Sapele

The four practice drawers that I made in an effort to improve my half-blind dovetails turned out well enough that I decided to make something they would go in.  The fronts were sapele because the last time I went to my hardwood supplier they had a few boards at clearance prices and I bought one out of curiosity.  I returned to buy some more for this project and was surprised to see very high quality boards available at an attractive price.

I knew little about sapele other than that it supposedly tears out due to interlocked grain, so I was expecting the worst.  So far, the opposite is true.  I don't know if I got lucky or if this issue is overstated.  There is some tearout but it is very shallow and easily removed.  Since it is as hard as white oak, I was expecting it to be as difficult to plane, but it isn't.  If you look in the comments on my last post you will learn why; it is hard but only about as dense as walnut.  The wood has a pleasant hue and a wavy ribbon grain pattern.  It's in the same family as mahogany and is from tropical Africa.

I decided to make two bedside stands to hold the drawers, relying on sliding dovetails on the fronts.  I hadn't made these before and didn't know what to expect but it isn't real difficult.  Part of the reason is that I cheated.  I took a wide board and created tails on my router table.  Then I ripped out the individual pieces.  Lazy, shame on me.  :(   Next time I will saw the shoulders and create them with a chisel, a technique I saw in an online video.  If the joint is not wider than your wide chisel it seems very straightforward to me.

I made the sockets [?] on the legs by hand with saw and chisel.  The problem I have with seeing marking knife lines didn't happen because if you mark over the lines with chalk and rub it off you are left with a very distinct mark that is easy to follow.  It worked so well that I am going to look for a color that will show up on lighter wood.

I judge the results to be very good but not excellent.  Some prominent woodworkers wax ecstatic over their results, using words like "pristine" and "perfect."  Mine aren't and I wouldn't say that anyway even if they were but I am pleased with how they look.  I think a sliding dovetail on the front of a piece looks really nice.

The cross pieces have yet to be planed, the reason for their rough appearance.  Sliding dovetails make a structure that is extremely strong and rigid.  The drawer depths were determined by the scraps I had for sides but I think the proportions look quite nice.

By the way, the best video on making sliding dovetails I found online is this one.  His have a really exaggerated taper.  I didn't see a need to taper mine as they are only 1 3/8" deep but they are very tight going together and a slight taper would have been nice.  Any deeper and a taper would be mandatory.  This is a real advantage of using hand tools instead of cutting the tails on the router table like I did.

I design and build projects like this in my head with no plan on paper at all because I think it's fun, weird as that may seem.  I have no explanation for this depravity and, of course, I know it makes no sense.  There is a sort of thrill in taking the risk that I can figure my way out of seeming dead ends.  Oh well.

Now I have to make another one.