that I'd been a little dense and arranged two of the side planks such that they will be planed back-to-front instead of front-to-back. They're slightly oversize at the moment so that I can plane the sides down to match the width of the front pieces. Having arranged two of them that way round I'll have two options I think. Either I'll clamp some sort of off-cut to the front of the box so that it supports the trailing edge, or I'll plane with a high angle plane and hope that is sufficient to prevent tear-out. Sweet Chestnut is quite forgiving compared to, say, Ash, so I'm leaning towards the latter for simplicity.

I've got a few errands to run now, but hopefully I'll get some time this afternoon to shorten the side boards to length and then cut the rear dovetails.

I am a hobbyist metalworker and woodworker. I work as an electronic design engineer and spend most of my working days in front of a computer so I enjoy having the opportunity to use my hands and make things in my spare time. I particularly enjoy making tools as I can then use them on other projects. This website showcases some of the things I've made.

This website is free and ad-free, but costs me money to run. If you'd like to support this site, please consider making a small donation or sending me a message to let me know what you liked or found useful.

Please do get in touch if you notice any issues on the site or can think of anything that would be a helpful addition or improvement.