Project for December?

[steven c newman]

had a stack of scraps left over from that Blanket Chest Project...over the past weekend, I sorted through the mess. Stuff that is in the "No Way" category was tossed into the firepit can. The rest was to be resawn...
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Trying for 1/2" thick...may also keep the thinner stuff.....piled up on the bench...
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Even on the bandsaw's table...
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Had one piece that wasn't flat, where the overlap of the tablesaw's blade was.."Off"....ran that back through....and as a reward...
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This laid over, caught the spinning blade just enough, to send it bouncing off of my stiff upper lip...no blood, though...

Decided to joint a few edges...
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And try a few panel glue ups
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Wound up with 4 such panels....
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Today? Well yesterday was a Monday, so the shop was closed. Today being a Tuesday, will try to sort things out in the shop...
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Kind of snowed in, today, anyways.....that planter it 5" tall, BTW.....and I consider "Snow" to be a foul, 4 letter word. :mad: Time for a Brew-up, a cup of noodles.:D..and see about building a few box-like contraptions.....might even try some of the left over red Cedar.....:confused:

I might just get the hang of gluing up[ thin panels...:eek:
Stay tuned...:D

[steven c newman]

Panels came out of the clamps, yesterday...looking a tad bit..rough..
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Ends not square, different widths, and thicknesses....needed trimmed to a better length....

60 grit on the beltsander to roughly flatten the high spots down to the low ones....clean up with the Junior jack plane...
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long length was set at 11", width on all 4 was ripped to 5".....length on the 2 short blanks was set at 5-1/2"....sawn edges were jointed, using the Junior jack.
Thicknesses are now all 3/8"....ends are squared up..
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Sorted through 2 stacks of "parts"
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looking for enough matching slats to do a glued up lid with..
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And set this aside..( usual joint the edges, ripped to a consistent width , glue, clamps and cauls)

set out a few tools..
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Blue handled 6mm chisel was used to set the spacings..
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(that be both of the long side clamped in the vise)
Drop the pair lower in the vise, and do a bit of handsaw work..
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Same chisel to chop out the waste...
Stay tuned..

[steven c newman]

Do about halfway way on the "show side" face...ends the threat of a blow-out that will be seen..
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Then flip the panel over, and complete the chops..
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That plywood base? Was looking around for a bench top saver....plywood was a tad too long...a Disston D-115 soon fixed that..

Use these "fingers to mark out the matching fingers on the end panel.....saw and chop the waste.....trying to LEAVE the lines, this time...
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The more of the line I leave, the tighter the joint....remember the other long side I sawed with the first one? repeat the above....including laying out on the end panel...and try again..
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Corner #2 is on the right. Left all of the line, this time around....

Later today, after Lunch settles, I can work on the other 2 corners. Then see about a groove to house the plywood panel for the bottom of this box. Maybe a 1/4" wide by 3/16" deep groove?
We'll see how things go....might as well hide out in the shop...too cold, and too snow covered to go out anywhere...

Stay tuned...:D

[steven c newman]

managed to get corners #3 and #4 done. The way used to lay out the matching fingers...
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No need for any blue tape....seemed to work, anyway..
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At least all the corners are now done..
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Set up the Stanley #45...
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To plough a 1/4" wide by 3/16" deep groove..
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To house the 1/4" Luann plywood bottom panel..
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Decided to go ahead and glue the main box up...
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Cauls and clamps....will let this sit a day or so....while I work on a lid.....might even see about the tray.....

Stay tuned:D

[steven c newman]

Ok...Clamps came off slowly, today..
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But, only one of the cauls was stuck to the box....simple whack with a mallet cured that...
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Then over to the bench vise...for a bit of clean up
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Some of the "fingers" were a bit proud....I also checked for square...
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Hmmm, got that fixed...
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And, checked for high spots along the sides...
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And fixed those spots..
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Top edges were leveled, as were the bottom...
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Outside of the box is done. Shoptime started at 1300hrs on the dot....ended at 1800 hrs.

The above took barely one hour....we have a lot more work to do, today...:D
Stay tuned..

[steven c newman]

Ok, part 2 of today's follies....the inside of the box got a bit of padding, and some supports..
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So a tray will sit inside this box....once I build the tray, that is....right now, I need to work on a lid..
Cordless Mitersaw to trim frame parts for length...
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Checked for fit...
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And trying to get a decent grain match....soon had two sides, and 2 ends..
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Lengths were ok, thicknesses and widths were not...we have ways..
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Widths were just a matter of jointing things even. Thicknesses...thicker in one spot than the rest....thicker on one end...that sort of thing...once that was done...finger joint time, again..
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Then a dry fit..
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Which left the panel for the lid..
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As it also came out of the clamps, today.....we have work to do,,,,yet.

Stay tuned...it was a very busy day......cussing WAS involved, too:rolleyes:

[steven c newman]

lid's panel.....needed flattened....
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Getting there.....needed both faces done....shoulders were getting a workout....next, trim for length and width...( was a hair off on width...rather have too much, than not enough..)
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Then set up to mill some rebates....
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Cross grain first.....Stanley/Wards No. 78....still had it's spur rotated down....
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Methinks the spur is not as sharp as it needs to be.....both ends done, reset the spur ( and the jig set-up)...
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Rotated up out of the way....otherwise it causes problems back in the corners...but...we do have a router, handy..
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Just in case. Then, needed a place to house these rebates...
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Stanley 45 was adjusted. Was almost done with all 4 grooves....had a corner bust off....seems the grain and the head of the screw did not play nice....
Otherwise..
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remember I had things a tad wide? Ran the 78 along a bit more....until things lined up at the ends.....thin sections were now too wide to fit all the way down into the grooves....jack plane removed a little bit..until no gaps were seen...


