A Ming-Inspired Cabinet (39)

Thought I’d get all seven double spear point miter connections done in one day, however I came up a bit short, getting 5 of 7 done.

Here’s connection #2:

And #3:

#4:

#5:

#6:

#7:

And last, #8:

When the wedges are fitted, any remaining compress-ability in those connections should be taken right out. For now, unclamped, they seem to have come out decently.

And, please excuse the repetition of similar pictures. I wanted to improve on the blurry first miter photo from the previous post, and maybe went a little overboard.

Next, I fitted the drawer runner support pieces to their dadoes in the sides of the vertical dividers:

Time to do a trial assembly. Here’s a look at the dovetail end of one of the drawer support pieces meeting the mortise on the left side front rail piece:

After the 3-piece fronts were on, I clamped the rear rails onto them and checked to see how close the two parts were in length:

On one end I had this much overhang from the 3-piece (the rear rail is in the foreground):

Looks like about 1/32″ (0.5mm) discrepancy. A bit more than what I might have liked, but having a hair extra length in that area is something that can be dealt with quickly enough.

The 3 piece rail set below was in a similar relationship to it’s rear rail:

But I then found if I put a clamp across the 3-piece rails I could compress the assembly overall, removing any remaining play at the joint interfaces. The result was that the discrepancy at the ends was a little less, so all good. Since the fits at the joint meetings were satisfactory, I would prefer to leave them well enough alone. I adjusted the length discrepancy therefore at the stub-tenoned ends.

I took the assembly apart again, adjusted the lengths of the outer rail shoulders to be 1/64″ shorter, along with a few other minor tasks, and re-assembled.

The rear rails connect to the drawer support pieces with a mortise and stub tenon arrangement:

Here’s the first of the drawer divider assemblies:

With the rear rails all the way in on their lap joints, there is left about a 3/32″ (2.5mm) gap on the tenon shoulder to allow for carcase movement:

 

Here’s the back side:

Some of the outer drawer support pieces are a hair tight in both mortises yet, so they’re not really in there yet:

A view of the connections on one set:

 

 

Another view:

After fitting those outer runner supports to the rails, I guess next up will be the fabrication of the two upper horizontal assemblies, each of which are frame and panel ‘incursions’, so to speak, into the solid board carcase.

All for this time, thanks for visiting the Carpentry Way. On to post 40.