Charles Neil build along mahogany lowboy "series" #12: week

Charles Neil lowboy build-along, #12

When I left you last time, I’d just finished with installing the drawer dividers. Now, I finish the top rail dovetails

by cleaning the sockets with a chisel, until the top of the dovetail is flush with the top.
Now I need to trim the top even with the top of the legs.

It’s time to turn my attention to the side scrolls. I start by printing out the PDF that Charles provides for subscribers of his “Mastering Woodworking” series.

After gluing it to some 1/4” ply, I cut it out and clean up the edges

and then trace the pattern on the side panel.

Now, as I did on the front scroll board, I cut the sides out on the band saw and sand it smooth on the spindle sander and clean it up with the patternmakers file and some hand sanding. After a test fit of the side panel

(oh man, that looks sweet), I move on to marking the center of the tenons

that have already been trimmed and fitted and mark the legs for wood pegging. I start with the back and start the drilling process. The top and bottom tenons have pegs and are not glued, to allow for wood movement, but the center tenon is glued in place. I start by having the back clamped in place

and already having the centered mark on center on the legs, I drill the top and bottom tenons enough to have pegs go through the leg and through the tenon, but not deep enough to go all of the way through the leg. The next set is to slide the back down approximately 1/8”,

then I drill the top and bottom tenons again, through the first hole drilled in the legs. I now remove the back that reveals the two holes I have drill in the top and bottom tenon

. Next I use a drill saw and make the elongated holes, cleaner and smoother

. These holes are to allow for wood movement, so I want to make sure there is free movement. The next step is to make the wooden pegs and as suggested by Charles, I’m using cherry for the pegs.

I start by cutting the cherry in ¼”X ¼” pieces. These are cut to about 2” sections, then I take the pegs and sharpen one end in a pencil sharpener, just enough to get one rounded end. Now I take a peg and hammer it to round it part of the way down through a metal plate with a ¼” hole

. After the end is rounded, I then use a disc sander to sand the peg to size, after using a knife to clean up the curled wood from the metal plate operation and I have a peg that is round on the bottom and square on the top. Now the back is put into place and the center hole is drill in the center tenon. The last step before assembly is to use a punch with a square shoulder to punch in the hole that has already been drilled in the legs to indent a square. Next I glue the mortise and tenon and assemble the back to the legs

. Now the pegs are hammered in place

with the center peg glued top to bottom and the others just glued on the top of the peg as to not impede the wood movement.

After the pegs are in place and the glue is dry, they’re cut off and sanded smooth, revealing the square top.

The front is now assembled with spacers to insure good clamping pressure and to maintain square.

After the front and back are together and dry, both sides are put in place using the same method as used on the back.

The next time I will be making and installing the drawer frames.

Remember, the techniques used are from Charles Neil’s subscription online webisode.
Sign up for Charles, “Mastering Woodworking” webisodes
http://mw.charlesneilwoodworking.com/

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/