Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Treasure chest with curved lid part 5, completing the bottom.

Today I managed to make the groove for the interlocking of the bottom. Actually it was a bit easier than I anticipated. Easy workability and a nice smell are definitely positive features of spruce.

I could ride the body of the grooving plane on the outer edge of the bottom, and then adjust the iron so it was protruding something like 5/16" (8mm). The finish of the groove isn't superb, but it doesn't have to be.

After making the groove I dry assembled my parts: Sides, ends and the bottom.
Inside it looks just like I had envisioned. But on the outside there is a bit of a gap. I still haven't made up my mind if I should add a small piece of wood to act as a moulding, or if I should just leave it the way it is.

My problem with adding some moulding is that it will disturb my design idea of the rounded outer edge of the bottom to look like a piece of moulding in itself.

I didn't plan for movement on purpose, but the bottom is able to move just a bit in the groove which is good news.
Wood movement is mostly limited to expansion after being worked out here, so being a little bit loose is not a problem.

My plan was to continue on the lid, but I had to make a slight alteration in those plans, as our refrigeration compressor started acting up.
It has been giving us problems for the last couple of years, and we haven't really been able to pinpoint the fault.

After fiddling with the compressor, I just managed to saw some stock for the lid, before it was time to make an evening round and stop for today.

Test assembly showing the small gap.

Close up of the interlocking parts. 

Inside view.



2 comments:

  1. How about putting a thin banding around the bottom. Something about 1/16-1/8 thick and maybe a 1/4'-3/8" wide? That would still allow you to do the round overs on the edges.

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    1. Hi Ralph.

      I might be able to put a very small banding around the bottom.
      At present the bottom is protruding about 1/4", so a banding should be smaller. If I could make it 1/8" thick and maybe 1/4" high I think it would look good. The problem is how to make such delicate pieces of wood out here. Anyway that is something that can be added as a final touch, so I can still continue with the rest of the build.

      Brgds
      Jonas

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