Neander' Project III Progress

[Erich Weidner]

About 9 hours in the shop today. Somehow between obsessing, watching and rewatching a portion of the tool chest build video, all I managed to get done today was to cut another bead detail on the bottom lip and build and fit the fall out front panel.
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My 1/4 thick sliding "lock bar" was fine until I decided to use a brace and 1" auger to make a finger hole. I didn't think to drill a pilot hole for the auger screw and it promptly split the board about 5 inches down.
Not a complete disaster as I made a big pilot hole clamped the board to keep it from splitting further and finished the auger. Some CA glue in the split and clamping seems to have remedied the split. Now I know I have to learn more about when to make pilot holes for auger bits. I wonder if you always need to in hardwoods?

I cut two boards to rough length/width to glue up for the lid. Will flatten those boards and glue them up tomorrow.

[Erich Weidner]

Today was for the lid. Couldn't find any pine earlier in the week at the lumberyard of the requisite 16ish inches in width, so I had to glue up from a 1x12"; so cross cut, rip, flatten.
Flattening the big board went fine. The second was a failure. I don't know what I did, but somehow the board although flat transversely in the long direction I had either a bow or I somehow reduced the left side of the board too much. By the time I got it flat I'd eaten off the better part of 1/4"

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... Since I had purchased "just enough" 1x12" I was able to use the offcut as the second board. However, again the saw wandered and I ended up 1/4" not wide enough. So will have less of an overhang than the plans call for, but I think I can live with it. Will see how the panel glue-up went tomorrow when I remove the clamps.

I cut two rot strips/feet for the toolbox out of white oak scrap. Granted these are short rips (12") but there were dead on the cut line. Saw did angle out of 90 degrees again, but not by much.
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I'm reminded when I ordered the saws the seller/sharpener filed them for hardwood work which is what I specified. Never thought I'd be doing so much with pine.
Also when ripping the pine today the saw plate bound up and I had to use a wedge to complete the cuts. Maybe I need to get another rip saw setup for softwoods?

I fitted the hinges to the case. Not sure I did it right. But I followed the video along all the way. (They even look like the same hinges from the video).
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[Jim Matthews]

Now I know I have to learn more about when to make pilot holes for auger bits. I wonder if you always need to in hardwoods?

Pine in North America is fast growing, with broad growth rings. It will "rive" along the junction between early and late growth, with the grain. If clamp a sacrificial backing board (preferably stable plywood) to the workpiece it will have more support and the auger screw will have something to pull the bit through to finish.

I was taught to flip the board over after the screw penetrates the workpiece, but now I do so only if both faces will show.

When tired, I tend to lean on the brace and force the bit through - this leads to splitting and "blow out".

[Erich Weidner]

Had fits with getting the lid/hinges positioned correctly. There must be a "proper way" to know where to position it for strap hinges that doesn't involve a dozen holes that seem to be in the right place until you close the lid.

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Up next: Painting the exterior and then the internal storage bins, etc. I can already see I should have built a bigger chest.

I still have my eye on the English tool chest, but:
A) Wanted to try a simpler project first, and to see if I like using a chest.
B) I had this idea I could put some angle brackets on the wall and set it on to make the chest into a sort of hybrid wall cabinet (that I can move around if I need to.d)

[Erich Weidner]

I almost forgot, After my glue up for the lid, I had little material to spare, and given my poor performance ripping on these pine boards, I pulled out a tool I'd not used in many years (and apparently didn't oil well either, ad it has some rust on it). My first LN purchase, this was a scrub plane. Before I knew about cambered jack planes, this was what I tried to use. It was generally too aggressive for face work. But for reducing the edge of the board today, it worked great.

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[Phil Mueller]

Looking good Erich! Every little “issue” becomes a lesson tucked away. Nothing wrong with that at all. When I first started out with handsaws, I would cut a 1/4” away from the line. Eventually, it got to where it was pretty accurate and then needed more time to plane it down to the line. Leave yourself some more wiggle room for now. As you’ve experienced, planning to the line is easy and enjoyable.

