Wood Movement Question

**auscab** · 5th March 2020, 08:05 PM

I went and photographed some antique carcase work I have in storage John .

The top of these is typical . The only one with triangles was a 1890s Huon chest . The rest were straight . 1840s to 70s Mahogany or red cedar. The drawers don't need anything above in between the rails because they don't tip if a reasonable fit . The 75 mm depth of rail will stop it .

This Cedar piece had three top rails . Dovetail pictures as well .
IMG_3708.JPG IMG_3709.JPG IMG_3710.JPG

This below is a Mahogany piece with a break front , The middle steps in a bit . You can see the left side first then the left and right mid section walls which are through mortised at front and back . They added a little drawer guide at the top and correctly nailed it and left a space at back . So if it shrunk , No probs . Nice Arched panels .
IMG_3713.JPG IMG_3714.JPG IMG_3715.JPG IMG_3716.JPG

This one below is a desk with front and back rails . The top is off . The rails are narrow and they added a full length rail above the drawer side , grain going the wrong way . Desk side shrunk and they got a nice big crack for being slack.
IMG_3718.JPG

Mahogany piece below 1870s. Fast slack placement and odd length pieces . He never thought any body would be looking

Its just a piece I got given for the good timber in the sides, missing doors and drawer .
IMG_3724.JPG

Looking up into the Huon chest with angles sawn into the added blocks.
IMG_3726.JPG
All the bottoms in these were one piece . Probably not in the Huon chest but I didn't look .
Hope this is of some help .

Rob

**John Samuel** · 5th March 2020, 09:43 PM

Thanks, Rob.

I enjoyed that. It showed there is no absolutely right or wrong way, but there are principles that should be followed. If everything is strong and can both expand and contract, we are likely in good shape.

Have fun!

**John Samuel** · 10th March 2020, 09:47 AM

OK. I cut my first dovetail. I was hoping for a better result, but it is what it is. See Pic. I dovetailed a 20 mm wide board to a 50mm X 50 mm off cut.

First Dovetail.jpg

The joint is better than it looks. I needed to tap it into place with a mallet. However the edges of the very soft cedar were rolled/over or were otherwise damaged, telling me I need to sneak up on the finished edge with very thin cuts. Still, it was necessary to demonstrate that the soft timber was a significant part of the issue, so I cut the pins (for want of a better word) in a firmer piece of timber, a camphor laurel scrap (also seen in the pic). It was a much better job, with cleaner edges.

For the upcoming job the dovetails will be in the carcass and will not be seen. Thank goodness for epoxy resin and it's legendary gap filling properties, as well as it's strength. If nothing else, I am confident the carcass joints will be strong.

Bought an expensive marking gauge for dovetailing ... useless on the cedar ... even in good light I was struggling to see the marks ... needed to go over them in pencil. Might try the blue tape method (seen elsewhere on this forum) next time. That certainly seemed to give very clear lines to cut to.

**auscab** · 10th March 2020, 10:21 AM

Looks good but how come the grain is going in same direction in both pieces? You shouldn’t be doing that in the end piece .
With viewing the marked lines. I use a led light and position it sideways and low by clamping it to a plane handle . It’s a led with a flexible length and a clamp .
Rob

**John Samuel** · 10th March 2020, 10:36 AM

Rob,

I picked up two pieces of scrap and joined them realising the grain direction was wrong but I didn't have a wide piece of scrap for the pin board. You can be sure I won't make the same mistake on the carcass.

Also figured out that the dovetails should have been cut before the sides were shaped.

Thread: Wood Movement Question

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Similar Threads

Seasonal movement question.

Question about simple zither design and wood movement

Wood Movement

Wood Movement

movement question

Posting Permissions