Definitely tails first. I tried pins first once, but it’s hard to get in there and mark the tails out. 

Hmmmm...

When one needs a block and a mallet to dry fit tails into pins...

When the pins are done, I stand the "pin board" up and place it on the Tail Board....a SHARP No. 2 pencil is used to trace around each pin.  I then cut on the "waste" side of those lines, trying to leave the lines intact (trying being the operative word)....Figure I can pare a bit IF the fit is too tight...

Time to cut the dado for the single shelf of this project.

Mark the line which delineates the location of said shelf....

 

And get choppin'.

 

 

After which I lay the edge of the shelf against the knife wall I chopped out....

 

...and after marking that line, time to chop again.

 

Edited January 7, 20251 yr by Handfoolery

Pare most of the waste away....

 

Lookin' Good!

Since I don't have a router plane I grab a hunk of wood I got laying around, and using my combo square I select an angle slightly more than 45.....

 

 

And start drilling.

 

 

 

Hammer a 1/2" chisel through it...

 

And finish up the dado, which I repeat on the other side board.

 

 

 

Thank you, Paul Sellers. I don't really know what i would have done without you.

 

Edited January 7, 20251 yr by Handfoolery

All for now. We have 6 or so inches of snow on the ground. It's gonna be a bit.

Thanks for looking and commenting. Much appreciated.

Thanks, @lew!

12 minutes ago, Handfoolery said:

All for now. We have 6 or so inches of snow on the ground. It's gonna be a bit.

Thanks for looking and commenting. Much appreciated.

I was just getting ready to comment your shop floor looked better than my white one....never mind, you win, mine only has about 3" of s#@w. Southern part of our county has about 9".

 

No hurry on my part. Gonna be a long winter here so enjoying the build as it happens.

Edited January 7, 20251 yr by Grandpadave52

Thank you. Here's hoping neither of our winters are as long as we think.

Better you than me. At one time I could and guess I still can but just don't have the patience for it now as doing the whole thing by hand. Looking good.

17 minutes ago, Gerald said:

Better you than me. At one time I could and guess I still can but just don't have the patience for it now as doing the whole thing by hand. Looking good.

Thanks.

As for doing it by hand, it is why i love woodworking.

But if I had the cash and room I'd definitely have a band saw, and thickness planer. Let them do the dirty work for me, and concentrate more on the joinery. This wood was "flat enough" to work with; some of it I use requires a ton more work before it is suitable.

This just popped up in an email. Nice but a bit out of my price range-

https://bluesprucetoolworks.com/products/blue-spruce-router-plane?utm_source=fine+woodworking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fw-routerplane-0125&utm_content=FW+Dedicated+Offers

 

Yeah, that ain't happening. But i might pick up something like this in the future. Right now my budget does not exist. Winter is here and the electric company will take anything we have left over.

It's mde in China, and is certainly not a fine woodworking tool, but if i get a router plane it will be something like this. Until then I'll keep shving a chisel thru a 2x4. It works. Lack of tools will not stop me from building. Never has, never will.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Router-Plane-Handheld-Woodworking-Tool/dp/B0D7ZSSK68?crid=297L4D609RUNX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ibpZ6z9YKpR5lAmoel-g6XkoX3D21eICHwmnc_s6wnZLHjWx5sno2C5-HBpEhan-2rdgWNtoalr6xgViJYfTytHJkLr8KDQmALfMAef4959bi5Dkgigi1MUHWnB5cSAD4QS2jnJxd2BLpQBYN9gUc8Y0WIinlwC_j8NgmMmny6onrzrnk8z680S_tZIxFGK0jj9-O2S9Z4CRXmuB_ffHaRUo2HlBYbG3iIF8GlvZbSxb9be4ujx_tfQnIxKSpzdyY1K2zdKGvtD0IjdRPxCmc_2CM6LZ9b6hTGrb1_wsk3-LR9JSSYyVicb42tIM6W4WvgutrZdwOQbDKjxoshIz4BCdgoMCG-AfIvz1NaaX27E.3NYg-c73AKCmQaR1In0KXphIgwBvQa16lrpmZr98r1k&dib_tag=se&keywords=router+plane&qid=1736272176&s=hi&sprefix=router+plane%2Ctools%2C114&sr=1-3

Way outside my budget, too!

Ebay. It’s where I get all my old hand tools. 100 + year old Stanley tools are better than anything made today (aside from Veritas or Lee Valley) and you can pick them up all day for a song. They usually take a little work to get into shape but I’d rather do that than buy anything from China.

Here are some on eBay. Looks like the Stanleys have gone up a lot since I bought mine.

 

$69.99

 

on bids at 14.95 now

 

$55 and looks good

Time to glue up the carcass.

I'll start with the center shelf. Run some glue in the dado....

 

 

...tap the shelf into place.......