While most mission furniture is put together with the mortise and tenon
joint, cabinet work calls for the dovetail. All the skill and accuracy
possible are needed in dovetailing, and when well put together with
this style of joinery, a piece of furniture should last indefinitely.
[Illustration: Fig. 179]
The making of joints just for practice may not be very interesting, but
in the case of the dovetail it is decidedly advisable. This is what
Ralph decided in Harry's case, and he was required to make first a
single open joint as shown in Fig. 179. The piece marked _a_ was laid
out first, after squaring up the stock, and the shaded portion removed
with back saw and chisel, sawing so close to the oblique lines that no
chiselling was required on these two sides. Piece _b_ was next fastened
upright in the vise, piece _a_ being laid over _b_ in a horizontal
position, and the form of the dovetail scribed with a knife point. In
other words, the first piece cut out was used as a template for laying
out the second. The form of the dovetail appeared in knife lines on the
end of piece _b_. The laying out of _b_ was then completed as shown at
_d_. The darkened portions were removed with back saw and chisel, and
the two parts carefully fitted and glued together.
[Illustration: Fig. 180]
This method of laying out dovetails is much surer than that of laying
out each piece separately according to the dimensions, as any variation
from the figures is duplicated on the second piece, so that they must
fit.
This single dovetail was followed by a box dovetail joint comprising
three dovetails on one piece, as shown in Fig. 180. The method was the
same as before, the three spaces being laid out, sawed, and chiselled.
After testing to see that the bottoms of the cuts were square, piece
_f_ was laid out, cut, and fitted. Seven-eighths pine is good for this
practice work, but white wood gives better practice, in that it is
harder, and the dovetails cannot be forced together without breaking,
unless the fit is good. The harder the stock used, of course the more
true this is.
After successfully making these two practice joints, the boy was ready
to try his skill at cabinet work. He began with a toilet box in black
walnut, to be inlaid later and polished. The over-all dimensions were
11 × 7 × 3-1/2 inches, the height, exclusive of top and bottom pieces,
being three inches.
The bill of material read:
2 pcs. walnut 11 × 3 × 1/2
2 pcs. walnut 7 × 3 × 1/2
2 pcs. walnut 11 × 7 × 1/2
[Illustration: Fig. 181. The dovetail joint used in box design]
The process was as follows: Sides squared up and tested. Ends squared
up and tested. Sides and ends compared to see if all were exactly the
same height. Dovetail joints laid out on side pieces. (The two sides
can be glued together with paper between, and cut at the same time, but
on this first box the boys laid out each side separately.)
Joints cut and chiselled to line and lettered _a b c d_. This was
to avoid confusion in laying out the ends from the sides. Ends laid
out from sides with knife. Ends cut and fitted to sides. This short
description meant the fitting of four box dovetails, or twelve
individual dovetail joints, and it took considerable time. The four
pieces were glued and fastened in hand screws over night. Particular
care was taken to see that the pressure was evenly distributed, so as
not to throw the box out of square.
While the glue was hardening, the top and bottom were squared up half
an inch shorter and half an inch narrower than the finished box was to
be.
A quarter-inch rabbet was cut on the four edges of both top and bottom.
When the box was taken out of the hand screws next day the rabbet
allowed top and bottom to fit sides and ends as shown in _g_ (Fig.
181). They were glued into position, and again placed in hand screws.
This construction left a quarter-inch rabbet all around the top and
bottom of the box. This space was to be filled with square pieces of
white holly as an ornamental feature. While the glue was hardening a
second time, these little square strips were prepared. The boys found
that it would not be necessary to square up the four sides, for if one
corner were made perfectly square, the other sides could be planed off
after the strips were glued on.
When the hand screws were removed again, all traces of glue in the
rabbet were carefully taken off with a sharp chisel. The strips of
holly were sawed in the mitre box, and fitted around the four sides of
top and bottom. The construction at this stage is shown at _h_, with
the holly strips projecting beyond the walnut sides, ends and top.
The strips were fitted and glued in position, and then held in place
during the drying process by winding the box in all directions with
stout twine.
When thoroughly hard and dry, the whole thing was squared up, as if it
were a solid block, and scraped with a steel scraper.
Gauge lines were then made for the cover, as described in the chapter
on toilet boxes, sawed, fitted, hinged, and polished.
When a box like this is to be inlaid, the inlaying should be done
after the squaring up, but before the cover is sawed off.
The method of ornamenting the edges by strips of different coloured
woods may be omitted, and the work considerably simplified by gluing
the top and bottom on, as shown in Fig. 181 at _i_, and if this seems
too crude, a bevel 1/4 inch on the sides and ends and 1/2 inch on the
top can be made with the plane. Still another method is to round the
edges as shown at _j_.
Where the top is to be inlaid, either _j_ or _k_ is preferable, as
ornamented corners combined with a decorated top is rather too much
ornamentation for good taste.