Chest of Drawers: Episode 11
Posted 19 April 2017
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Having rehearsed and tested all the joints, we’re ready to glue up the main carcass. Follow Paul as he progresses through gluing up the frames and housing dadoes, being careful to seat all the joints fully. The small clamps help to pull the frame joints together. Once the main carcass is glued up and square, the dovetailed top rails can be glued and screwed, as well as the top.
Dear Paul,
I am not sure I got the principle of building this project with the allowance for expansion and contraction correctly.
You did not glue the inside rails to the sides of the chest of drawers but you did glue the top to the mentioned sides. Does it depend from the direction of the fibers ? Since the fibers of the top and the sides run in the same direction, any expansion or contraction will operate accordingly to those 3 pieces, is that correct ?
Another beautiful project, thank you.
My best regards,
Max.
Hey Max,
Don’t forget the build of a front dovetail with the back of a through tenon all in a dado grove. That was an awesome learning for me to take away also. I find it quit unique!
And you are correct that is was a beautiful project!.
Thanks
Mike
I’ll repeat the comment above. I’m confused about the wood movement approach. It seems to me that with the top glued and screwed to the case, neither the top nor the side panels can move with changes in humidity.
Please explain. Thanks, Bill
Hi William
Since the sides and the top have the grain oriented in the same direction (I.e. not perpendicular) any expansion and contraction is going to be roughly equal for both. Hence they will expand and contract together and not be a problem
Hope this helps,
Paul
Thank you for clarifying my question too..
I’m really disappointed with the amount of footage that was fast-forwarded through in this segment. I’m all in favor of the fast-motion with repetitive processes but using it on the entire dry fit and again on final prep for glue-up is just too much!
I pay by the month and you have to shoot the footage anyway. Maybe it saves Paul a little time not having to narrate and I’m sure it saves a lot of time in post but it’s time you’re being paid for, not episodes. I don’t care if I have to wait a couple more weeks and watch another couple of videos but I really do care that I’m not getting essential info on crucial steps in a complex build.
If I was in a hurry I could just watch some dude on YouTube flailing away with a shop full of power tools! I’m a paying member here because I find value in the way Paul works and enjoy watching and listening to him, not to mention learning in the process. But I don’t learn anything in fast-forward.
Just my thoughts, I can vote with my wallet and will if this keeps up.
You would probably be well served by looking over all the past projects. Many of them Paul spends more time on intricacies like glue up for every aspect of the project. Ultimately I agree with Paul J, the right balance of instruction and avoiding monotony is there in the editing of every video.
Hoyt
For me the fast-forwarding is fine. I think the team has the balance right between completely cutting out intermediate steps, and including real-time film of repetitive identical steps. This episode is a good example of this: we don’t need to see every one of the cross-members being glued and cramped in real-time.
Let me also say that the increasing use of multiple cameras and angles is enhancing what was already excellent material.
This combination of a real master at work and extremely proficient technical delivery is unique whether paid-for or free.
Agreed, fast forward is a reasonable compromise between watching the long repetitive process in real time or just skipping to the next stage. At least the fast forward gives you confidence that Paul isn’t cheating and bringing in “one I made earlier” and also shows the sequence of actions – including sharpening up!
So long as it goes back to real time if a snag such as coping with a tricky knot or even (God forbid!) rectifying an error to show how he handles it, that’s fine by me.
I suppose that WWMC could offer the whole video in real time, since that’s how it was shot but it’s going to use up a whole lot of storage space and bandwidth which would no doubt put up the costs (and fees).
I hope they show us cleaning up with the plane after the glue dries. He commented that he flushed one joint (top rail with dovetails) before gluing the top. I’d like to see that and flushing the other joints because I still have trouble dealing with flushing joints with crossed grain like this. It’s so easy to break out an edge, and it’s the front of the carcase, so it’s very visible. It’s even harder on drawers flushed with end grain, like the tool chest with drawers. Seeing the flushing done some more would help.
You didn’t learn in fast forward, but the question is whether you’d have learned more at normal speed. I’ll trust Paul’s judgement that the material could be skipped because they probably have limits on the server side when the episodes become long. Having high definition is the right choice vs. repetition, but I do agree that, if space isn’t limiting, I’d rather have the material and fast forward myself. By the way, I think Paul is narrating throughout, even during the skipping.
I don’t have any problem with the skip forwards – its an addition, not a subtraction (folks seem to forget that before Paul’s team started doing this, the videos would cut away until the next teaching).
I’d like to know how long this glue-up took start-to-finish. No matter how many times I do a walk through, the actual glue-up seems to take twice as long as the walk through.
It might be helpful to show elapsed time when skipping forward.
Awesome project
I loved the bent stick clamp, there is a new tip in every video.
I agree. Clever
I don’t see the advantage of gluing the top to the carcass. It seems to me that it gives you more flexibility to have it only screwed, especially when fitting the drawers.
I was a nervous wreck just watching Paul glue up this chest of drawers. There is no way I would ever be able to glue that many joints up before the glue froze the joints. But Paul seems so relaxed and he makes it look easy.
“I’m being so negative”
I think Paul’s negative is more positive than most peoples positive. I’ve not known anyone as positive as this and so excited by glueing up. Every step of the way he says “this is my favourite bit”. It’s brilliant. Even if you know all there is to know about woodwork I think these videos would be worth watching just for energy. Thanks Paul.
One of my favorite Sellers episodes. So much here to be learned here regarding wood movement and drawer/rail construction- which is not always clearly explained in woodworking books. This episode alone is worth the monthly WWMC cost. Thanks