My sister is getting married next month. For their gift I've built
this chest. I must explain before looking at the pictures that they
had their first date at this gazebo, and her fiance is an astronomy
buff and they have a thing with the moon.

http://woodworking.dnsalias.com/chest.html

Warning for those on dialup, the total size of the images is about 700
kb.

The dovetails on the corners were the first time I attempted anything
larger than a drawer, cuts on the bandsaw and chopped out the waste.
They aint perfect, but I'm surprised at how well they came out. It
was also the first time I chop out mortises by hand, and after all
those I now understand why people buy dedicated mortisers. The bay
for the gazebo was an assembly nightmare.

Because I'm limited in the number of longer clamps I have, one cabinet
set of K besseys and then everything else is 12" or less, I took what
I guess is a fairly unconventional approach to assembly. I put
together the corners first, which let me load them up with short
clamps to get the dovetails tight. Then I assembled the front and
back, and then put them together with the side panels.

I won't say I couldn't have done it without the wreck, but it wouldn't
look like it does. It wouldn't have dovetails. It would probably
have poly on it instead of shellac and wax. Whether it googling the
group for info on veneering or asking questions, or just knowing if I
really got myself into a jam I could come here and find a solution, or
at least a sympathy "Doh!"

And finally, when the budget was toast and I really wanted a piece of
birds-eye for the moon I made a plea on the wreck. Not only did I get
it, he also turned it for me, and sent two of them, and only asked for
postage in return. He contacted me privately so I will leave him
anonymous. Because I had two to work with I was able to experiment
with carving larger craters into it which was never part of the plan,
and I'm thrilled with the results. So, thank you again.


-Leuf