Category: Woodworking

The story stick ended up being a worthwhile diversion. It’s definitely a technique I’ll use again. I didn’t realize it at the time, but a big advantage of the story stick is that you can make mistakes on IT and still be in a situation to correct them. With it, I was able to layout all 4 posts, 2 sides per post, in about 10 minutes. When I did the original layouts, it took about 30 minutes for matching sides because of all the redundant measurements.

After getting everything marked, I once again laid everything out together for a sanity check. Everything looked good. Finally, time to cut some mortises.

I can honestly say that I’m glad I didn’t really get much done in the shop today.

Not that I didn’t try to. I was actually hoping to fit some of the stretchers into their mortises; with an outside shot of doing a little glue up. In the end, all I really got done was trimming the tenons on the stretchers for the front and back, and getting the rails for the sides cut along with their tenons.

I thought I had marked the layout lines on the posts for the mortises. After I had finished the third attempt and realized I had gotten it wrong again, I decided it was time to call it quits. How did I get it wrong 3 times? Because I’d forgotten the details involved that I had so meticulously thought through a week or two ago and I didn’t thoroughly inspect the notes I’d taken at the time.

After the first markup, I realized I’d forgotten to account for the shoulder cuts. Having remarked everything for the second time, I then forgot to allow 1/4 inch for spacing around the drawer. So I marked it up a third time. When I finished, the last tenon was too close to the end of the post; I knew I had left a margin for error. Finally, I went back to my notes. I figured out that instead of starting the layout at 4″ from the bottom of the post, I should have started 3″ from the bottom of the post.

Man, was I glad I hadn’t cut any mortises like I’d considered doing. Next time, I’ll make a story stick when I’ve worked out those details for a non-trivial layout.

Believe it or not, that pile of wood is going to be an armoire. Well, that’s not completely correct- I actually need to get more before all is said and done. Mainly the cherry. Hopefully I won’t need anymore maple. I’ll need some plywood as well so I can close up the back.

But still, can you see it? Those pieces of cherry on the left are the 3 drawer fronts. The wider maple boards on the right are the drawer boxes. The 8/4 maple will be the posts. The 12″ wide pieces of cherry will be the panels for the sides of the armoire. The narrower pieces of maple are the stretchers between the drawers and rails on the sides.

The details are what always get me in these projects. The bigger the project, the more important the details. Typically I draw complete plans prior to buying the wood. That way I have an idea of what width boards I need as well as what lengths I can cut them to so that I can get them into a vehicle. (Most boards that are roughcut are 10’+ in length. They’ll let you cut them, but you have to buy the whole board.) I’ve already been bitten by details in this project. Since I didn’t know the details regarding lengths, some of the boards that are cut are an inch or two short.

Of course, I had my reasons for doing it this way. Having plans is no guarantee against mistakes either. At least, not for me. Many of my plans that I’ve done have had flaws in them for one reason or another. Those flaws don’t become apparent until I get to a point in the project where they do become apparent.

In this particular case, I saw the cherry board and new it was the drawer fronts for the armoire. I wanted to maximize the usage of the boards but I couldn’t tell for sure what the dimensions would end up being. Thus, I had to guess at lengths for the maple, but I was a little off. In particular, I didn’t allow extra length for the tenons on the ends of the wood that is to become the stretcher. Bummer. Still, I should be able to make it work.

At this point, I’ve got the drawer fronts sized and I’ve cut the four posts for the lower portion of the armoire. I’m making it as an upper cabinet portion and a lower dresser. The top of the dresser will serve as the bottom for the cabinet. I’ll pin the front posts of the cabinet into the top of the dresser for alignment, but this will allow the dresser top to move without stressing the cabinet. I don’t have all the details figured out For instance, I’m still trying to decide if the door frames will be maple or cherry. I’m leaning towards cherry, thus making them all cherry doors, but I’m not completely decided. Also, the top of the cabinet is a bit murky. Will I mill some cornice? or put some kind of crown up there? The biggest question mark is the interior of the cabinet. I want to put more than just some shelves in there. But I’m not sure of anything beyond that.

There’s plenty more to come on this project. I’m looking forward to it.