The project gradually moves forward. Finally the parts comprising the sides of the cabinet are ready for a trial assembly now that the glue on the double dovetail sliding keys has had 24 hours to set:
The front post attachment:
I got the parts together then started tapping them along their dovetails, until the fit started to feel on the tight side. So I’d strip the posts off again, then adjust the joints, then reassemble and try again, getting a little further each time. Creeping up on the right degree of fit, which is somewhere less than ‘screaming tight’.
Here we are after the second round:
On this side the parts are getting close:
But on this side the post has a fair way to go yet:
Upon disassembly, rub marks on the cheeks of the keys indicated where a spot of light stock removal was in order:
Once I had the two posts in place I checked the abutment relationships top and bottom to see if they were on the money. In this case, the latticed frame was about 2 hundredths (0.5mm) longer then the post’s tenon shoulders, so I had to trim a surface accordingly.
Then I could look at the fit of the lower frame member, which slides in on the two post tenons:
Again, the fit was tight, so I adjusted until I got a smooth fit, again inferring from rub marks on the mating surfaces.
At this juncture, the post tenon is within 1/8″ (3mm) of the lower frame’s bottom surface
I am very careful in how I separate the parts given the rather slim dimensions for the tenon. I set up a pair of blocks against which the lower frame’s corner joint halves can bear, and then carefully drift the post tenons out, a little at a time each side:
A while later I had the post tenons getting further through:
Once I could see that the lower frame piece was also going to engage okay with the two floating tenons glued to the lower rail of the latticed frame, I set it aside and took a look at the upper frame connection:
This was worked out the same way as the others, and at this point I’ve got the tenon slipping through this side’s joint half:
I can’t go any further though as I have the sliding dovetail keys in the way here:
So, at that point I had the two horizontal frame rails, upper and lower, fitting much as I had hoped:
After that I took the pieces back apart, and then fitted the upper frame to the lattice frame along the 4 sliding double-dovetailed keys. Once that was fit, I could assemble the parts to see if it came together as I might hope:
I was happy with the part interface at the top, a ‘no light’ seam is a good seam, or so it would seem:
And I found the the lower fitment coming out well also:
One side down, with the other side ready to go too. Seems to take most a day to fit one together.
That’s all this round thanks for visiting.
I can’t seem to take my eyes off of the kumiko pattern. Just lovely.
I’ve never tried to manage the fit of so many joints simultaneously. Thanks for documenting how it can be done.
It looks like it is warming up finally in your shop. Happy spring to you!
Thanks Gary. One thing about Cuban Mahogany, most particularly the Floridian variety, is that it has the shortest fibers of all mahoganies. This makes it great for carving and working in general, but also makes it a little less than robust for joinery. So I have to exercise a lot of caution in fitting. Thus, stages such as were shown in this post are fairly nerve-wracking for me and I have to be very deliberate in my movements when assembling and, most especially, disassembling, and just take my sweet time.