This was a Christmas present for my Wife. My first experience in shaping rough-sawn lumber and first with working with a wood different than what could be bought at the home centers.
I have access to a Wood Hobby Shop on the Navy base I work at, and so took a visit there. The shop supervisor sells a couple different varieties of 4/4 wood species, Cherry being one of them. I rummaged through the pile, selecting 4 boards for this project. I then ran them through the big 24" Delta planer to a 3/4" finished thickness and took them home to complete the work in my shop (I didn't own a planer at that time).
At the same time I had ordered the plans for the Adirondack Chairs, I had ordered the chest, thinking it would be a nice project to do someday. It was about 2 years later, and I finally thought I could tackle it. But before doing so, I had to add a shop project: the Router Table. Without it, there was no way I could have created the molding around the top lid and the base of the chest.
After that was completed in my tablesaw's extension table, I was ready to get underway. I jointed all the boards with a straight-edge and a flush cutting bit on my router, then ripped and crosscut all the boards required for the sides of the case to finished dimensions. I used my homemade mortising machine with a 3/8" plunge-cutting straight bit to rout out the mortises, then made the tenons on the tablesaw. The four frames were then glued and assembled. A 1/2" wide rabbit was routed on the back sides of the frames to fit the 1/4" plywood panels; 3 for the front, 1 on each side and 1 for the back. The sides were attached to the front and back with half-lap joints, while at the same time installing a 1/2" plywood bottom into dadoed grooves. A beading detail was then done on the insides of the panels on the rails and stiles with a round-over/beading bit.
Once the case was finished, attention turned to creating the moldings and the lid. This was the fun part. To create the lid molding, six different passes were required on the router table, with 3 different bits; a straight bit, a cove bit and a roundover/beading bit. Using a piece of scrap 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" stock (the same as the final piece) I tested each setup before running the real pieces through. I was really impressed with how they turned out, just great. The base molding was much easier, using just a cove and a straight bit, in 2 passes.
The moldings were then mitered and assembled. Two pieces of 1/4" Cherry plywood were placed back-to-back to create the lid and then wrapped in the molding, the plywood sitting in a rabbit created. There are 4 hinges on the lid which are mortised flush into the case.
After the assembly was finished, it was taken out of the shop and into the basement to apply a natural Tung Oil finish. Once the finish had cured, I installed 1/4" thick tongue and grooved aromatic cedar on the sides, bottom and the underside of the lid of the chest. A spring-loaded hinge was installed so the chest lid will remain open at an 85deg. angle and will close easily.
I finished this project the day before Christmas, actually screwing on the lid to the hinges that morning. ;)
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