A Bit Of This And That

In between making the lid and floor I have been I have been pre finishing many of the components of this piece. The panels now have three coats of varnish oil and a coat of wax on them. I have dry fit all the frame parts and have been getting the frames assembled.

I use my smoothing plane on the inside (grooved) edges of all the parts prior to glue up. Those edges would be hard to clean up when assembled.

I do one last dry fit to carefully check that everything fits well and to establish a sequence for the assembly and check clamp positioning etc.

When all looks right I start spreading glue and putting it together.

After about an hour I can take the piece out of the clamps and scrape off any excess glue, then plane all the faces. I want to pre-finish these panels before I add the posts and floor so I don't have to work so much inside the assembled chest.

The top back rail has a check in it at the top. I remember seeing it when I milled the lumber but I wanted to use the board (it's a real pretty piece of wood) and it seemed like it would be alright. 

Well, when I look at it now it worries me. It really shouldn't open up any more but damn, if it does it would make me very unhappy, even if it happened 10 years from now. I decided to add a few dovetail keys to try to insure it's integrity.

To make the keys I set up the router table with a dovetail bit and found a piece of material of appropriate width and thickness. I first cut the dovetail shape on the bottom of the blank,

then cut it off at exactly twice the length of the dovetail on the table saw.

Then back to the router table.

Note the two feather boards and the notched push stick. That is a small piece being milled and I would feel really unsafe trying to do this with my hands on the workpiece.

I had to make a test run then I was able to mill a pretty good key blank.

I cut  pieces  about 3/16" thick for the keys. I use the piece I will inlay as a template. Double stick tape helps hold the key in place while the outline is scribed around the edge.

For the key on the top edge I clamp a couple blocks to the faces of the board, even with the edge, so I have a larger surface to run the router on.

I have a 1/8" bit in the plunge router. I set the router to cut a little less deep than the thickness of the key. I freehand rout as much as I can, staying within the scribed outline.

Then I use a chisel to carefully finish the excavation. When a good fit is achieved the key is glued in place,

and planed flush after the glue sets.

I do the same on the inside face, but without the need for the blocks.

Although that took about 4 unplanned for hours, I feel better now.

With that done I can glue up the last frame assembly. This project is starting to come together now.

Well, that 's it for now. Thanks for taking a look. Check back and see how it's going.