I was going to repair that broken corner, and maybe glue the lid up......new bottle of glue was upstairs....I had about 5 hours IN the shop, was getting tired and sore...decided to close up shop for the day, go upstairs and call it a day....
Maybe tomorrow, I'll remember the bottle of glue?

Stay tuned..:D

[Stew Denton]

Steven,

You appear to be making good progress on the box. I like the way the finger joints came out after you planed them down.

I like to follow your builds, and think I have learned things from reading them. I am getting fairly close to retirement, and am currently still working on restoring tools, etc. However, I hope to clear off a little room in the garage so as to have a small spot to work where the weather is not a big problem. I don't think I will need a big work area for now, since I will be working only on fairly small projects at first.

I hope to get to work on building some of the things like tool boxes for my Stanley 45, etc. in the not too distant future, rather than just working on tools. Thus, your post on this box and the other tool storage things are helpful and appreciated.

Thanks and regards,

Stew

[steven c newman]

repairs have been made...some of the grooves needed a little extra work..
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Changed to a 1/4" cutter. was soon able to glue up the lid...
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Move this aside for a day....cut some parts for a simple tray....4 slats glued to a 1/4" plywood base....with a spacer inside, to prevent a clamp from bowing the sides in..
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Had a blank for a tray handle..
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And, wanted a pair of tray dividers with it..
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Needed a way to join these 3 parts...
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Something like this? made a few cuts...
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When I started to use a forstner bit to drill the grip out.....crack....so, now the handle is also sitting in clamps....until tomorrow

Stay tuned :D

[steven c newman]

Halftime...shoptime....
Test fit of the tray, once the handle had been cleaned up...
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Tray itself was sanded down for a fit fit in the box.....tray is currently back in the clamps, getting the handle and dividers glued in place..

The lid? Well, it came out of the clamps all right.....cleaned the fingers. Test fit show the lid was at least 1/8" narrower than the box! We have ways..
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Back into the clamps. Intend to rip away the excess....once the glue has dried.....we'll see about the ends, later...

Back to the game..

[steven c newman]

Seems whenever halftime showed up, this weekend...I went to the shop for a bit...
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Tray came out of the clamps, got cleaned up...and checked for the fit....not quite a piston fit...but it doesn't rattle around...
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Lid: Came out of the clamps fine. Set up the rip fence to take barely a blade's width.....kept adjusting both long sides, until it fit...
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Ends were reduced a bit....then one of the cut-offs from the long sides was cut in 2 pieces, and glued and clamped in place....halftime was over..let the glue cure for a bit..



Later...sanded the lid down, trimmed the edges...checked for gaps..
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And making sure the handle of the tray doesn't hit the lid....
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jack plane will level things out, to remove the gaps..

Today...halftime again....
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Hinges installed, and checked for operation..
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Hardware sitting in the tray? Thought maybe using these to latch the lid...
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These had seen better days...so a pair of better ones was ordered today, from Hobby Lobby, along with a handle that will fold down.....more for the S&H that for the parts.

Stay tuned....

[steven c newman]

Kind of sitting around by the mail box....waiting on the new latches...and the handle....might just go ahead with a stain and varnish routine?

I can also use up a stack of..
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1/4" Red Cedar.....work on a few small boxes? Shop even smells better...

[Jerry Olexa]

Looking good, steve...

[steven c newman]

Time for a PIP?
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Bottom has been stained ( brush on, wipe off)
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Then an end..
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Then the back...then around the other end, and do the front..
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Insides and the tray, too..
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Awaiting a handle, and the pair of latches....and a coat of Clear Gloss Poly......bets are, the varnish gets done before the hardware arrives....
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And the top of the lid

[steven c newman]

First coat of clear gloss varnish has been applied, today. hardware has made it to Columbus, OH....all the way from Oklahoma City, OK. Might be in my mailbox tomorrow or Saturday.....

Stay tuned...

[Mike Allen1010]

Love it Steven- very nice! Especially the trays- very practical and love the curves:)

[steven c newman]

2nd coat has been applied to the outside. Just the underside of the lid was also done.

Hardware arrived at the downtown post office, just after Lunch....AFTER the mail carriers were already out and about....sooooo, I'll sit by the mail box tomorrow morning....grrrr.

Spent about an hour today....doing finger joints in aromatic Red Cedar.....shop smells better...

[steven c newman]

Varnish has been rubbed out....
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Front view..
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End view.
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View around back, with the hinges..
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A look at the lid.....then, raise the lid...
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And lift out the tray..
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Will post more, once the hardware arrives....saturday afternoon-ish....

Stay tuned...:D

[steven c newman]

6:38 am...box was delivered to my front porch.....Maybe after brunch, I can install the parts? Have to dig around for 4 screws for the handle....Latches came with their own TINY screws....

Stay tuned....

may also clean up another glue up..today....
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It's in there...somewhere...

[steven c newman]

Brunch is now over...Latches are installed..
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Waited until the LAST screw.....and that screw decided to snap off...redrill the pilot hole, and try again..Handle details?
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Fits my hand, at least....I think I can call this Project...done?