So how do I recover from this foolish assumption?

[Wade Lippman]

A friend of my wife's asked me (well actually asked her to tell me...) to finish a project her father was working on when he died.

It is 4 little treasure chests for the grandchildren. The wood was all milled; all I had to do was cut it up and assemble it. Well, it looked like it was all milled. Actually some pieces were 1/16" thicker than others but I didn't notice. As a result, the tops are 1/8" wider than the bottoms. I found that out when assembled the 4 tops and than one bottom. Oops.
The base is 11.5"x8.5" by 6" high.

The 3 unassembled ones are easy enough to plane thinner, but I am not sure what to do with the assembled base. The two options I can think of are to take 1/16" off each side with either an edge sander or a jointer. Neither will be easy to get even. I could try using a table saw; the would be very even if I don't cut a finger off.

Any wisdom?

[Peter Aeschliman]

Wade, pictures would be really helpful.

When you say "the top", I assume you're referring to the lid?

[Andy Giddings]

Wade, assume that you have a thicker top already assembled with the box sides and you want to make this thicker top the same as the others, correct? You don't state whether the thicker top is sitting proud of the sides or not? If it is, depending on the strength of the box, I'm guessing it won't stand up to going through a planer? Would a hand plane work? If not, an alternative may be to use a plunge router with a large diameter bottom clearing bit. This would not stress the assembled box that much. You could build a simple frame to support the router similar to the method used for smoothing wide boards

[Charles Taylor]

Get some more material and build one over? Not my favorite solution, but I know from experience that it works. :o

[Wade Lippman]

Okay, pictures.
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The cherry on the bottom is 1/16" thicker than the maple on the top. (The top isn't finished; it will have 7 strips of wood across the top)
The side pieces are the same size for top and bottom.
So two pieces thicker by 1/16" gives a bottom 1/8" wider than the top.

Yeah, I might end up tossing it and making a new one; but there would be nothing lost by trying something to fix it. Worst is that I ruin it before tossing it.

[John Lanciani]

Bandsaw or jointer depending on which you are more proficient with.

[Stew Hagerty]

Apply thin strips of maple to the outside of the top to match the bottom. It will also cover those screw holes for you. Just make sure you rip the thin strips on the OUTSIDE of the blade rather than trapped between the blade and the fence.

[Len Mullin]

Wade, rather than chuck it, couldn't you use it for one of the other boxes. Afterall, they aren't assembled yet, and you could make the chest to fit the top. Then take the material that was for the other box, and build a new top to fit the already assembled box. Doing this will change the size of one of the boxes, but, not by much.
Len

[Bob Hoffmann]

Time to use a belt sander ...

It looks like you just have to take the part where it joins to the maple a little less ... a good belt sander with 60 - 80 grit paper will make fast work of the side ... then use finer grits to get rid of the scratches.

A belt sander will make the outside surface smooth ... that would be the way that I would fix it ...

[Michael Weber]

Apply thin strips of maple to the outside of the top to match the bottom. It will also cover those screw holes for you. Just make sure you rip the thin strips on the OUTSIDE of the blade rather than trapped between the blade and the fence.
My immediate thought as well

[Charles Lent]

I would add strips like Stew said, or just build the top over to fit properly. You haven't put much effort into the top yet, so it isn't much loss of time or material.

I'm also in the process of finishing something that somebody else started before they left this World. I wish my problems were as easy to fix as yours. In my case, it's a Queen Ann cherry server, and the frame is all glued together, but nothing is square, and I'm supposed to build the drawers and top for it.

Charley

[Daniel O'Neill]

I'm not as advanced as most but I think that the jointer idea would be the fastest and the maple strips would look the best :confused: take your pick lol

[Frederick Skelly]

Wade, I'd use the material the gentleman did, since it's for his grand kids. I wouldn't start over. So I'd apply the thin maple strips, as suggested by others. I don't think that'll be hard to do.
Fred

[daryl moses]

Looks to me the original builder designed it that way, the strips would make it exactly correct.

[Lee Schierer]

I can't tell how the bottom of the box is held in place, but the easiest fix I see is to cut the front of the box as shown in your first photo free. Since the top is 1/8" narrower than the box, one saw kerf on your table saw would remove just the right amount of material to fix your problem and leave you with a perfect edge on each end of the box to re-glue the butt joint. Set your fence precisely so it cuts the end panel free without touching the side. It will take three passes.

[Steve Roxberg]

Apply thin strips of maple to the outside of the top to match the bottom. It will also cover those screw holes for you. Just make sure you rip the thin strips on the OUTSIDE of the blade rather than trapped between the blade and the fence.

Agreed, this would be my approach.

[Keith Hankins]

My immediate thought as well

+1 would do it in a heartbeat, and hand plane down to match the angle. Done. No one will notice

[Chris Hachet]

Apply thin strips of maple to the outside of the top to match the bottom. It will also cover those screw holes for you. Just make sure you rip the thin strips on the OUTSIDE of the blade rather than trapped between the blade and the fence.


Exactly this.

[Rob Damon]

If the wood was final milled and you have no sketches or previous examples of the original intent of the look/feel of the box, then you might assume it was meant to be different in size for a reason. I would ask if there are other examples of boxes that he had made previously, so you can use that as an example, so the work is more his vision rather than your vision/guess of his intent. After all this is suppose to be his work and not your work.

Without examples some options:

Why not just leave the dimension difference and add a bead board (1/4") thick between the two as a transition strip. Make it proud of both boards of a contrasting wood. If you don't have any contrasting wood, just stain/dye some maple strips a dark color.

Another option would be to rabbit the bottom of the maple and rabbit the top of the cherry and interlock the top with the bottom and simply round over the excess overhang of the maple as a edge detail.

I would also remove the screws in the top piece and dowel it with cherry pins instead.

Just some thoughts.

[Wade Lippman]

I messed up and gouged one of the tops, and after sanding, it is a bit too small.
BUT... shimming the gouged top makes it fit the oversized bottom.

Two screw ups with one fix.

BTW, it is going to be painted, so the screws won't show once they are filled; etc.

[Stew Hagerty]

I messed up and gouged one of the tops, and after sanding, it is a bit too small.
BUT... shimming the gouged top makes it fit the oversized bottom.

Two screw ups with one fix.

BTW, it is going to be painted, so the screws won't show once they are filled; etc.


I don't really follow you about how gouging one of the tops fixed the problem, but not matter. If it did, it did.

As for painting... The boxes are a mix of Cherry and Maple. Why on earth would you paint over that beautiful, expensive wood?
Typically if something is going to be painted a relatively i expensive wood such as Pine or Poplar is used.
Besides, the tops and bottoms were made from different species for a reason.
I mean, hey... It is your project and you can certainly paint it if you choose. I personally just think it would be a shame to hid÷ the beauty that is natural Cherry & Maple.
But then, that's just me.