When we left off (last December!), the internal dividers had been set on this piece and I was debating adding the external framing that's been completed for some time. Before getting into that discussion, I'll pass along this update: A fellow Craftisian (Flatulent Fellow, or something like that... lol) gifted me a block of spalted maple probably 2+ years ago that I've been holding onto for the right project. Good News, this is the project. Here's the block, on the far end of the bench, back in Nov 2014.

After some resewing and fiddling about, Drawer Fronts came from the maple chunk.

That was in February and that's how the cabinet (?) remained until the 4th of July holiday.

What happened that brought the piece back to working status? In a word: Material. Specifically, I came across eight short (identical) pieces of pine that led to a eureka moment… they were long enough, wide enough, and when resawn would result in sixteen drawer side blanks. Perfect for eight drawers, right? Okay, game on!

First, kerf cuts at the table saw.

Then a pass for each board at the bandsaw.

Smooth away the center waste with the venerable Stanley #4 (a workout in my uncooled shop in July!).

Then a check to confirm the fronts were beefy enough to support half blind dovetails to attach sides.

The sides aren't perfect matches for thickness, despite my best guess at setting the fence on the table saw. No biggie, that just means marking them to fronts to ensure depth of half blinds matches each piece of side stock. All the boards were dovetailed as a single step, and gang cutting two at a time was definitely the way to go.

Oh, and the layout for the tails is done freehand by tracing both sides of a chisel in three places on the boards' ends. Angled cuts are whatever comes of the saw. Meanwhile, here are all the tools used for dovetailing, all laid out on the benchtop.

The 'results' pile.

I've mentioned at least a few times that this kind of drawer making is one of my fave woodworking activities and it's still true. Doing small half blinds in somewhat punky, spalted maple is it's own kind of special activity. That said, things are about half way now on putting sides to front.

So the tasks remaining to complete drawers are apparent: four more fronts, then figure out what do do for bottoms and backs, make work that results in eight sliding drawers of the proper depth and overall fit. Gee, wonder if that will take another six months?

Stay tuned, and thanks for looking!