Comments on: The Case for Hidden Joinery

By: TheHoneyBadger

TheHoneyBadger — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:30:20 +0000

Hey Chris, where did the woodworker-chicken idea come from? )
Cheers man, Erik.

By: ddvann79

ddvann79 — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:18:39 +0000

Why, Chris! That carcass looks positively European with such clean lines! I love the minimalism. Is that a word?

By: Roco45

Roco45 — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:11:38 +0000

Good article, as usual, Chris.
Glad your latest taste is for hiden joinery. I studied woodworking, in the 60′s and the emphasis was on blind joinery. Full-Blind dovetails on carcasses and half-blind in drowers. The teaching was of 4 years, 2 years, using only hand tools 2 years using machines and hand tools.
Using only hand-tools the full blind dovetail is one of the most dificult joint. Special care is to be taken on the 45 deg lip, and when sawing the dovetails one has to be carefull not to nick the lip with the saw, but when it is well done, it gives a special sense of accomplishment.
But now, I also like the looks of exposed jonery.

By: MikeM

MikeM — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:08:59 +0000

I’ve also been experimenting with hidden joinery for cases.

I first tried the hidden dovetail which worked nicely but still left the stepped corner and exposed end grain along the joint.

I then did a case with the hidden dovetail and with the edge and corner mitered so the joint looked like a simple miter.

I also did another case with a fully hidden finger joint with mitered corner and edge. Same mitered corner look with a finger joint buried inside.

With both cases, I cut the sides and top from a single glued up panel so the grain and joints matched up.

By: Rick Simpson

Rick Simpson — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:48:59 +0000

If someone has a copy of Moxon’s 1678 book, they might want to update the Wikipedia entry for “Joseph Moxon”. A number of his other books are listed, but not that one. In addition, there’s no mention of his being a woodworker, although it mentions that he made maps, globes, and mathematical instruments.

I suppose that being the first tradesman elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society trumps woodworking. This really is a big deal: his contemporaries in the Royal Society included Isaac Newton, John Locke, and Christopher Wren. Not bad company for a “tradesman”.

By: vttoonses

vttoonses — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:04:52 +0000

His friends actually called him “Big J”.

By: whintor

whintor — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:21:56 +0000

There is a story (which may not be true of course, given the media’s love of Royal gossip), that Viscount Linley (son of the late Princess Margaret, sister of our Queen) who is a well respected cabinet maker, when a young man, showed his Grandmother (Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) a box made with hidden dovetails.
This was no doubt an exquisitely wrought piece. He apparently told his grandmother all about the technique required to hide all the evidence of joints. The Queen Mother (who was in her eighties, at least) then asked why he had gone to all this trouble to produce a box without any evidence of the skill required to produce it.
There is really no moral to this tale, except to enjoy your own achievements.
By the way, the chest looks fantastic, and I await developments. I love campaign furniture.

By: metalworkingdude

metalworkingdude — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:29:51 +0000

The cases look great! I really like the “scalloped” look of the back, that could look pretty nice on a frame and panel door, on the floating panel.

By: bubbainmiss

bubbainmiss — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:24:42 +0000

Chicken nugget description deserves a Pulitzer.

By: bubbainmiss

bubbainmiss — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:24:08 +0000

Huh?