This box was twenty hours in my hands, Tony,
Probably be less than that in others’, before it’s buried!
Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the practice, achieved some fettling and sorting of many tools and had a fine excuse to huddle by the shed fire for a few mornings.
The beech, cut near Hebden Bridge last year, is still moving so I hope it lasts long enough to perform its duty. The dovetails—unglued by request—are holding through friction tonight but I may have to run a dowel through them before Monday. The Bubinga pins and a beeswax seal are to prevent Liz escaping on her last ride to Wales. I was planning a tung oil finish on the outside but that meant keeping my waxy fingers off it: too hard.
Funny how that degree of chamfering says, “Dead person inside”.
My poor bench was hardly up to the job. Its gnarled surface put a couple of ripples into the boards when clamped and the tail vice won’t stay flat. I look forward to refurbishing it this winter. The planes were a treat, however. I brought an old skew rebater back to life; had fun with the Stanley 050 and made a tiny, effective router plane blade from a 5mm Allen key. What larks.
Let’s hope the client doesn’t complain.