Thread: Delusion of adequacy or how not to do thngs!

So I finally got around to tidying up and reorganising my small woodwork shed.

Pegboards, dolly for chest of draws so it can be wheeled outside, and rubbish disposal all done but there are still too many tools on the benches.

Hmm four old sets of drawers lying outside fairly decrepit, maybe they would fit under my workbench in a 2x2 carcass to help clear more bench space. Much pencil work and drafting later I have a sketch and some scrap wood, Pine, Meranti, and a bit of jarrah. What could go wrong.

The drawers were probably not worth repairing, and one is twisted but I did and they will be okay. They will need false fronts as they have been butchered square with the sides in a previous life.

Assembling a fairly fine-framed carcass with minimal tolerances went surprisingly well until I put the drawers in and realised I had measured the back height of each draw for height purposes forgetting that the bottom was screwed on at the back but set into a rebate at the front and sides so the drawers would not go in.

Ha genius here - I knew the solution was to cut a couple of slots in in each drawer space to accomodate the longer side and front pieces, a mere 1/2 “ and we were home. Of course I cut one of the pieces rotated 90 degrees by mistake but you won’t see that when it all together and recut the slots on the correct face.

I used my router for the slots but alas this did not go well as my router fence, which looks schmicko and slides in a couple of pieces of T Track moved when routing and the Meranti tore badly. I had forgotten that the T track knobs generate insufficient holding force and it needs clamps behind it.

Putting it all together and all glued up I try the drawers again, and they slide in nicely all the way to the back of the drawer front inner back where the lower edge obviously prevents the drawer going in flush properly. Doh!

Hmm more scrap wood required now to make a false front the thickness of the drawer fronts to go all around - half lap construction.

I need to cut 18 rebates/slots for this so let’s mechanise the process.

I built a jig somewhat like these https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WkIyAF1eyM thinking to do three at a time. This goes badly, I cannot get the right size top bearing bit from Timbecon and settle on a larger one which has unintended consequences.

Doing ones set of ends the router bites and kicks the pieces out of alignment creating an interesting but not useful shape on the edges. It also damages the jig because the bit was too close a fit to allow any error in lowering the bit into the Jig. Jig re-assembled after repair and new clamps built into hold the wood better. This made no difference and I ended up just cutting the rebates on the band saw. I am going to need more wood putty.

With the jig mark 1** I try the centre slots and this goes very badly with over-width snake shaped dados cut across the wood. Insufficient clamping pressure on the centre of the three pieces of wood being the main problem. More filler needed. I cut them one by one instead and this works fine but the damage is done.

I try one on the router table with a mitre slide but it is not the right depth despite the gauge setting. The Meranti does not play nicely. Checks with straight edges and vernier gauge show that the resin router plate has dished 1.25mm over the last 6 years or so leaving gaps under the workpiece and explaining the inaccuracy using the depth gauge.

Time to reach for the tenon saw and some chisels.

I will need more putty.

These issues could have been avoided if I had used all the same type of wood, and cut it to more sensible dimension which better fit the tools I have.

Finishing putting the wood face plates in the vice, sharpening my chisels and getting a good hand saw would have cost far less time than I expended in trying to mechanise many of the jobs.

Some of the little fiddly work was simply not suited to the normal operating range of some my jigs and tools.

And probably, spending more time designing the carcass and planning the cuts and production methods in advance would have saved me a lot of time and effort.

Meanwhile, I will go and buy some more wood putty.