http://youtu.be/ljT9b0tWpOk

Thanks for watching.

http://youtu.be/Q8mmU9ZFbPc

So here I used a chisel to square up the fronts of the grooves that I just routed. This is not really necessary it will just make it easier to adjust the drawers forward or backward if they don’t line up just right, Which they didn’t in the end. I had to remove just a bit more towards the front on one side so that they came in line after sliding the drawer in. Also, it doesn’t scream ” Hey I cut this with a router and was too lazy to clean it up”.

Here I cut the rails that will be attached to the carcass. I made them slightly smaller than the grooves and cut them about a half inch shorter than the overall length. I just installed them forward of the back of the box after measuring from the front face of the drawer and marking that on the side of the carcass.

Phew was it hard getting these screws into that wood in such a tight space. I put some DS tape on the backs and lined them up with pencil marks that I put on the carcass. Then pre-drilled, my drill barely fit in there, countersunk and screwed them in two screws per slide rail.

I went to Lowes and picked up some hardware that would match the look of the hinges (antique brass) and that weren’t too big. This is what I came up with, but they stuck out too far for my taste so I countersunk the rounded part in to a hole so that they would lose about a quarter of an inch in protrusion.

See how far out the knobs stuck…Now to cut off the top. Pray for me.

Okay so this proved to be much harder than I expected. My saw didn’t like this type of cut very much at all. My fence was not tall enough and I didn’t realize that it needed to be until after I made the cuts. I added the tape to keep it from tearing out only AFTER one pass and seeing the devastation. Don’t worry, I have it finished now and it worked out great.

I realized I had a problem with the tenons and the work surface cause it would sit at an angle. Decided to put the runners on the sides with DS tape. Fabulous. (DS = double sided)

One final note: I got the top cut off the box and had to do some sanding and hand planing to get it to fit right. I was in my shop at about 90 degrees and like 100% humidity. I then moved it inside to show my wife where it is about 77 degrees and 50 % humidity then to my work where the humidity is even lower due to a de-humidifier we need for equipment. Anyways, The top warped big time. It moved almost 3/16”! I put aluminum foil over the top and clamped it to a flat board then put two of those metal cone light fixtures with incandescent bulbs over that. It heated it up then I removed the lights and let it sit overnight. I am going to finish it in that same room at my work so that it doesn’t change climates anymore. I am probably doing something wrong with this and I have never worked with zebrawood before either. The top is book matched so maybe that has something to do with it? I was freaked out and worried. I believe it is under control now but I guess we’ll see. If anyone has any advise on this by all means post me a note. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures of that I was in a panic, that would have been a good idea. Thanks

I like to knock out the pieces with a chisel but realized that I needed an 1/8th inch chisel to fit in the small gap up front in the middle pin section. Of course this is not something that can be had easily ( locally ) so I just dug it out with my 1/4” staying far away from the tails on either side.

Here are the two boxes without the bottoms in them yet. I am deciding whether to use plywood or use the maple that I have and make it solid with the upside down bevels all around and the cut out in the back. Maybe someone wants to give their opinion on that?

Chiseling the pins. I like to use the chisel the whole way. I used to get out the coping saw and cut off most of the tail clearing but it’s way faster to just take them out with the chisel as you go along. It took me about 40 minutes to cut and chisel the tails which is about 16 tail recesses total. There are some great links on youtube for cutting them by hand.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u9d_Ox066w . I hope that link works. This guy can’t speak the greatest english but man did he help me out with hand cutting. this is a very good method.

Next I took them to the jointer and squared up one face and one edge. Then on to the planer to take them down to the 1/2” I needed. Next step was to glue together the panels for some sweet bookmatching. Hopefully the pictures will show that well enough. Cut them to length and width and layed out some dovetails and hand cut those. I love the way hand cuts look. Marked the spots for the through tenons and cut to size the curly maple which I also got from my Bro. He’s a little pissed cause it is some really nice curl. It’s amazing really. I Sized up a 1/4 ” panel from the zebrawood for the back making sure to leave room for expansion and such. I actually used my new Lie Nielson block plane to knock down a slight bevel all around and it fits great. Glued all that up and then cut the front and back zebras for the sides of what will be the top box section. Block plane worked great for that too cause it didn’t quite fit off the jointer and I sweetened the fit perfectly. This is where I’m at now, so I’ll discuss more of the project later.