Well, the holiday and work took up a lot of time, but I’m finally back in the shop again. Time to complete the lock and work on the hinges. For the lock, the mortise was complete and tested out, and the holes for the lock expanded with chisels and files it would operate well. Now …
The saga of the lock continues. Time to cut out the mortises. You mark the width of the top of the lockset’s plate on the box. Set your cutting gauge to the width of the plate and use the gauge to connect the distance between the two pencil lines you just struck. The mortise for …
Back to the School Box work, done by hand. Time to install the lock, which is kind of exciting/stressful. I have never installed a lock before, so this will definitely be a learning experience
Taking a break on the school box project to build some Christmas presents for the family (as well as a new product to sell at the Farmer’s Market). It’s a simple desk clock, with a battery operated clock that has an Arts & Crafts flair. The build consists of a main “block” of Mahogany with …
Time to build the movable partition/tray. The wall of the movable partition slides in and out of shallow dados on the inside of the front and back of the carcase. So I started out gluing up two pieces to get the required width. I made the panel large enough for both the tray and the …
The next step for the cabinet is to cut in a stopped dado in the box to hold the divider and internal shelf. Typically you would cut this before you did the joinery, but in the book, it was done afterwards. Perhaps because there was a concern in lining up the dovetailed panels correctly when …
Continuing on with the school box build, its time to put the lower trim pieces on the box. This serves to hide the bottom and to protect the box from “dings and other tings that might happen. First off, I had to rip the pieces to 1-1/2” wide, then use a block plane to cut …
So with the bottom square and level, its time to put the bottom on. Bottom is a little under 10” x 15”, and made up of a single piece of ½” pine. Usually, you would use a series of boards with tongue & grooves to allow for wood movement, but that is not how it …
Once I had cleaned up all the tails & pins and test fit it, it was time for glue up. I chose to use some “Old Brown Glue” Liquid Hide Glue. Heated it up to 120+ degrees using some hot water, and it went on very easily. Coated all the joints, pushed them in (had …
I finally broke down and decided to build the School Box from the Chris Schwartz’s “Joiner and Cabinet Maker” book. Been wanting to do this for years, bought the wood for it a while back, and finally have an opening in my schedule. The objective is to make this entirely by hand, and I will …
