I like to make lathe chisels from old files. Here I am grinding a file to make a skew chisel. For the skew end I ground the end to match the angle of the files original teeth. For the tang, I reduced the width to allow it to fit inside the handle. Files are very hard and can be brittle. It is best to anneal the steel first to soften it and make it easier to shape. Grinding all the teeth off, allows the file to be inspected for any small cracks which could cause a potentially dangerous situation while turning.I made two 16 inch x 1-1/2 inch blanks for each half. After tracing the tang outline, I drilled a 1/8 inch hole below the teeth to provide registration for the other half of the blank. Then a removed the waste where the tang would reside using a 1/4 inch carbide spiral bit in my my trim router.The registration hole is used to position the file on the other half, so it too can be traced. I added another 1/8 inch through below the tang to hold the halves together while turning the handle. Counter sink the each side so the head of the screw and the nut will be below the surface of the handle.Cut the screw to length, square up the ends of the halves with the screws in place, and then glue a block on tang the end for the lathe spur to engage.After turning to the desired profile, I poured marine epoxy into the tang opening after screewing the two halves together, to get a secure fit and let it dry upright overnight. Here are a skew, a parting tool, and two round nose scrapers made from files.
This is very similar to one I built for Little C, except that I extended the posts on the sides to the floor to double as legs. The stain used is 1 part MinWax Provincial to 5 parts MinWax Classic Gray. The front and sides are protected with 3 coats of MinWax Spar Urethane. The top has 5 coats of Varathane Ultimate polyurethane.The side panels were constructed first. Vertical posts are 8/4 red oak. Horizontal rails are 6/4 red oak. They are jointed with mortise and tenon. A dado connects the mortises to house the tongues of the solid 4/4 red oak panels. A pin on the back side thru the center of the rail and into the panels holds the panel centered in the dado with space to expand and contract with humidity changes.Here is the assembled carcase. Notice the southern yellow pine slide supports at the back. Dados cut into the sides house the the rear of the slides. Pan-head screws at the front of the 100 pound full extension slides are driven into oak added at the rear of the 6/4 mortise and tenon face frame. The back is 1/2 inch birch plywood, set into rabbets cut into the popular 6/4 full width rails. The southern pine supports are secured to the popular rails at the top and to the plywood at the bottom. The floor is 3/16 inch masonite set into a rabbet in the back, and supported by pine braces attached to the oak frame at the front and sides.The top extends past the sides about 1 inch, past the front rail 1/2 inch, and is flush at the rear. Oak blocks were added at each side to allow fastening the top with adequate clearance from the slides at each end. A single 2-1/2 inch screw was run up into the 1 inch thick top at the center of each end. Two 12 gauge steel figure 8 top fasteners were used at the front and back of each side to allow for wood movement in the top. One half of the clip was set into a recess cut with a forstner bit. The screw securing it into the recess in the block was left loose enough so that the clip could still pivot in the recess.The drawers sides were made from 1/2 inch birch plywood, the front and rears from 3/4 inch plywood. I painted the insides before assembly, masking off the area at the front and back of the sides where glue would be applied during assembly. A dado was cut 1/4 inch from the bottom to house the 3/16 inch masonite bottoms. A nailer with 2 inch 16 gauge finish nails held the drawer together while the glue dried. On the underside of the middle of the wide bottom drawers, I used a hand saw to first make cuts down to the dado to accommodate a 1-1/2 inch wide oak strip, which would add additional support to the bottom. I used a router to remove the waste between the two cuts made by the hand saw. The strip was secured with glue and a screw at the front and back.A single oak board was used to make the drawer fronts. This allows the grain pattern to flow across the front of the dresser. The oak drawer fronts were sized to fit in the drawer openings. I stacked a quarter and a dime at the bottom and sides to accomplish the spacing. After finishing the sizing cuts, glue was applied to the plywood front of the drawer, and then the 4/4 oak drawer fronts were applied and clamped. After allowing the glue to dry overnight, I added two screws to either side of the inside of the drawer into the drawer front. After all drawer fronts were installed, I checked if they were flush with the face frame. Slight inconsistencies in the positioning of the drawer slides made a couple drawers stick out a bit too far. I used a hand plane on the offending drawer fronts to bring them back into alignment before applying the stain and finish.
