Modicum of chuffidness

Now I did warn you that the door panels are turning out to be a little on the Technicolor side of things, didn't I? No danger of missing the join lines on these babies... Actually the colour's a bit off - very poor light over the weekend.


The only thing to be said for them is that at least they'll match - each other... I tried all sorts of combinations, but this worked out as the best way to avoid as many of the old nail holes as possible. Hey, it might look good - who knows? I'm not really that fussed about it, to be honest. 

However, that's the extent of my progress on the doors. The combination of having to go up country on Thursday, plus a hefty dose of The Voice of Conscience arriving in the inbox on Friday afternoon, means it'll be shelved until next week now. Given that I wouldn't be able to get the panels planed up, moulded, finished and fitted in the time available, it seemed a bad idea to get some of it done, only to leave a big gap before completion, during which time the wood would probably move again.

Perhaps unusually, my Voice of Conscience had a Canadian accent and enquired how things were going with the article I'd volunteered to do. Ack. What was I thinking? Never volunteer! But the deed was done in a moment of weakness, and I've been dragging my heels ever since for one reason or another. This is a Bad Thing and my guilty conscience was warbling in my ear about it as well. So I bit the bullet and managed to get the practical part done while the first panel was going off in the clamps. Workshop multi-tasking, I hear you ask? I know; virtually unheard of. The theory was typed up while the second panel was in the clamps, proving that my usual output is pitifully small for the amount of time spent.

But fear not; it wasn't all efficiency. Possibly only I could get side-tracked from a side-track, but I managed it. I devoted considerably more time and effort to an aspect of the article than it warranted. It'll probably not even make it into the finished product, but nevertheless I took the time to cut my first mitred dovetail. Not secret mitred, I hasten to assure you - I'm not insane. No, one where the end dovetail is mitred at the end to either conceal a groove, to run a moulding round uninterrupted, or just for neatness.


As ever, my dovetail guru is Mr Rob Cosman; in this case his "Advanced Handcut Dovetails" DVD. I did exactly what he said and here's the result:

Allow me a little modicum of chuffidness. I've been putting off trying this joint for ages, terrified of the mitre, and I confess I came over all smug when it went together so well. (I'll probably pay for that smugness with 2 or 3000% interest soon enough) I'd show you the join on the edge too, but the pic was out of focus. No, really! Honest! Look, I'll take another one tomorrow and prove it, okay?

Edit: as promised.


And yes, it is the same joint. I amputated it to free up the remaining board length for other things.

And before you ask, I don't think "chuffidness" is a word either, but what the heck. For non-Brits, a definition of the root may help. Or maybe not...