Preparing for Glue Up — How To Make A Chisel Tray

Once all four joints are cut and fitted to their corresponding piece, dry assemble the whole box. Use a chisel hammer to fully seat the joints if necessary.

With the box assembled, trim any protruding nubs which would hold the joints from bottoming out when gluing up and clamping the box. To do so, use a sharp chisel and register flat on the side with the protruding nub. Press the chisel down with one hand for safety and control, and pare the nub with a circular, slicing motion. Most of the work will be done with the corner of the chisel, but you muse be careful not to split off the unsupported fibres on the outside edges by pushing with the chisel. To avoid this, work from both sides and always slice inwards, towards the body of wood.

Note: unless the joints are very tight, paring the nubs can be tricky because the dovetails can come loose. The reason this is done now (even though you may need to pare a little more off when glued up) is that the nubs can stop the clamps/vise from compressing the parts.

See video below to illustrate the technique.