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This $39 jig will make you a WOODWORKING GOD!

Desk Progress

Posts

Desk Progress

#1

Desk Progress

Hank Knight

Must be the warm weather. I made some good progress this weekend on my desk. I glued up the side panels and cut the dados and sockets for the sliding dovetails in them several months ago.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/27y4WQy][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/27y4WQy]IMG_3903[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158680038@N03/]Hank Knight[/url], on Flickr

I've been fiddling with the design and worrying about the mess I made of one of the sockets ever since - until the last few days. I posted about repairing the socket slip-up and cutting the kerfs for the wedges to flair the French feet a couple of days ago. This weekend I went to work on shaping the sides.

First I screwed the two sides together face-to-face and cut the front angle for the slant top. I couldn't figure out a convenient way to do it on my table saw so I cut the sides simultaneously with my track saw. It worked great and the saw gave me a very clean cut.

Then I made a template for the scroll at the bottom of the sides. I had spent considerable time refining the scrolls for both the front and sides and was grateful for my wife's input on the aesthetics.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/KGGLrj][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/KGGLrj]IMG_3907[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158680038@N03/]Hank Knight[/url], on Flickr

The thin face on the legs resulting from he deep saw kerf looked pretty delicate, so I made an insert to give them some support during the cutting of the scroll.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/27L6ECh][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/27L6ECh]IMG_3909[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158680038@N03/]Hank Knight[/url], on Flickr

Next I marked the scroll on each side from the template and rough cut near the line with a jig saw ...

[url=https://flic.kr/p/26JRgAE][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/26JRgAE]IMG_3911[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158680038@N03/]Hank Knight[/url], on Flickr

... and sanded to the line with a spindle sander.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/26JR9E5][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/26JR9E5]IMG_3914[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158680038@N03/]Hank Knight[/url], on Flickr

The sides turned out great.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/255Tzdm][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/255Tzdm]IMG_3916[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158680038@N03/]Hank Knight[/url], on Flickr

Whew! Now on to the foot flares.

Re: Desk Progress

#2

Re: Desk Progress

Ron in Sterling, CT

Hi Hank,

Those sides look great. Keep up the good work, AND keep us posted.

Ron

Re: Desk Progress

#3

Thanks - Re: Desk Progress

Henry (Raleigh NC)

Hank

Thanks for the update - I love work in progress posts like this one (with pics). These tells me so much more about process and how others accomplish specific tasks. Seeing the details of process makes it much more likely that I can use or adapt others methods.

Henry

Re: Desk Progress

#4

Yup!

Tony - Memphis

And that is some really nice walnut! Wow.

Re: Desk Progress

#5

Re: Thanks - Re: Desk Progress

John K Jordan

I like to see posts like this too. Except for how clean and organized the shop is - mine is shameful in the middle of a project.

I like the spindle sander support. :)

Re: Desk Progress

#6

Re: Thanks - Re: Desk Progress

Hank Knight

John, I have the same problem when I'm in the middle of a project. Usually, I try to put things away when I finish with them; but when, I get a full head of steam working on something, I just lay stuff down anywhere convenient. After a while I'm climbing over stuff and looking for tools. I had to take Friday and clean up my shop so I could actually work in it over the weekend.

Re: Desk Progress

#7

Re: I Should Have Mentioned

Hank Knight

I should have mentioned that in planning this desk build I made a set of full scale drawings. They give me the opportunity to see various design options actual size, make changes, help visualize the construction and have saved me from some costly mistakes. All of my measurements come from the drawings and story sticks I've made from them. Here's the drawing of the scroll at the bottom of the sides I used for this weekend's work:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/KGYoLJ][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/KGYoLJ]42369744252_05e9c7e1b1_b[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158680038@N03/]Hank Knight[/url], on Flickr

Re: Desk Progress

#9

Re: Desk Progress

Hank Knight

Hi, Derek,

I cut the dados and the dovetail sockets with a router. I built a simple jig that guides the router by capturing the baseplate. It allows me to make multiple cuts with one jig setting, all of which are centered on the same center line. The sliding dovetail sockets require three cuts: a 7/8" dado bit for a shallow dado to capture the edges of the top and bottom panels, a 3/8" straight bit to waste out the bulk of the dovetail socket and a dovetail bit, all of which are centered on each other. Once my jig is clamped in place I just need to change bits and adjust the depth setting. There's no need to realign the jig for each cut. I could probably have used a guide bushing, but I've had issues with those using dovetail bits in the past.

I cut the dados and dovetail sockets before I saw your post on cutting dados by hand. I might have given hand cutting my dados a shot, but probably not the sliding dovetail sockets. Bill Tindall showed me how to cut half dovetail sockets for drawer dividers by hand, and I will use his method for my dividers. But I wanted full dovetail sockets for my top and bottom panels, and I wasn't confident I could do it using Bill's method.

Hank

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