Well as all of my projects seem to do, they create some frustrations and teach me a lot but in the end everything ends up being ok by my standards in hopes that they will last a little while.
I started by getting some awfully nice QSRO from Scott Smith back in early December. Being a real rookie when it comes to identifying nice wood from the outside of rough sawn lumber, this time I asked Scott if he would help me pick the stock. He went one step further and ran each stick of lumber through his big planer. Not only did it help me identify which board for which project piece, but saved me a lot of headache processing the faces on my little 6 inch Ridgid jointer. Thanks Scott!!!!!!!!
Just before Christmas, I started milling up all of the required stock and cobbling together a box. (I just copied the basic dimensions from my LOML’s blanket chest. Ended up at 36 x 16 x 17)
I used basic cope and stick joinery with eight raised panels. I joined the front and rear stiles to the side stiles with glue and reinforced each corner with 7 - 3/8” dowels. Making it a little more manageable, I treated the front, rear and end assemblies as separate glueups.
This is a picture of the dry-fit before I cut the top to size.
Before I actually did the glueup, I prestained all of the panels.
(It is sitting on some bun feet I picked up at HD to just see how it would look.)
Next I needed a base and a bottom. For the base, I just cut a mitered frame from about ¾” thick, 2.5 inches wide and long and wide enough to give me about a 5/16” reveal around the edge. Used biscuits to reinforce the miters.
Each bun foot had a hanger bolt and I thought I could just use T-nuts to attach the feet to the base.
Everything was going pretty well until I got to the 3rd T-nut and the doggone miter started to separate. After thinking long and hard I decided to abandon the T-nut idea and just use a lock washer and nut on the hanger bolt and go all the way through the base.
As it turned out, when I attached the cleats to support the plywood box bottom, I left a “little mouse hole” at each corner where the nut and washers securing the foot could live!
I just secured the base to the box with screws in the thought that if one would ever have to get at the nuts to fix a broken foot they would be ok.
I won’t get into all of the finishing issues and frustrations I had:embaresse, but it was recoverable.:icon_thum
(See thread …………………http://ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=36623&page=2)
NOTE TO SELF: GIVE MINWAX STAIN PLENTY OF DRY TIME AND MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT EACH COAT OF STAIN IS THROUGHLY WIPED AND DRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did have an opportunity to work with some new-to-me hinge hardware from Rockler. They are called Lid-Stay torsion hinges. They are designed so that the lid will hold its position at any angle and not crush little fingers by slamming down. And they really work. Just weigh the lid and select the appropriate hinge(s). This lid ended up weighing about 15.5 lbs and according to a calculation at the Rockler site I needed two 60 inch-lb hinges.
The only real downside of these hinges are the screws they supply. I opted to order equivalent sized screws from McFeellys, a little wax and the correct pilot hole and I had no issues with this hard oak.
Also. They are by no means inexpensive ($39.95 a pair), but they seem substantial.
Here are a couple of photo’s showing how well they support the lid, at any position…
The wood itself has an awesome figure and I saved the best for the top.
So here is the completed chest after about 5 coats of satin wiping varnish…
My grand daughter’s 1st birthday is this Saturday:icon_cheers, so I finished in time and will be transporting it to Zebulon. My LOML plans on throwing in a few toys for her.:wsmile: Hopefully, if it survives childhood, she can use it for a blanket chest when she gets a little older!
In spite of the finishing headaches, it was really a fun project and kept me out of mischief for about six weeks.:wsmile:
Thanks for looking. Any feedback will be appreciated.
Wayne
I started by getting some awfully nice QSRO from Scott Smith back in early December. Being a real rookie when it comes to identifying nice wood from the outside of rough sawn lumber, this time I asked Scott if he would help me pick the stock. He went one step further and ran each stick of lumber through his big planer. Not only did it help me identify which board for which project piece, but saved me a lot of headache processing the faces on my little 6 inch Ridgid jointer. Thanks Scott!!!!!!!!
Just before Christmas, I started milling up all of the required stock and cobbling together a box. (I just copied the basic dimensions from my LOML’s blanket chest. Ended up at 36 x 16 x 17)
I used basic cope and stick joinery with eight raised panels. I joined the front and rear stiles to the side stiles with glue and reinforced each corner with 7 - 3/8” dowels. Making it a little more manageable, I treated the front, rear and end assemblies as separate glueups.
This is a picture of the dry-fit before I cut the top to size.
Before I actually did the glueup, I prestained all of the panels.
(It is sitting on some bun feet I picked up at HD to just see how it would look.)
Next I needed a base and a bottom. For the base, I just cut a mitered frame from about ¾” thick, 2.5 inches wide and long and wide enough to give me about a 5/16” reveal around the edge. Used biscuits to reinforce the miters.
Each bun foot had a hanger bolt and I thought I could just use T-nuts to attach the feet to the base.
Everything was going pretty well until I got to the 3rd T-nut and the doggone miter started to separate. After thinking long and hard I decided to abandon the T-nut idea and just use a lock washer and nut on the hanger bolt and go all the way through the base.
As it turned out, when I attached the cleats to support the plywood box bottom, I left a “little mouse hole” at each corner where the nut and washers securing the foot could live!
I just secured the base to the box with screws in the thought that if one would ever have to get at the nuts to fix a broken foot they would be ok.
I won’t get into all of the finishing issues and frustrations I had:embaresse, but it was recoverable.:icon_thum
(See thread …………………http://ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=36623&page=2)
NOTE TO SELF: GIVE MINWAX STAIN PLENTY OF DRY TIME AND MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT EACH COAT OF STAIN IS THROUGHLY WIPED AND DRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did have an opportunity to work with some new-to-me hinge hardware from Rockler. They are called Lid-Stay torsion hinges. They are designed so that the lid will hold its position at any angle and not crush little fingers by slamming down. And they really work. Just weigh the lid and select the appropriate hinge(s). This lid ended up weighing about 15.5 lbs and according to a calculation at the Rockler site I needed two 60 inch-lb hinges.
The only real downside of these hinges are the screws they supply. I opted to order equivalent sized screws from McFeellys, a little wax and the correct pilot hole and I had no issues with this hard oak.
Also. They are by no means inexpensive ($39.95 a pair), but they seem substantial.
Here are a couple of photo’s showing how well they support the lid, at any position…
The wood itself has an awesome figure and I saved the best for the top.
So here is the completed chest after about 5 coats of satin wiping varnish…
My grand daughter’s 1st birthday is this Saturday:icon_cheers, so I finished in time and will be transporting it to Zebulon. My LOML plans on throwing in a few toys for her.:wsmile: Hopefully, if it survives childhood, she can use it for a blanket chest when she gets a little older!
In spite of the finishing headaches, it was really a fun project and kept me out of mischief for about six weeks.:wsmile:
Thanks for looking. Any feedback will be appreciated.
Wayne
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