Straps

In the meantime, this chest is a little bit of a lightweight and may not be durable without iron straps. My research shows that strapping was common, and while it was less common on hutch chests than other kinds it was far from unheard of. In this case, the sides will be the weakest and so the straps will mostly reinforce the corners of the chest. The strap hinges will also be made in the same pattern. Don used the pattern I designed to program the plasma cutter for a bunch of cutouts, and at the present time I am busy filing their contours and correcting the machine's mistakes.

Fitting the joints

When the mortises were carved, it was time to make whatever cuts I needed to make to the tongues on the centerpieces so they could all fit. Trimming the walls of the mortises is out of the question, and it's always better to trim up the tenon instead. A combination of chisels, rabbet plane, and finger planes were needed to trim down those pesky tenons so that they'd fit. I spent a very long time in trial and error before I got each set to fit. As you can see, the thin boards have warped significantly due to moisture, which was a complication. One side looks much nicer than the other, so I think I know which one is going to be the front. As a side note, in all of my pictures it may look as if Don is doing all the work, but this is just because I have so many opportunities to photograph him while he's showing me how to do something, while I never manage to get any pictures of myself while my hands are busy. In truth, I think Don is increasingly content to let me do my own thing once I know the ropes. I feel more and more comfortable working unsupervised.

For now, the joints are a little flimsy and we're waiting for the glue to dry.