Finally!  I'm over the dovetail hump.  I finished up getting the second drawer fixed up.  I'll have one drawer dovetailed in the Rockler jig (bottom) and the other out of the Leigh jig (top).

Both jigs have some good and not so good features, but the Leigh product is definately better.  It's also 3 times the cost. 

Progress has been slow this week.  A broken table lock handle on the jointer, failing brushes on the planer motor and fighting the dovetail jig has challenged me.  The jointer handle had a plastic serration that failed.  Fortunately, a common hex head bolt fixed that problem.  The motor brushes haven't completely crapped out yet on the planer while replacements are back ordered and I've had a breakthrough with the dovetailing system.

Anyway, I put together a couple slabs this week to create the lower shelf.  I'll cut to size at final assembly.

Now for the drawers.

I struggled with the Rockler dovetail jig that I've used in the past, but thought I had it all adjusted to give me a good joint.  The stops on the jig are made from plastic and have a tendancy to flex when clamped into position.  Here, I'm cutting the stock for a half blind dovetail.

The completed cut.

So, I completed all the cuts and had decent results...EXCEPT for one "darned" (mild public language) corner!  Ugh!

The results weren't terrible, but I know better is possible and better is what I'd like to accomplish.

...so...

Dad gave me a Leigh dovetail jig a couple years ago and it may be time to experiment with that device.  I was able to get enough info online to give me a good idea of how this thing all works.  Dad still has a few parts of this thing but I thought I had everything that is necessary to get this job completed.

I hauled it out and mounted it to a base so I could clamp it down to the work table.

I planed another pile of lumber to the thickness I needed.  The planer motor made it through another 15 minutes of operation, although I did have to spin the motor shaft to get it going this time.

After sizing a couple pieces of stock to drawer dimensions, it was time for the trial with the Leigh jig.

The first step is to adjust the jig fingers to give the desired spacing on the dovetail sockets.  This is one feature that is far superior to the Rockler jig.  Any pattern is possible with the infinate adjustment of the Leigh jig fingers.

The completed cut creating the pin sockets.

Then the mating piece in installed on the top surface of the jig and the finger assembly flipped to create the pin cutting setup.

The completed cut for the pins.

The initial trial showed that the pins were too shallow and one of the cuts had a slight angle that created a small gap on the pin at the left in the picture. 

If the stock cuts aren't exactly square and the stops on the jig lined up, these imperfections occur.
It's a trial and error process to tune in the joint.  After adjusting the depth of cut on the router (this adjusts the tightness of the joint) and the stops on the jig...3 times...I had the result I was looking for.  This is a nice joint.  I'm sold on the new jig and will use it for all dovetails in the future.

Now to make a new drawer.

Well, it's nearly time for some assembly, but first, there's a couple details that needed to be added to the table frame pieces.  The mission table design has slats installed on the sides so the mortises for those slats had to be cut.  That presented a bit of a challenge as my mortise machine didn't have enough verticle stroke to get the stock under it with a 1/2" chisel installed.  Therefore, I had to use a smaller chisel (which was shorter) and make multiple cuts.

It worked out ok and I got all the cuts completed.

The bottom of the lower rails have an arched trim line so I marked those.  I set up a simple jig and used a steel rule to create an even arch between two points to mark the cut.

Then, it's off to the band saw to make the "rough" cut.

And finish the edge on the oscillating drum sander.

A little sanding, and these pieces are ready for assembly.  More effort to have the parts sanded now, make the final surface preparation easier later.

The ends of the slats sit into the mortise pockets of the rails.  Because there may be some movement of these through the seasons, these parts need to be stained prior to assembly.

With the staining complete, it's time for the side sub assembly.

The sides completed.

A little more touch-up sanding before final assembly of the frame.

The final pieces are glued and clamped to make the frame assembly.

And... "ta-dah".  The frames are complete.  Only remaining pieces are the lower shelf surface and the drawer.  

Because the drawers are designed to ride on the pre-installed slides, that part of the project may turn into a challenge (aka nightmare) to get the drawer face to align with the frame. 

Time will tell.

I did the dry fit of the frame this morning and everything seems to go together in an acceptable manner.  There's a little more detail that has to be put into these pieces before I glue them up, but so far, all is well.

It's a good sign that the fits are adequate when the joints will hold everything together without adhesives.

The night stand project continues...

I took some time and made a little more sawdust today.  I wanted to get the table frame pieces completed.

The first task was to cut the mortises in the table legs.  Using a test block, I set up the mortising machine to try out the set up.

Satisfied that the set up was good, I began cutting the first of 14 mortises.

A finished mortise.

Next, I needed to make all of the table rails.  I started by planing some stock to thickness.  Since these pieces were going to have tenons on them, it was important that I start with all the stock exactly the same thickness so the tenons all end up the same size.

Then, once I had all the stock ripped and cut to length, I cut the tenons on the table saw using a dado blade to remove stock a bit quicker.  This isn't the textbook method, but it works for me.  A pro would probably use a tenon sled.

After a few hours of shop time, the kit is complete and ready for dry fitting.

...but that will have to wait for another day. 

Household chores have occupied most of my time the past few days but I did make some minor progress on the project.

The legs of the table have tapered legs.  I had purchased a taper jig a year ago and returned it because it was a piece of garbage.  I need the jig for this project, so I made my own.

With the jig made, I took the leg blanks and cut the leg tapers.  Each leg is tapered on two sides.

Legs with tapers completed.

The next step is to cut the mortise pockets.  Here, I lay out the cuts to be made on each leg.

Tomorrow I'll make some chips and drill the mortises.

Well, time to take a little break from the sawdust creation to get a little boat maintenance done. 

I traveled over to the boat for a day this week with good friend Jim Sarna to polish the hull sides.  Jim's technique has evolved over the past year or two and he has become quite accomplished at this craft.  After Jim applied the polish/cleaner with a wool bonnet, I followed up with a coat of Collonite paste wax.  The results were impressive.  My 23 year old hull looks like it came out of the mold yeaterday.

Here, Jim applies the polish/cleaner.

The results.  An almost "wet" look.

Now, back to the winter project.

The weather was nice this week, so I did a lot of outside chores but did manage to get the stock glued up and sized for the table legs.

Rough size lay up.

Squaring up the stock.

Final thickness planing and cutting to length.

I'll have a bit more time for this in another week with time off for the holiday.