Unicorned chisel put to use
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
The project is a "table" like the one in the picture. But instead of a serving table this one will have a spectacular piece of rock for a top flanked by two 4" walnut boards and drawers along the front. It will go behind a couch.
It will be made from this dandy log we sawed a couple of years ago.
Today's goal is to make the drawer blades (horizontal pieces) and dividers (vertical pieces) that will go between legs to hold the legs together and provide openings for drawers.
These long narrow pieces wound up not straight, but that deficiency is fixable. I like to dovetail the dividers. Dovetails hold the blades a fixed distance apart, forever. The top blade will be fastened to the table top. Whatever bends the blades acquire, when the dovetailed structure is screwed to the top the assembly will be straight and stay that way.
The dovetail sockets are rough sawed to size and the waste chiseled away. The sloped side is chiseled to shape with cross grain paring cuts against a guide (the procedure used in the Headley shop).
I only use one set of multitasking chisels. They have to do it all, so in the past they were ground 28 or 30 degrees. Today they were 25 degrees and the Unicorn Profile applied. I noticed at once that paring the end grain was significantly easier with the chisel today. When sockets in the the opposing blade are pared the other edge of the chisel is used. Paring effort was larger. Examined tip and saw that the Unicorn profile stopped just short of the right side of the chisel. Went back to buffer touched this edge. Now the chisel pared smoothly. This experience showed me that applying the profile sharpens as well as profiles.
