I am making a scaled down version of the Arts and Crafts chest featured in FWW #281 for a Wedding card box. As the pieces will be thinner , my concern is gluing and pinning the sides to the front with the opposing grains.
As all pieces are being scaled down, should I, as Nancy Hiller indicated , “throw caution to the wind” and build scaled down version with same construction techniques as indicated?
Alternatively, as there does not appear to be a dado in the front and back to accept the bottom panel, I was considering using a sliding dovetail to connect the sides to front and back.
My question is will this joint survive considering it will be cut parallel to grain of QSWO?
I am planning on sizing material to 5/8″ for case and 3/4″ to 5/8″ for tapered lid.
Replies
The future integrity of such a glued join of cross-grain arrangement will depend on various factors but critically the degree to which the humidity of the air changes where the chest will live; and the frequency of those changes. If it's in an always-heated house where the outside climate doesn't vary the humidity hugely, you might be OK. Otherwise...
And if you risk it, your making place should have the same humidity. more or less, as the place the piece will live its life. Some workshops are dampish, for example.
Another factor will be the relative weakness of thinner sections of wood to resist splitting in your scaled-down chest. The type of timber used will also be a factor as some timbers expand & contract differentially cross-to-long grain a lot more than others.
Personally I'd not risk a glue joint of long to end grain in anything longer than a 3 -4 inch section. There are plenty of alternative joining processes that glue one part of the join but provide a moveable mechanical join for the rest, like the sliding dovetail you mention.
Lataxe
I know Nancy Hiller explained that she did it that way because the original was done that way and it had held up for a very long time so she wasn't concerned. If you are scaling down, wood movement would be even less of an issue so I would worry about it less.
Personally, unless I specifically like the look, I would remove the cross grain situation. Of course, you could just do it cross grain to see what happens over time. The box won't explode. If I cracks, later you could put a bow tie into it.
How much scaled down? I would imagine that you wouldn't have any problem, especially if you use quartersawn stuff. since it is scaled down, the pieces will be narrower and thus move less.
If you are truly worried about it you could do sliding dovetails for the ends into the front and back. I'd stop them short of the top edge and only glue them at the top. That would allow the front and back to move seasonally.
If you want to add the pegs, make the top one full length. Make the rest plugs so they look like pins but don't actually go into the the side of the case.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled