It's Coming Together

Well, the chest is almost ready for assembly. Now there seem to be a million little things to take care of. I dry fit the panels to the legs so that I could mark the location of the dado for the floor on the legs.

Here is a closer view of the groove and post intersection.

After marking those locations I then took the chest apart and began applying varnish oil to the frame and top. This is when you really start to see the richness of the grain come out. This is also when you find all the places where your finish prep is not sufficient. I did a pretty good job on this project and didn't have to stop applying oil to clean up anywhere.

I carried the marks I made on the legs around with the marking knife and saddle square. 

I decided I should make a router guide to dado the legs. I used some scrap plywood and maple to make the guide and fence. I glued the fence to the guide and added screws after the glue had set.

With the guide ready I grabbed the test leg yet again and tried the guide and router setup. It looks good.

I use my marking knife to align the cut in the guide with the knife marks on the leg. When it is aligned I tighten the vice and check again before making the cut.

All four legs are done and I am happy with the outcome.

Now I can plane any machine and layout marks from the legs prior to assembly of the case.

I do enjoy planing but these legs only needed about three passes per side.

Well, that's all for now. I'll be laying out and rabbeting the floor next, then assembly and hardware.

"Groovin" And Finishing The Legs

Now I set up the router table and slot cutter.

After I had adjusted the bit for height I brought the fence out in front of the bit and clamped a piece of 1/4" ply to it so I could make a zero clearance fence. Note the lines on the table insert (the orange disk in photo below). Those lines mark the outer perimeter of the bit. I had the split fence separated to the edge of the insert. The lines help me keep from accidentally cutting into the split fence. Now I turn the router on and slowly push the fence into the bit. This bit has 5/8" clearance from the outside of the cutters to the shank so I pushed it all the way to the shank and then backed off just a hair, giving me a 3/8" deep groove. 

Click the photo to see it larger.

The lines on the fence itself identify the edge of the bit and help me to start and end the cut. The groove is started and stopped in the mortise. 

After running the test piece I was very pleased with the results so I ran all the legs. I then went to the bandsaw, set up with a 1/4" 6 tpi blade and freehand sawed to the line of the foot profile. This doesn't leave a finished cut by any means so now it's time for some hand powered fun.

Clamped in the vise, the leg curve is faired out with my spokeshave and smoothing plane. The leg in the photo below still has some saw cuts to remove but it is coming along nicely. Each curve takes about 3 minutes to smooth.

Well, the legs are pretty much done now except for finish planing and notching for the floor. I will do that after I have completed the frame pieces. Next, I make the mortises, grooves, and tenons in the rails.