Travel Tool Chest & Workbench Build Process

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Not a lot in the way of an update from this afternoon, but out of curiosity, I stacked the boards up on the bench to try to get a sense of scale. It'll be a little bit shallower than this (as I haven't planed the board edges to size yet) and the top will be a bit lower once the dovetails are cut, but it gives a good general idea:

I then dug around through the piles of sweet chestnut bits and found some pieces to make up the (thinner) middle support. They're currently planed to just over 16 mm thick (vs 20 mm for the sides and top); I haven't completely decided what size I'll finish them to, but it probably won't be much less than that. This piece serves two purposes: firstly giving some extra support part way along the length of the top to make the top work-surface more rigid and secondly to mount the drawer runners on. I'm thinking of setting the drawer runners into the uprights (with what I think would be called housing joints), so having a reasonable amount of thickness is required or the two housing joints from each side would cut the board in half!

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.

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