Dovetailing 101- failure is always an option

For a long time now, I've been wanting to try to cut dovetails by hand.  I've watched several videos on how to do it and felt like I should be able to do it.  I started out by practicing straight cuts in the end grain of a piece of scrap pine.   

Once I did that I layed out the tails on a piece of poplar I had laying around. I started cutting the dovetails in the waste side of the tail.

One thing I really need is a vice of some sort to be able to better hold workpieces. These clamps just don't cut it

Next Istep was to cut out the waste with a coping saw. I had bought one several years ago and it's had a lot of use....collecting dust in my tool cabinet.  

It actually cuts great...

After that I got out my chisels to clean up the cuts.  I think this May have been where I screwed up at least the first one...I tried to cut the ends and the tails and I think I got to aggressive, plus my chisels needed to be sharpened so some of the grain tore out while I was trying to pare away a small amount of material. 

I transferred the tail locations onto the pin board.  

After I cleaned up the waste, this was the result.

Failure is always an option.  I'm going to sharpen my chisels and try it again to see if I can get a better result next time.

Intro to Scrollsawing

We had an unusual weeknight with nothing scheduled to do so I asked Braden what he wanted to do and he said he wanted to make something in my shop so we went down and started planning what he wanted.  He said he wanted to draw and cut out a Pokemon so that's what we did....well at least started.  He found one he liked so we took a piece of paper and traced the shape out over top of my iPad.  The printer still isn't hooked up after the desk building.   We used spray adhesive to stick it to a piece of 1/4" plywood and started our scrollsaw lesson.  This is the first time Braden has used the scrollsaw so we talked about safety and shop safety first, but soon started cutting.  

We got this much done tonight. We stopped after about 20 minutes because his attention span had run out and he was ready to play Pokemon a little while before bed.  We'll finish it another day...or not, just whatever he wants to do.  

Craft/Computer Desk Finale!

Today started out by destroying my old computer desk which was falling apart to make room for the new desk in the office.  It was particleboard crap so no real loss.  We then moved Leslie's old computer desk over to my side of the office for me to use.  Leslie helped me move all the pieces upstairs this afternoon. Here is a shot of beginning the re-assembly. 

The assembly process was pretty straight forward just getting everything in place and lined up was just a little tedious.  And or the big question of whether the top would fit...it was a non-issue. Went up without a hitch. Here is the proof...

Otis also was close by to lend a haw to the re-assembly. 

And Braden had to do the quality testing of the desk strength.   

And for the final result....this desk looked big downstairs, but now fully installed, it looks huge in the office, but Leslie is happy with it and that's all that really matters.  Here is the finished project

Now I have to figure out what I want to build next...