Cases and panels...
2008-12-16 by Doug Wellington
Last note before I fly to Orange County. I can make both straight and slanted cases. There are a couple options - if you want a case kit, I can make the case with angle brackets so you can put it together yourself. If you don't want to do that, I can make the corners in three different ways - the simplest is by gluing the panels together using my plate joiner and what are called "biscuits." With the glues that are available now, this is pretty much as strong as any of the other methods. The second way I make corners is with a dovetail jig. Dovetails are a very traditional way of making joints, and are the strongest joint you can make. I especially like to make what are called "inlaid dovetails" where I make one dovetail joint with a contrasting color wood, then move the jig slightly and make the final joint. There's even a dovetail method called "corner post double dovetail" that makes a symmetric dovetail joint instead of the traditional style that looks one way on one side of the joint, but a different way on the other. The third way I can make the corners is with a box joint, which is basically interlocked alternating fingers. When I have the time, I'll post pictures of what all these things look like. There is a big difference in labor costs for the different joints, so a case may range in price from $250 to $500. With all the stuff I have going on at the moment, there will be a 2-3 month delivery time for cases... As for panels, I apologize for not having a shopping cart on the web site - email orders have been keeping my work queue full. (I've been so busy already that I worry that advertising is just going to create a bigger backlog.) After I recover from the shop upgrade costs, I hope to hire someone to help me out in the shop. For the moment though, I'd rather stick with high quality rather than high quantity. OK, time to head out for the marrow donation. I hope to be back online Friday or over the weekend. Doug