Yesterday we saw a major shifts in the psyche of everyone when the joints were glued up and put to rest in clamps. There can be no doubt creating dovetails in pine can be more demanding than more resistant hardwoods by virtue of one single fact and that is surface absorption of glue. Hardwoods such as Cherry or walnut reain fairly level when glue is applied to a joint, but pine raises the fuzzies from the saw kerf and glue exacerbates the issue so that to make a successful joint you must work extremely quickly with each joint. I think that everyone saw this yesterday. Speed and order are imperatives in glueing up dovetail joints when you get past two or three to several more.
A chisel hammer I really like and especially for assembly is the one made by Craftsman at Sears (see on in Why not Mallets, below, July 14th). It has the advantage of a small diameter soft face that seems virtually indestructible and even pine is rarely marred at all, even when powerful blows are delivered. This hammer has just the right weight for assembly and chopping mortises so I seem to reach for it more than any other.
The change in psyche I mentioned above means that the interactions between one another has shifted too. Boyd drifts to Andy’s bench and Joe interacts with Gaylord and Eric, Logan shares a word with Chris and so the days remind me a little of when I worked as an apprentice or when I have worked in large workshops with other men. The weather, the technique the tools are all discussed but also the atmosphere is constantly charged at some level, but not overtly. The inspiration ebbs and flows like the ocean on the seashore and we inspire one another as the day moves far too rapidly on. Soon the boxes will be together and we’ll hopefully be starting the drawers tomorrow.
