Couple of questions re: building an ottoman from Baltic birch

[Simon Jones]

I am building a fabric covered ottoman using 1/2” Baltic birch. I have made the box with the bottom in a dado, the sides rabbeted, and the top sitting in a rabbet on all sides. The box is now glued together (standard titebond II).

Question one - would you recommend adding a mechanical fastener (screws or nails) into the joints? Or perhaps gluing vertical supports in each corner?

Question two - how do you do hinges when you are going to wrap fabric around the edges the hinges will sit on? Slightly oversize the hinge mortise and screw the hing in over the fabric? Specific hinge type?

Thanks

[Tom Bender]

Guessing that you have a box with a hinged lid. Trying to cover the hinge may not work out. Cover the box and lid separately and connect them with the hinge. Get nice (expensive) hinges and display them.

[Adam Herman]

cover first, then fit the hinges. use a scrap of the fabric wrapped between the hinge and top, rolled over the knuckles and then between the hinge and bottom to cover the knuckles. Or use some euro style hinges. they will not be holding weight if the top is sitting on the bottom.

[Joe Jensen]

If I were building I'd make corner braces out of wood. I make them so that they glue to both sides along the entire length. I miter them so that they don't protrude into the interior much. Looking top down the profile is an equilateral triangle. This adds a ton more surface area for glueing. I would not bother with mechanical fasteners into edge grain of plywood.

[Simon Jones]

Thank you gents