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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Dovetailed Chest in Birdseye Maple

I finally finished the chest from this post and had a chance to get some pictures taken last week.

The Bridge City Jointmaker Pro performed flawlessly for cutting the dovetails in this chest. After assembly the joints planed up flawlessly.

The one thing I'm not happy about is the selection of the front boards. Viewed from one end, the joint blends, but from the other end the upper board appears lighter and the joint between upper and lower boards becomes too distinct. And I spent a lot of time choosing these boards. I guess I needed to spend some more.

The chest is finished with several coats of Minwax Antique Oil, hand rubbed with 600 grit paper after the first couple coats. It's silky to the touch. I didn't build the finish to perfect uniformity. I didn't want to chest to look pristine. Hardware from Horton Brasses and Whitechapel Ltd.








5 comments:

  1. Jameel,

    What's the length of your box? I'm wondering how you affixed it to the JMP fence.

    Mike

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  2. That is amazing birdseye. Nice job, your dovetails are amazingly tight.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's 26" long. If you watch the video from the original post you can see how I clamped it. I just clamped it on each side of the blade, nothing special.

    If you can position a scribe line precisely on the kerf, you can cut flawless dovetails to hand-cut specs with the JMP, no saw skills required.

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  4. Thanks Jameel. I've only tackled small bits on my JMP, nothing this size. I just assumed (silly me) that a panel that long would be an issue. Now you've got me wondering what the practical limit is. Think it would be possible to do a 36" blanket chest? :-)

    Mike

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  5. Thanks Jim. The real star of the show is the wood.

    Mike, I think 36" would be too much for the JMP. That's a lot of weight. I think this project was just about the limit of the JMP, without stressing the tool.

    ReplyDelete

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