Breadboard Ends, Dowel Plates, And Drawboring

I'm back to the blanket chest now. I have been readying the frames for finish and leveling the floor among other things. Today I am attaching the breadboard ends to the top. Due to concerns about wood movement (the 18" wide top could expand almost 1/4") I decided to drawbore the breadboard ends to the top.

I first made some dowel blanks on the table saw.

I then used my spokeshave to make them approximately round and a bit oversize. Finding a good way to hold the piece was a little tough. I ended up putting them nearly vertical in the vise. A shaving horse would be nice for this.

I used a Lie Neilsen dowel plate to form the dowels from the blanks.

I found that one has to be careful to leave a bit of material on the blank to be removed by the dowel plate. It helped to start an end to give me a visual to work to.

If your blank is undersized you will not have a round dowel. Once the blank is ready you then hammer it through the appropriate hole in the dowel plate.

I made a test hole with the bit I planned to use and checked the fit of the dowel.

I marked out the hole locations on the BB ends and made the holes on the drill press.

With the ends tightly on the top I used the bit to mark the hole centers, removed the BB ends, and set the hole centers about 1/32" closer to the shoulder to draw the ends tight.

After drilling the holes in the tenons I widened the two outer holes to accommodate any expansion or contraction.

I then applied glue to just the center mortise and tenon. I also glued the dowels and drove them into their holes. After the glue set I sawed the dowels flush. Now I can plane the BB ends flush and size the panel (it's still a bit wide).

Thanks for taking a look. The chest is moving towards final assembly. I hope you check back again and see how it's going.

The Lid, Part Two: Breadboard Ends

I cut the top to length after glue up is done. There will be two 2 1/4" wide breadboard ends, each with three 1 1/2" deep mortises and a continuous 3/4" deep groove. They will overhang the sides 3/4", so I cut the top to the outside length of the front.

Now I lay out the pieces for the breadboard ends. I am making them a bit thick and will plane them even after the breadboard ends are glued on.

There will be three mortises in each end as well as a groove.

I mark the start and end points for mortising,

then transfer the marks to the top.

I check the set up one last time and I make the mortises.

I then run the groove using the dado head on the table saw. I set it up so I would make two passes, one each side. That will give me a perfectly centered groove that lines up with the mortises.

As I push the piece through the saw I can feel the resistance lessen as the dado head enters each mortise.  It is rewarding to also hear that the dado head is not cutting anything when it passes through the mortise. My set up is right on.

Now I set up the router table to cut the tenons for the breadboard ends. I put the largest rabbet bit I have (3/4") in the collet.

It will take three passes each side to cut the tenons and tongue this way but I don't want to use the dado head or run something this large through the table saw on end. I make a few test cuts with the offcuts of the top and then I have at it.

I am using a backer block to keep the back side from blowing out when the bit comes through. It's on top of the board in the photo below as I need that hand when I start the cut. This isn't as awkward as it looks. While more table in front would be nice, the table is wide enough to register on.

With tenon length cut I mark the locations of the rip cuts from the mortises in the breadboard ends. I used a jig saw to make these cuts. The scrap piece keeps the baseplate of the jigsaw off the work.

The crosscuts are also made with the jigsaw, except for the ends. I cut them a bit long and I'll trim them with a chisel after I get the tenons fit.

I must have let the top drift a little on one side when I was routing the tenons. I should have used a featherboard somehow to hold it down.

It's not much, about a 32nd of an inch, in the middle. I'll use my shoulder plane to fix that.

The tenons are too tight so again with the shoulder plane.

And after some more fussing around the breadboard ends are fitted and ready to glue.

I'll get this glued up but I want to get the top surfaced for finish first. Then I can plane the BB ends down to the level of the top and not have to try to work up to crossgrain. When your tool is sharp it is a delight to use hand planes.

Thanks for taking a look. There's more to come so check back soon!