Apothecary chest

[Derek Cohen]

Derek,

How do you like the Hammer? It's on my short list of saws so I'm looking for user feedback.

Hi Jason

I have had the K3 for about 9 months now. This has the 49" slider and pro fence. It replaced a contractor saw I had for over 20 years. The choice at the time was with the SawStop PCS with 36" glide rail and sliding saw attachment. 

Both saws are excellent. The Hammer is a different type of saw and, once you begin to understand all it can do, it is far in advance of the SS. For example, ripping with the slider using a Fritz & Franz jig opens huge possibilities. The K3 is more powerful with a 4 hp motor and also has a 12" blade. Blade change is a quick affair. The fence systems on the Hammer are just so much more advanced than the SS (which has a Biesemeyer while the K3 has one similar to the Delta Unifence, which is a split-type fence). I only work with solid woods - no panel goods - and the smaller slider is a perfect size. The footprint of the K3 is also much smaller than the SS. Working with a slider is a safer option than a traditional table saw.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

Derek,

How do you like the Hammer? It's on my short list of saws so I'm looking for user feedback.

Hi Jason

I have had the K3 for about 9 months now. This has the 49" slider and pro fence. It replaced a contractor saw I had for over 20 years. The choice at the time was with the SawStop PCS with 36" glide rail and sliding saw attachment. 

Both saws are excellent. The Hammer is a different type of saw and, once you begin to understand all it can do, it is far in advance of the SS. For example, ripping with the slider using a Fritz & Franz jig opens huge possibilities. The K3 is more powerful with a 4 hp motor and also has a 12" blade. Blade change is a quick affair. The fence systems on the Hammer are just so much more advanced than the SS (which has a Biesemeyer while the K3 has one similar to the Delta Unifence, which is a split-type fence). I only work with solid woods - no panel goods - and the smaller slider is a perfect size. The footprint of the K3 is also much smaller than the SS. Working with a slider is a safer option than a traditional table saw.



Regards from Perth

Derek

[Belle City Woodworking]

Hi Jason

I have had the K3 for about 9 months now. This has the 49" slider and pro fence. It replaced a contractor saw I had for over 20 years. The choice at the time was with the SawStop PCS with 36" glide rail and sliding saw attachment. 

Both saws are excellent. The Hammer is a different type of saw and, once you begin to understand all it can do, it is far in advance of the SS. For example, ripping with the slider using a Fritz & Franz jig opens huge possibilities. The K3 is more powerful with a 4 hp motor and also has a 12" blade. Blade change is a quick affair. The fence systems on the Hammer are just so much more advanced than the SS (which has a Biesemeyer while the K3 has one similar to the Delta Unifence, which is a split-type fence). I only work with solid woods - no panel goods - and the smaller slider is a perfect size. The footprint of the K3 is also much smaller than the SS. Working with a slider is a safer option than a traditional table saw.



Regards from Perth

Derek

What a great Shop!   Thanks for posting that pic.   And the cabinet you are building is fantastic!

[Derek Cohen]

The previous weekend had seen the completion of the drawer blades. There were 24 to make - 6 rows with curved faces.



The walnut was flushed ...



... and then were slid along the dados in the carcase ...



At this point the build came to a grinding halt. The drawer blades ... dados ... were not coplanar ... level ... darn! We are talking a millimetre here-and-there, but the combination looked terrible.

What went wrong?

It was the marking out. I ignored a very simple rule - I failed to use a common reference point. This should have been done with the dividers installed - with the inside base of the carcase as the reference - and not marked outside the carcase.

I could have repaired the dividers, but I decided to scrap the lot and make new ones, and cut new dados.

The carcase was repaired. The dados were filled in ...



Flushed ...



None of this would be visible when the new dados were made.

Then I did what I should have done when marking the positions of the dados - made a series of MDF templates, which could be used as left- and right hands ...









These were used for all dividers, with a line scored by a sharp knife ...



The power router and guide were used again. Tempting fate, perhaps, but I was convinced that the fault lay with the marking out, and not the cutting of the dados. I was tempted to just do the dados by hand - I do feel more in control with hand tools - but 40 needed to be done in all, and in hard merbau, before the weekend was over.

I am not going to bore you with pictures of the dados being made. It was the exact same as before ... except this time I did not cut on the wrong side of the line with one!


Here is the rear of the chest with the drawer blades inserted ...



And a couple of the front ...



The dividers and the drawer blades have yet to rebated to fit the stopped dados, nevertheless the shape of the chest is becoming more defined.



Regards from Perth

Derek

[JimT1]

Thanks for making a mistake. Personally I feel a lot better now.

Jim

[Bill Holt]

Thanks for making a mistake.  Personally I feel a lot better now.

Jim

Jim may be new to the forum, but he "nailed it"!!!!!!!!!!!

[Derek Cohen]

Well the carcase was finally glued up, everything square as can be ... and I forgot to take a photo of this!


