All of my case furniture - chests, cupboards, boxes, etc - starts here; splitting open an oak log to get the best-quality stock. (left) Each subsequent split breaks the log down further - in half, in quarters, eighths, sixteenths, etc. (right) The best stock comes from dead-straight, clear logs - the red oak panels below (left) are ready for planing.
Some stock first needs hewing with a hatchet (below, right) - either to reduce thickness or remove twist. The hatchet makes short work of it.
The joined works I make consist of a basic unit of frame-and-panel construction; the “joined” work in period terms. The simplest form is the cupboard door (left) - and the most complex is the cupboard it fits into (right) - but that construction is still a series of mortise-and-tenon joints and frame-and-panel construction.
