Roubo, Roubo, Wherefore art thou?

I've always been a fan of Andre Roubo.  We've been hanging out since the late18th century talking about the woodworking bloggers of the day.  Most threads have a common theme about the lack of power tools.  "How can we possibly rip such wide stock down it's length without a good 14" (with riser block) bandsaw?  Um, what's a bandsaw?  "It will be several years before someone invents it", Roubo says.

Ok, so my imagination gets the best of me while reading articles about Andre Roubo and his contribution to design and woodworking in general.  Just think, his woodworking bench designed in the 18th century still reigns supreme today.  It's hotter than Jordache jeans.  So, when my February issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine showed up on my doorstep I once again traveled back in time.  There were hints on the Pop. Wood blog there would be a Roubo sighting in the February 2011 issue.  They sure wouldn't disappoint.  Roy Underhill wrote an excellent article about Roubo's Folding Bookstand. 

Well my wife, who isn't a woodworking fan but lovingly supports my hobby (passion) seems to read my magazines before I do. She came across the folding bookstand article and immediately added it to my honey-do list.  You see, she has a passion of her own.  She reads blogs about building family relationships, loving one another, etc.  One such blog, I Take Joy is a daily read for her.  This is written by a wonderful lady who loves books and has provided such wisdom and direction to our family through books and blog that she thought it would be an appropriate gift.  Already signed-up for a conference she is hosting, my wife wanted me to build this bookstand so she could give it to her while there.  Well, trying my hand at this 'near all hand tool' project two days before she left (after procrastinating for over a month) proved interesting. 

A lot of you out there have been asking questions and wanting more (above and beyond the Popular Woodworking article) on how to make this stand; myself included.  Christopher Schwarz graciously posted a short video providing a few more clues into marking and cutting the hinges.  Although I'm not him, I took a shot at a more complete video on how to make this mysterious piece.  Growing up in a power tool world I'm still mastering my hand tool skills so don't cringe at my technique.  I hope you enjoy, and I certainly welcome your comments. 

A side note:  I built another bookstand after shooting this video and more closely followed Mr. Underhill's advice for rounding over the hinges instead of the MUCH easier 45-degree approach.  The end result (which is actually the gift we are giving) turned out much nicer.  If you are contemplating building one of these I suggest you go with the rounded hinges.  They are very pleasing to the eye and I'm sure your book will thank you.

The First Tool Cabinet Blog Ever...

... well, ok, maybe not.  But it is my first blog entry ever.  I actually started building this about a year ago and have taken a few pictures along the way (sorry, no video).  Well after a year's worth of effort (mostly on other projects) my children convinced me I should enter the 21st century and create a woodworking (v/b)log (is this another first?).  So here is my feeble attempt at blogging and vlogging and posting (oh my!).  Maybe I can hire them to do it while I continue working wood.

Anyways, I thought I would document my journey on making a tool cabinet for some of my hand tools. I'm making a modified version of a plan I found on Fine Woodworking. Most of my hand tools currently live in drawers under my bench. Initially, I thought this was a good idea but after building and using them they are rather inconvenient.  I can't use my holdfasts and can guarantee I will need to get in a drawer just as soon as I have a large panel clamped up in the perfect position to mark some pins (happened as I was making this cabinet).

So, like I said, I'm making a modified version of this tool chest found on Fine Woodworking. 

My drawer layout will be different and I won't have the internal door partitions.  That is a bit cluttered for my tastes.  Instead I'll be adding a smaller version of this plane cabinet found on Becksvoort's cabinet.  This will hold the longer planes that won't fit in the cubby holes (a Stanley No. 5 Type 11, a Lie-Nielsen No. 5 1/2, etc.)

So the work begins.  I decided to make the cabinet out of some African Mahogany I purchased some time back for a blanket chest I was going to make for the Mrs. There was a change of plans on the chest (using Walnut now) so the mahogany has been sitting in my shop (read garage) for a few years. I'm not really a big fan of some of the mahogany knock-offs (difficult to work with hand tools) so the wood is turning into shop furniture (albeit expensive shop furniture).

For the sides, top and bottom I have two 17" W x 8'L boards. The rough dimensions of the box are 37"W x 48"T x 16"D. In this photo I'm cutting one of the 8'L boards in half for the sides.

After the four pieces have been cut to size the edges need to be jointed. The handy-dandy LN #8 performs admirably.  This is one of my favorite planes.  Believe it or not it is a great shooter as well.

The box will be joined together with through dovetails all around (tails on the sides).  So, once all the edges have been straightened and squared (I did the cross-cut squaring on my TS - they are a bit too wide for the shooting board) I put a shallow rabbet on the inside faces of my sides (tail boards) - AKA the 140 trick. You've gotta love the cross-grain shavings you can get with a 140. This will later simplify registering the tails on the pin boards when marking.

The next post will document laying out and cutting the dovetails.  There are a lot of them so this will be great practice for some hand-cut dovetails.