I started making a chest to keep my saws in, and it’s turned out to be great practice making dovetails. These are far from perfect, but three of the joints fit together with almost no paring to get the fit nice. The fourth, well apparently it shifted slightly when I was marking out the pins and I ended up having to pare away one side of half the pins, leaving a small gap on the other side. Rats.
Three of the sides look like this. A spot or two where the fit could be better. The spacing is uneven because my layout and sawing needs more practice.
Here is the carcase, glued and planed on the outside. After I put on the skirt and paint it I think it will look really nice. I’m off to Home Despot to get some stock for the skirt and bottom boards.
Looks pretty good. Are you sure you want to paint and cover up your first project dovetails?
ralph
Paint!?!? You can’t paint that?? ;o)
BTW, how’s the bench underneath the saw chest comin’?
I think painting the best approach, it will hide the mistakes and it’s traditional. Although after looking through the Millcreek (http://millcrek.wordpress.com/) website I’m pretty impressed with how nice a finish he gets on pine — well, everything, but the pine in particular.
I made a practice tenon cut on some scrap from my workbench legs. It was still pretty damp. It had also twisted a lot, and the material was dead square when I bought it. I’m going to give it a few more weeks to dry while I finish this chest and make a saw bench. Grrr.
Looks good from here. I need a lot more practice for my own sake.