I talked with my boat service guy this week and the hull painting is supposed to begin this week.  The treatment is to include a barrier coating and VC17 paint.  It should be sweet when it's finished.  Launch is still something like 7 weeks away.  Unless we get some kind of warm up, launch may not occur until 2015.  The transition to spring has been s l o w.  Northern Lake Michigan/Huron is still solid ice from Beaver Island to Cheboygan.

So, I was a dovetailing master this weekend.  Here's a look at the process.  This happened 28 times over the last few days.

Which leaves a bit of a mess on the shop floor.

But the result is a chest full of awesome dovetail joints.

And drawers ready for the final construction and glue up.

I'm making progress.  That's the important note.

To be continued...

After a couple weeks of nursing a chest cold, I got out of the house and drove over near Grand Rapids to a salmon fishing seminar.  It should help me catch a few more fish because a hundred or more just doesn't seem like enough.

It was an informative event and I came away with a goodie bag full of "stuff" given away at the seminar.

So today, the challenge was to set up the dovetail jig and get some drawers built.  I don't use the jig very often so every time is an all new learning experience.

Step 1 is to set up the side to machine the tails.

Cut the tails.

Then, set up to cut the pins on the facing board.

Cut the pins.

Put it together and...

ALMOST!  Just a little bit of an offset.

So, 13 tries.

And on the 14th, I think we're there.

Whew!

Only 27 more corners to cut.  It really isn't that difficult, but it took a while for me to figure out just what the key datum was to line up on the pieces.  Once I had that down, it only to a couple tries to zero in on a good joint.

Daylight Savings Time...and what's this?

Yup, that's an icicle and that means it's been thawing for the first time in three months.  Must be all that extra daylight we have today.  There is still a couple feet of snow on the ground so boating remains a day or two away.

So, on the the project report.

I decided I want to use half blind dovetails for the drawer construction which is a style I haven't done on the Leigh Jig before, so I took a couple scrap pieces and did a quick set-up to see if I have the technique straight.

That'll work. So on to planing down the drawer stock to finished thickness.

And rough cutting to length.

Which results in a pile of lumber.

Some assembly required.

Next step is to finish stock to width and length prior to dovetailing.

That's what I'm talking about!

Assembled the dresser frame this morning.  Kathy ventured into the shop to assist with the gluing and clamping.  Amazingly enough, we're still on good terms.  Anyway, we got it all put together.

This is as large a cabinet as I've made.  I had to make some extensions for the pipe clamps to add a couple feet of length.

I was "tapping" the panels into position and forgot to move my finger once.

Believe me, it didn't happen twice.  The knuckle is a bit swollen, but I'll live.

After drying a couple hours the clamps came off and wonder of wonders, this thing is dead nuts square.

Added a few pieces for drawer dividers, and the exterior part of the case is complete.  Ready for finish sanding.

So, after a slow start, like 3 months, this project is taking shape.  Next up, drawer guides.

Launch day...10 weeks and counting.

It actually got warm enough this week to do a bit of thawing.  I even saw a robin in the trees near the office.  Unfortunately, it's still going to be a week of two before any thoughts of summer begin to brew.

So it was a monumental day in the life of the dresser project.  The first dry fit of the cabinet frame occurred.  Not a perfect fit, but it can be.  The lower frames are about 1/32" too long and all frames are maybe 1/16" too wide.  That's great news.  I won't need the wood stretcher on this project...yet.  A little minor trimming and it's done.  The panels assembled nice and snug.

So with that, the project will continue forward.  Spring is approaching, got to get moving on this.

NEWS FLASH!

It's official...our new summer home will be slip #31 at the Mackinaw City Municipal Marina.  We're excited about new adventures in a location we have always enjoyed, but sad that we're leaving our Ludington friends after 15 great years at Harborview Marina.

Now on to the report...

We've been out and about for a couple weeks.  First a week in central Florida.  Then an 8 day cruise aboard Independence of the Seas to the Caribbean and the ports of St. Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan, and Labadie, Haiti.

It was nice to get out of the cold and snow and get in a little beach and swim time in St. Maarten.  The skipper of our charter sailboat said he'd received his training in Traverse City.  Small world.

St. Kitts.

There was no shortage of the "larger" boats in the ports we visited.

This is a view of the yacht that was being built for Apple founder Steve Jobs as it sailed out of St. Maarten. The yacht wasn't completed before his death.

What struck me was all the large yachts on the move in the Caribbean.  There's some nice yachts in the Great Lakes, but they never seem to move much.  In the Caribbean, these boats get used to go places.

We made a stop in San Juan...

where the US Coast Guard saw to it that we were not bothered.

After another beach day at Labadie, Haiti and a day at sea, it was back to...

SNOW!!!

It's been some amount of years since there has been this much snow here. Gauging by the depth on the flag pole, it's a healthy 2 feet in the un-drifted areas.

But on to better news.

There's progress to report on the dresser project.  I've figured out all the framing details and am moving forward.

The end panels are all notched to accept the frames (this was the detail that gave me fits).

And the first of four frame assemblies is in the gluing clamps.

The excitement never ends.

This winter project is progressing oh so slowly.  Every little step has been filled with issues while I try to figure out how to attach the frame to the sides.  Maybe I'll have this thing done in time for my estate sale.

I needed to mill a tongue and groove joint in the frame pieces for assembly and to accept dust panels.  I picked up some feather boards to help with that cut.

I should have bought a set of those years ago.  It made keeping the stock pinned against the fence a cinch.  I needed a consistent groove so it was important to keep the stock in position through the cut.

The tongues were cut on the ends of the cross frame supports.

And I have the frame set up to the end panel.  Just need to figure out how to fasten all this together.  The intention is to use dowels.  I'll give it a try and see how it works out on the first frame assembly

A road trip is on the schedule for next week, followed by a little off season boating.