Put a Lid on it!
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:45 pm
The lid is a little tricky, especially if your toolbox, like mine, is going to have a finish applied. The lid comprises a panel and two dovetailed battens, and obtained a good fit between the battens and the lid is not achieved by rushing or impatience. A good fit of a sliding dovetail can be made too tight by a layer of finish, or too loose by work done to dress the panel surface down.
Here's how I go about it. First I rough cut a couple of dadoes in the panel:
A closer look at one dado:
These dadoes are not quite half the thickness of the panel in depth. I save final trimming to depth for the dovetail routing.
Next step is to make a template - I re-use the one that was employed to cut the dadoes in the floor panel for the partitions:
A closer look at the cutter:
I widen the template opening to about 1.125".
Then I set up on my jointer table to rout the dovetail - this being the flattest surface that I can readily clamp to:
The router is set up with a collar about the same width as the cutter:
I make a test pass or two to obtain the desired depth of cut, in this case a hair over 3/16", or 0.1875":
Once I have achieved the target depth, I remove the template and take it back to the router table to widen the guide slot in the template by about 1/16". The reason for this extra step is to ensure that I will cut a clean dovetail shoulder all the way down the dado.
Once I have completed the adjustment to the template, I put it back on the board and rout the dovetail. Then repeat on the other end.
The result:
With the dovetail dadoes complete, i move to cut the male dovetails. First i remove a portion of the waste with another cutter, going to the router table for this step:
Then I set up the router table with the same bit I used to do the dovetail mortise, and cut the male dovetail:
I keep the male dovetail a little less deep than the mortise. The mortise was 0.1890", and i make the male dovetail about 0.1750" in depth.
I keep trimming the male dovetail down until it is getting close to the point where it will insert in the mortise:
I hold off on any more work on the dovetail male. It's now time to dress the lid panel down:
Vertical Grain Wenge is not exactly a party as far as planing goes, but with a sharp blade it went fine. The goal here was to remove about 0.05" of material at most from the upper face of the panel, thus keeping the potential dovetail fit in good territory.
I also did a pass on the sides and top of the Khaya battens, followed by trimming the panel edges:
I trimmed the panel edges in small steps, checking frequently, until it started to fit the box:
A few more careful passes and the lid was sliding in nicely:
I then rubbed the lid panel down with lubed 400 grit paper and gave it a wipe both sides with polymerized Tung Oil:
I'll put another coat or two on before going to the fitting stage with the battens. Until next time then?
Here's how I go about it. First I rough cut a couple of dadoes in the panel:
A closer look at one dado:
These dadoes are not quite half the thickness of the panel in depth. I save final trimming to depth for the dovetail routing.
Next step is to make a template - I re-use the one that was employed to cut the dadoes in the floor panel for the partitions:
A closer look at the cutter:
I widen the template opening to about 1.125".
Then I set up on my jointer table to rout the dovetail - this being the flattest surface that I can readily clamp to:
The router is set up with a collar about the same width as the cutter:
I make a test pass or two to obtain the desired depth of cut, in this case a hair over 3/16", or 0.1875":
Once I have achieved the target depth, I remove the template and take it back to the router table to widen the guide slot in the template by about 1/16". The reason for this extra step is to ensure that I will cut a clean dovetail shoulder all the way down the dado.
Once I have completed the adjustment to the template, I put it back on the board and rout the dovetail. Then repeat on the other end.
The result:
With the dovetail dadoes complete, i move to cut the male dovetails. First i remove a portion of the waste with another cutter, going to the router table for this step:
Then I set up the router table with the same bit I used to do the dovetail mortise, and cut the male dovetail:
I keep the male dovetail a little less deep than the mortise. The mortise was 0.1890", and i make the male dovetail about 0.1750" in depth.
I keep trimming the male dovetail down until it is getting close to the point where it will insert in the mortise:
I hold off on any more work on the dovetail male. It's now time to dress the lid panel down:
Vertical Grain Wenge is not exactly a party as far as planing goes, but with a sharp blade it went fine. The goal here was to remove about 0.05" of material at most from the upper face of the panel, thus keeping the potential dovetail fit in good territory.
I also did a pass on the sides and top of the Khaya battens, followed by trimming the panel edges:
I trimmed the panel edges in small steps, checking frequently, until it started to fit the box:
A few more careful passes and the lid was sliding in nicely:
I then rubbed the lid panel down with lubed 400 grit paper and gave it a wipe both sides with polymerized Tung Oil:
I'll put another coat or two on before going to the fitting stage with the battens. Until next time then?