Work Continues

  So we got home last evening and this morning I went into my shop. After spending an hour watering our desert dry back gardens.  The grass is dead but we are trying to keep the flowers looking good.

  Sadly for me the magic elves did not come in while we were away and clean up.

   

   I am using 1/8 inch Baltic Birch plywood for the drawers and the is no real good way to deal with a five foot by five foot piece of sheet stock in my shop. Today I cut off all the strips that I will need and got that sheet out of my way.

  What I did was lay the sheet of plywood on my work table first.  The sheet hangs over on all sides.  To support the plywood sheet I put long boards underneath and clamped them to the table and the sheet stock to the boards.  The anvil is there to help stabilize the wood while I cut it with my Japanese style saw.  I find the thin blade and pull stroke cutting easier to control when cutting very thin material. 

  Once I cut the sides  I made the bottom from 1/4 ply into which I cut shallow rabbets using my making gauge, knife and shoulder plane. I needed those rabbets to give me some more gluing surface to hold the drawer together.

  There is the bottom drawer, without its face of elm.  For of the fussing, fitting, and gluing the 1/8 ply to the 1/4 ply I've decided that the drawer is too flimsy. I will have to add bracing to the corners. Happily all the big pieces of wood are dealt with and I can putter away with small things that are easy to lift.

   Cheers, ianw