[David Eisenhauer]

Nice plane Erich. And the only guys that saw directly/perfectly/accurately/exactly/dead-on to the line are those internet wworking gurus and Mike Allen. The rest of us plane to it and you have a nice scrub plane to get there with. You may gravitate towards a smoother one day, or not. Your call. Tool chest is looking good and you better put some beef into the wall brackets if you are going to store it on a shelf. Shelf storage would save the back and be handier in general, just needs some beef to hold the weight. I'd make the angle brackets out of some 3/4" ply? solid wood? (not those el cheapo thin metal gizmos they sell at the borg) and plenty of them under the shelf.

[Erich Weidner]

Shelf storage would save the back and be handier in general, just needs some beef to hold the weight. I'd make the angle brackets out of some 3/4" ply? solid wood? (not those el cheapo thin metal gizmos they sell at the borg) and plenty of them under the shelf.

I've actually got 6 or 8 heavy duty metal brackets which I used to use to store my extra boards when I was getting started and using a spare bedroom as a workshop. As long as I can located them into studs, they should do nicely. (Not look so nice perhaps, but it's not like my shop (garage) looks rustic anyway.

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PS. I got these from Lee Valley. Just looked them up, supposed to be up to 1000 lbs for a pair of them.

[Erich Weidner]

After obsessing for a few hours over my paint sample boards, I went with the spousal choice. I was leaning towards grey myself, but I think this was a more "fun" choice.
1st coat done today. 2nd coat hopefully tomorrow.

2020-07-15 16.53.21.jpg...which one? Choices, choices.

2020-07-15 18.04.52.jpg 2020-07-15 18.47.55.jpg 2020-07-15 18.48.04.jpg...that's the color!

[David Eisenhauer]

Jeez Erich, even your paint sample board is better organized than my samples. This thing has rounded third and will be soon sliding across home plate. Please include a photo of it filled with tools when it is complete.

[Erich Weidner]

I guess another option would be to build a cabinet for the chest to sit on top of. I guess that would also gain me more tool storage space for less frequently used tools. I already feel like I should have built the bigger version of the chest.
https://www.popularwoodworking.com/w...gn-tool-chest/

Decisions, decisions. But I can put the brackets on the wall in no time, and I want to build some other stuff before making more tool accessories.

[David Eisenhauer]

Not a bad idea. Put it on the wall for now, build some stuff, buy some more/different tools, see what tools you tend to use more and what you like to be easy to grab and what can go into "deeper storage", then down the road - build the lower cabinet if it moves itself to the top of the list.

[David Bassett]

I guess another option would be to build a cabinet for the chest to sit on top of. I guess that would also gain me more tool storage space for less frequently used tools. I already feel like I should have built the bigger version of the chest.
https://www.popularwoodworking.com/w...gn-tool-chest/

Decisions, decisions. But I can put the brackets on the wall in no time, and I want to build some other stuff before making more tool accessories.

Saw one guy (blog? instagram?) who build a DTC that was completely modular. Each compartment was separate with it's own set of handles. His reasoning? He felt even the small version would be too heavy to carry comfortably for distances especially with stairs. (He also sized it so it was no wider than could comfortably be carried through a standard interior door width.

What's my point? I'm not sure, I guess that the form is flexible enough everyone should tweak it to their own needs. (And if you need bigger to hold everything maybe you should consider the ATC.)

[Erich Weidner]

Second coat of paint today. Then after that had two hours to dry, I attemped putting it all together. For some reasonk the left side of the fall front wouldn't close without force. I was about to plane away a 16th or so from the top when I asked the wife to look at it. (As usual, she figured out in short order how to fix it). Turns out the fall front was a bit thinner in thickness than the bottom lip. Somehow the geometry was causing binding when trying to install the fall front.

A washer on the bottom screw of the left batton between the batton and fall front fixed it. I guess the problem with S4S from the lumberyard is that you still have to fix it and some parts end up thinner than others.

2020-07-17 17.39.19.jpgTime to attach the handles. Needed to first cut the bolts to a less protruding size.

2020-07-17 18.07.54.jpg Not super happy with how this looks on the inside; Maybe some brown paint?

2020-07-17 18.08.05.jpg Handle installed.

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Now... all this stuff to try to fit. (I should have built this chest bigger I think.)

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[Tony Wilkins]

Looking great!