orepass

Now that all of my dovetails are cut and fitted and before glueing the carcass I want to make sure I have smoothed all of the surfaces. Like most of you it took me a while to realize that the time to smooth a project is before it is glued together. Many of my earlier projects have machine marks and plane tracks where I could not reach after glue up or simply could not see. As the days have shortened and the temperatures are colder I have less light to work with and am reluctant to open the garage door. By using a small raking light I have a better chance of spotting all of tracks and marks.The best part is I didn’t have to buy the light just dig it out of a box in the basement, pop a bulb in it and It was good to go.

The picture of the inside of the chest doesn’t show the real ugliness. I made quite a mess on one side and quickly realized that I had used a different smoothing plane that had no camber on the blade. A couple of months ago Shannon at The Hand Tool School helped me out quite a bit by demonstrating how to camber a plane blade. While sharpening I press down one side a a time for five swipes across the stone and I rarely have tracks like this. Well except when I pick up a plane that hasn’t been cambered.

An hour with the old # 4 plane and a card scraper and things begin to look much better. I do not have a #80 scraper and although this doesn’t take long to finish up I am wondering if it would be easier to smooth with one. Obviously it would be even better to get it right the first time. The interior on this project is much more important than the exterior. I will stare at the interior every time I reach for a tool. I plan on painting the exterior when i am finished and leaving the interior alone. Glue Up tomorrow.

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Glue up Tomorrow!