Profiling

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Chris Hall
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Location: Greenfield, Massachusetts
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Profiling

Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:20 pm

Several of the parts to this toolbox are contoured with a jogged edge, such as the handles and the lower edges of the main carcase boards. I do this cutout using a template and my router table.

Here's a look at the jig I made to do the handles, which have a handhold jogged in about 3/8":
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DSC05139-small.JPG (174.2 KiB) Viewed 5063 times
Solid Carbide spiral cutters with a top guide bearing (this one made by C.R. Onsrud) make the work reasonably easy, though I did have a small amount of cutter burn at the jogs:
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DSC05140-small.JPG (164.48 KiB) Viewed 5063 times
The burn marks were shallow and easily removed with a bit of sandpaper on a small cylindrical block.

Then I used a Freud 4-flute 1/4" roundover bit to chamfer the outer edge of the handle (sorry for the blurry photo!):
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Profiling done, I plane the face of the handles:
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DSC05142-small.JPG (134.6 KiB) Viewed 5063 times
Then I rub the handles down with some lubed 400 grit sandpaper.

The result:
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DSC05143-small.JPG (157.47 KiB) Viewed 5063 times
A view of the edge of the handle:
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DSC05144-small.JPG (131.16 KiB) Viewed 5063 times
A closer look at the jog:
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DSC05145-small.JPG (140.88 KiB) Viewed 5063 times
Then I repeated the same process on the lower edges of the main carcase boards. These are jogged in 1/4".

First the long sides:
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DSC05146-small.JPG (148.2 KiB) Viewed 5063 times
I use a different spiral carbide bit, this one with dual end bearings, made by Whiteside:
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DSC05147-small.JPG (139.46 KiB) Viewed 5063 times
The four carcase board jogged profiles are complete:
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DSC05149-small.JPG (121.49 KiB) Viewed 5063 times
I also chose, on the spur of the moment, to add a little detail to the ends of the long side carcase boards. This jog-in gives the lower corner of the box a rounding which makes it more resistant to damaging impacts:
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DSC05151-small.JPG (205.71 KiB) Viewed 5063 times
This detail was not shown on the original drawings - you may choose to omit it or do something to your own liking. At a minimum I would suggest rounding/beveling those lower board corners to protect them.
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Chris Hall
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Location: Greenfield, Massachusetts
Posts: 2385
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:46 pm

Re: Profiling

Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:00 pm

After assembling the box today I decided that the handle wasn't quite right. I couldn't er, handle it. So I took the box apart and removed the handles from the end boards.

Then I set up a core-box bit in the router table, including stops to limit travel on the fence:
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DSC05172-small.JPG (133.97 KiB) Viewed 5045 times
A few passes were made to create a hollowed zone for better gripping:
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DSC05173-small.JPG (140.46 KiB) Viewed 5045 times
Then the handles were reunited with the end boards:
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DSC05175-small.JPG (140 KiB) Viewed 5045 times
The grip is much more positive now, so I was glad to have taken the trouble to disassemble so as to look after a niggling problem like this. If you don't have a router table, a gouge would accomplish a similar result - depressions could even be made for all four fingers if so desired.

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