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Tommy Mac Tool Chest Panel Prep

1714 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by FatherHooligan, May 29, 2014

langski93

Discussion Starter · May 17, 2014 (Edited by Moderator)

I have milled and laid out the carcass panels for my Tommy Mac Tool Chest, but have not laid out the dovetails to start cutting yet. I have two issues I would appreciate input on.

First, the show face of each panel has a center seam which is flush and the face is extremely flat. The backs of the panels, which will be the inside of the carcass, are not absolutely flush (though very close) along the center seam. There was some offset during the glue up. In one of T Mac's videos he seems to be saying that the back does not matter. To paraphrase him, he says the show face is "boss" not to worry about the back. The panels are now too wide to run the back face through my planer, and if I hand plane the centerline, I am not sure I can be consistent and want to avoid variation in the thickness so as not to effect the baseline for the dovetails.

Second, when I square up panels, I measure corner to corner. Despite my best care, including tuning my table saw and sled, each panels seems to have a range of 1/32" to 1/16" out of square. Should I be able to work with this ?

Over all dimensions are 30 L x 17 3/4 W x 15 H

Have at it everyone. I appreciate all thoughtful feedback. Langski93

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FatherHooligan

· #2 · May 19, 2014 (Edited by Moderator)

I guess "remove or don't remove" is a personal choice on what level of detail you want to achieve. My thinking is that if the face is to be seen and is intended to be smooth I would make it smooth. As it is an inside face I may not spend as much time as on the outside but I would still smooth it out.

With respect to the squareness question. It may be a technique issue that is preventing the wood riding against the fence firmly the entire way through the cut.

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langski93

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 28, 2014

Mark S.

Thanks for the advice I think I will follow it. Also, the the squareness issue was continuing to drive me crazy and as an older woodworker and mentor once told me that "if something is going wrong its always something, you just have to find it." Hubie would be glad to know that I kept looking and found that the mitre bar on the cut off sled I was using was loose on the near end. Although all was well when I started my push, the loose bar would track ever so slightly to one side and cause the problem. A minute or two of tightening and now the panels are dead nuts square.

langski93

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FatherHooligan

· #4 · May 29, 2014

Good to hear that things are going well!

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