However, while planing the outside, I discovered that the black walnut required nothing more advanced than a simple single-blade common angle plane. Many years ago I received a smoother from Steve Knight. This was the first occasion I got to use it. 



Just wonderful to work this wood!

The next step was to complete the vertical dividers. These were inserted and, with some relief, these were square as well. A reward for attention to detail? 

The photo below shows the next steps: the stopped dados need to be extended, and the faces of the dividers need to be shaped to match the angles of the carcase.

The dados are marked to 12mm from the edge ...



... and chiselled and pared away ...



These were then glued in place (yes, I got that one!
) ...



During the dry fit I had been careful to fit them flush with the rear rebates, and then saw them parallel. This made it easier to ensure that they were glued square (since the fronts could be flush with the lower edge of the carcase, but not the upper edge, which has an overhang) ...

[Derek Cohen]

Time now to install the drawer blades. These were positioned loose, as before ...



To fit them to the stopped dados, the front was marked out ...



Below the rebates are marked and knife walls cut ..



The first saw cut is across the top to establish the face ...



Then saw diagonally along the vertical line ...



.. before finishing on the horizontal ...



This will maximise obtaining a straight saw cut.



This is the fit once all is done ...





The drawer blades will remain loose until the drawers are completed, since they still need to be used as a template for each drawer.



At the rear of the cabinet, the drawer blades are marked for length and sawn flush (in the photo below, half are flush, with half to go) ...



All done. Each is marked for repositioning ...



So that is it for this past weekend. The drawers are next. Curved fronts and compound dovetails. How much fun is that!




Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

This weekend I spent time preparing to build the drawers for the apothecary chest. There are 24 drawers, which makes 48 drawer sides, plus 24 drawer fronts and 24 drawer backs. And then there are 24 drawer bottoms. And slips for the drawers. 

All this before building the drawers can begin. I wonder how long this would take if I did it all with hand tools? 

I've been reading the posts by Chris Schwarz about the forthcoming publication of John Brown's “Welsh Stick Chairs”. This was a seminal book in the same manner as James Krenov's "A Cabinetmaker's Notebook". I've not read John Brown's book, and I am looking forward to doing so. I have read Jim Krenov many times. It seems to me that they are similar in the way that they value the craft that is woodworking, and the importance of hand tools. However, they differ in the way they view machines. Krenov used his to prepare the way for hand tools. Brown would have nothing to do with them. It seemed he feared that craft would be lost if machines were used ...

"The hand too maker needs the best bench he can make – or afford!  You must know your tools, what they are made of, fine adjustments and sharpening angles.  Everything must be clean and sharp.  Tools talk to the craftsman, and will let you know when they are right.  What the machine does by noisy, brute force, you will be able to do with quiet cunning" 

"I would not go so far as to say that there are no skills necessary to working machines.  It is important to be able to read and interpret complicated instructions.  What you end up with is engineering skills – precision engineering in wood". 

Link:  http://tonykonovaloff.com/?page_id=54

What has this to do with the work I did this weekend? Well, I could relate to the role of engineer. Preparing the wood for the drawers with my machines was the work of a machinist. Would I have rather spent the time doing this by hand? Well, I have done this in the past - I worked almost exclusively with handtools and a few hand power tools for over 25 years before purchasing a tablesaw, jointer, thicknesser/planer, and bandsaw. I began upgrading these over the past 7 years. I would not go back. Machines do not replace handwork.

The question is whether this compromises the work I do? 

The drawers have Tasmanian Oak sides and back. The drawer front will be Black Walnut to match the carcase. The oak has become harder to come by in Perth. I prize it because it is all quarter sawn, which is ideal for drawer sides as it is stable. It is light in colour and a good contrast to dark timbers. But I have so little now. Much of it is narrow boards - I grabbed everything that my local Bunnings store had a few years ago when I heard they were no longer going to sell it.



These boards would be resawn and book-matched to become the drawer sides ...





Where my jointer-thicknesser/planer excels is that I can cut the boards to short lengths, and still process them. Shorter boards will not lose much waste when flattening ...







This was at the end of Saturday. Drawer sides taken to 1/4" and stickered. I have had good fortune with this method in the past. The wood is stable and cleaned up with a cabinet scraper. If there is any slight movement, it will be taken out when dovetailed.



The black walnut is rough sawn. This board is 1" thick and will make all the drawer fronts. 



The tablesaw is new. The slider is magic to rip as well as crosscut. Here is a Frans and Fritz jig used to quickly rip the short lengths into two sections (= two rows of drawer fronts) ...







This is just raw material. It does not replace the handwork in building the drawers.

I have begun fitting the drawer sides to the drawer blades ...



There is so much more still to do ... and I have not even made the drawer bottoms or slips.



Regards from Perth

Derek

[Belle City Woodworking]

Awesome job Derek!!!  And that table saw is Awesome!!!!!

Thanks for sharing!
John