Chest 4

Back to Working with Oak

The next day I started cutting my pieces for the lid. I ripped the 12" dimension and here I'm using my crosscut sled to cut the 13" length (plus a 1/4") that will be cut after it's glued.

I'm mocking things up here. And you can also see the two side pieces in place that I just cut. The center will be 12" X 24 (cardboard for now) which will be the area for the Chevron pattern.

I'm cutting a rabbit in the end of each side piece that will be 1/4" deep X 5/8" wide. This will be for some 1/4" MDF that will be under my Chevron pattern and will be used to glue all the pieces to.

I'm using a 1/2" diameter cutter on my router table so I had to take multiple cuts to get my final size. Each depth of cut was about 1/8" deep.

I'm marking the spot I need to cut on my longer pieces that go to the lid. And these two pieces will get rabbits cut like the side pieces did. The pencil marks (arrows) represent the end of the cut and I'll transfer these lines to the other side of the board so I can see each one. Also note the two 24" scales at the top and bottom. I used these to help me make sure the two sides were correctly spaced apart while I was doing my glue-up.

Here I'm back at my router table and I'm using a scrap piece of wood to mark where I need to stop each cut.

The lines under the number one and number two are 1/2" apart, which is the same width as my cutter. I have corresponding numbers at each end my boards (one and two). When each number lines up with the same number on my scrap piece, I stopped my cut.

This worked out well and my insert of 1/4" MDF fits great. Now I'll need to screw this piece to the lid soon.

Next I worked on the plugs to cover all the screws. I had a bunch to choose from so I could match the grain.

I placed a pencil mark on each plug after matching the grain. Then I dabbed on some glue and tapped them in place with my soft-faced hammer (above picture).

Once I sanded them flush, it's hard to see them.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7