my 1st dovetailed drawer

Very Nice

Dan Donaldson

>and Half blinds too;-) The really neat thing to me is that you can get a look with the handcut that is not possible with machine cut. If I had to do a complete set of drawers for a kitchen where I was more interested in utility and speed, I would use a jig, but for one or two, you can hand cut them in less time than it takes to set up the jig, and they look great. Nice Job. How about a complete picture of the cabinet also?

Sweet Gotta love the handmade look

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>

Re: my 1st dovetailed drawer

Wiley Horne--Glendora CA

>Clay,

The whole cabinet looks beautiful, including the dovetails. I like your pattern on the pins a lot--very distinctive.

What is the wood?

Wiley

VERY nice!

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Great work. I like that wild panel in the door too.

Are you sure

Bruce, a MN Galoot

>this is your first? Great job! With dovetails like that, it's a shame to close the door.

Bruce

Aw shucks ...

Clay C in Miami

>A - Y'all are too kind.

B - I promise, the lo-fi image does help it give a good impression!

C - I made this cabinet last summer - I don't make the same mistakes evident here any more, now I can make entirely different ones! I admit, I had practiced some dt's on scraps, but these were my first intended for an actual piece, and my first half-blinds of any kind.

Wiley, it's (low-grade salmon colored) mahogany for the case and door and back panel frames, redwood burl in the door panel, bookmatched sycamore panel in the back, walnut face and bottom in the drawer, maple drawer sides and back, and a cedar shelf just for the nice smell. I don't usually like the 6-woods-in-one-piece look, but this was made with small scraps I could beg, for the most part, and I couldn't be choosy. Mainly, it was made for learning, rather than for the resulting piece. I'm very much inclined to set it out in the sun for a few days, to see how well some sun darkens the mahogany, but the inside will still be pink of course. Finish is just shellac and wax, with a coat of oil first on the door panel. I don't remember why I blackened inside the drawer pull, probably the same reason I do every dernfool thing I do - "It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time"

And, as requested, here's a pic of the whole cabinet - the handle is carved cocobolo, but it has cracked and will have to be replaced.

The funniest goof doesn't show here - I carefully morticed the spots for brass keyhole hangers in the back, then flipped it around and realized I had two lovely small mortises, precisely parallel - at the BOTTOM corners of the back. Sigh ...

Yesterday I visited a local tropical wood dealer near Tavernier, and picked out two wildly figured tamarind planks. I'll post some pics of his inventory of Cuban mahogany when I get them downloaded - droooool. And, I just got my notice that I got a bench spot in the 3-week Projects class this summer at College of the Redwoods, so it's been a Good Wood Week.

Thanks again,

Clay

Great dovetails, great piece!

Jonathan Kaplan (OR)

>It sure beats *my* learning project hands-down!

I'm just wondering -- It looks a lot like the cabinet from Peter Korn's Working With Wood (which I used as inspiration for my first cabinet) -- but of course, it also looks like a lot of other cabinets... So, is it your own design? borrowed & modified from somewhere? Just wondering!

You'll find that while you notice every little flaw, most people looking at it, even those who know what they are looking at, won't notice them. :)

Congrats again on a nice job!

jk

very nice work, and nice proportions!

John Truxell-Svenson

>...and another, "half-blinds? are you nuts?"




/jvs

There may be some goofs

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

>but that is one nice looking little cabinet Clay. I'd say that you are going to be a very good student at COR this summer as you certainly have a strong foundation in handtool skills. Sure beats any thing I've cobbled together. By the way, Congrats in the COR class. Be sure to say Hi to fellow Islander Ed Snow whilst your there.

Todd O.

Re: my 1st dovetailed drawer

Angelo in Cornwall, NY

>Looks great Clay. I wish I could claim my 1st DT's looked that good!

Your keyhole hangers

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>You could always be Secret Santa for Andrew F or one of our other members from Oz, and send the cabinet Down Under - then the keyhole hangers would be in the right spot!

I think that's right, isn't it? They're on the other side of the world...

design and CoR

Clay C in Miami

>JK, I haven't seen the Korn book, and I guess to the extent this has a 'design,' it was my own . Blame may be more appropriate than credit, though - to me, the profiles on the top and bottom are too heavy (or the whole piece is about 4" too short - one or the other). Also, I was not nearly careful enough about (actually, I was wholly unaware of) keeping it crisp, so the edge profiles lost detail in the sanding. At CofR Krenov, and particularly his cabinets, are so pervasive in the mindset, that it's impossible to avoid that impact (not that I tried).

Todd, I sure hope to see Ed Snow up there (I think I met him when he was a new student last fall, before I left Fort Bragg). I really enjoyed his weekly CofR updates, and whined briefly here when they tailed off. But, by the time I start (July 5), Ed's 2003-4 CofR class will have been over for more than a month. Only a very few students come back for a second full year, but if Ed does so, I'll certainly see him after the 'main' 9-month session starts this fall. They do an end-of-year student show, I really hope that Ed can be persuaded to take lots of pictures for us - it's amazing, inspired work.

Re: Aw shucks ...

Ernie Miller Topeka

>Great work love that front panel.

Re: design and CoR

Jonathan Kaplan (OR)

>Actually, I think that the heavy profiles and short, squat shape go well together -- if you made it 4" taller, I think it would look unballanced unless you made the top & bottom "tighter" (for lack of a better word).

(My first cabinet really was 4" too short, in that I messed up the first set of dovetails, cut them off to start over, got them right, but then blew another set, and so ended up taking amost 4" off the height when all was said and done... :)

Congrats on a nice peice, and I'm looking forward to hearing how your time at CoR goes!

Very best,

jk

Re: design and CoR

Clay C in Miami

>Hmmmm ... maybe you're right! If it were taller, I think there'd have to be less 'overhang' too. (There must be a furniture-design word for this ... )

I really hope Ed Snow will post pics of this year's student show at CofR. Last summer, I went through their photo albums of past years' classes, and while I loved the work, it was sure humbling - I felt like I should just pack up my tools, go home, and take up gardening or crocheting or something. I just know that I got such a late start at this craft ... sure, a lifetime's still not enough to learn it all, but an extra 30 years' learning from age 16 till now would've helped a lot.

I'll definitely take my camera with me to CofR this summer, and maybe I can do a regular "You Are There" type posting, during the 3 weeks of the class.

BTW, anyone else here going out to CofR for any of their classes this summer? The marquetry class looks great, but I can't get out there in time for it this year.

Clay