I’ll Run Before I Learn to Walk
I’ve never been one to learn the basics and progress level by level in order to reach my goal, I always want to get to business straight away. I’ve been like that all my life and not planning on changing. Has my ”stragedy” failed me? Abso-fucken-lutely, but it had also worked more times than not.
My latest obsession is home improvement and I want to learn how to make my own cabinets that fit my exact needs and wants. Longterm goal is to perform a complete kitchen renovation myself, cabinets and all but I have other storage needs first.
I have quite a few pieces of antique furniture and I have always loved how well they are build and admire the beautiful dovetail joints on the drawers. I really do believe it’s the proper way to make drawers that actually last daily use for a century (or two).
And so like the maniac I am, I decided to try doing a dovetail joint with basically no actual experience in woodworking. While this is not running to make a complete chest of drawer like I’d want to, it’s definitely not a woodworking skill one should start with.
11pm:
2am:
4.15am:
6.40am: DONE!
After 8 hours, one thriller audiobook, two alcoholic bevarages, numb shoulder and fingers (still numb after two days) and few drops of blood, this is what I have to show for it.
Final notes and observations:
Dovetails are very difficult, but not impossible. I might be able to do a nice box with basic dovetail joints one day but when I eventually renovate our kitchen, I’ll buy a router and a dovetail jig for the sake of my sanity, what ever is left of it.
The joint looks looser than it actually is. Since it’s very uneven the tails are fatter in the middle so it’s actually pretty snug but just doesn’t look very pretty. If I were to put this to use with little glue I think it would actually last very well.
Pine was a shitty choise because it’s so soft with big open grain that it went to mush very easily. Might work if doing a really tight joint and then using brute force. I’ll try that and/or move to birch.
I’m absolutely rubbish at sawing! I’ve hand sawn maybe 5 times in my life and it shows, go figure.
I need to get a really good joinery saw. I used a Ryoba saw the man had but I really did not like it at all and ended up just using a shitty coping saw which was more accurate in my hands but painfully slow.
It would be helpful to have more different size chisels and a sawing quide but it’s not necessary.
I find it so difficult to work with wood, because you have to be very precise in the cuts to achieve perfect and beautiful joints. Your work was amazing, considering that you don't have the experience, but after audio books, some liquor and a lot of dedication you did it. You say it didn't look as you expected, but, from the photo it looks great. Congratulations for this great job, a very well achieved union to go putting together your cabinets.
Like with most crafts, only experience will give you the insight on how to properly manipulate the material, especially something like wood where no two trees are exactly alike.
Audiobooks, liquer and dedication are all crucial for a succesful handcraft project 😁
extremely tough task to do is dovetailing. Looks great.
That's actually pretty f@cking good for a first try!!!! To me it looks like the tiny gap is the width of the pencil mark. Perhaps scribing the second cuts using a knife or a chisel would get you to the precision you seem to want.
You can use sawdust and glue to make up some wood filler and seal that right up. Even the pros do it.
That's also very thick wood for a dovetail. I'm a little lazy with respect to woodwork, so I'd recommend a simpler joint that provides similar structure
Haha I actually did use a knife to scribe a dent to place the saw at to help me start the cuts but I just suck at sawing 😂 And yes I will use a thinner wood next time, this was just because it was the only piece I could easily get square to start with. The miter saw we have on loan has the shittiest blade so I couldn’t cut up a thinner board to use. I’d definitely do some patching up if I were to use this for something but this is just a practise piece and I want to just leave it as is to look back on if I ever get better 😂
I think you are rocking this!!!
I'm going to assume that your technique for sawing is perfect. 😀 But saw's are always rough. So, saw further inside your line - maybe 1mm. Then use the chisel for finishing the cut.
I'm still amazed you got it that good on the first round. Treat that as a success!!
You should have seen me, I tried everything in my power and kept changing between chisel, saw, knife and box cutter to try and get even lines 😂
I've been there. I feel your pain/sorrow/frustration.
Soon enough, you'll be making some of these.
I had a nice comment planned here, but since you've gone old-school with dovetailing (kudos by the way) I thought I'd go old-school with my comment and hark back to the very first comment I ever made to you. Just one single word.
Legit.
My dovetail joint is as strong as your legit.
Lovely dovetails indeed.
Nice bit of dovetail work there——— and not a chipped finger nail or splinter anywhere??
Thanks! No chipped fingers but looots of scrapes all over 😅
😂 all in a good days work
Exactly, if my hands ever look pristine it means I’ve been lazy!
😂 😂 😂
You're so good with your hands! This is like the 10th DIY-like stuff you've shown us you're good at.
🙃