My first ever completed project - loads of pics, sorry!

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TrimTheKing

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16 Mar 2007
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Grappenhall (Nr Warrington), Cheshire
Evening all

Well, after months of taking all the advice and info that UKW has to offer I thought it was about time I gave something back. I have finally managed to complete my first ever project, a Treasure/Pirates chest for my friends daughter who is mad on Cap'n Jack Sparrow.

So here it goes, all critique and comments welcomed.

Unfortunately I have lost the pics that I took as I was making the actual box base, so only have the pics of making the coopered lid, hinging and
lock fitting.

Initially I made the box with simple joinery, front/back 390mm x 125mm x 16mm, sides 140mm x 125mm, joined using my Trend dovetail jig. For the purposes of full disclosure some pics of the d/t's not fitting perfectly due to me doing this before I had learned the importance of properly squaring up edges to faces :oops:

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I then jointed a couple of pieces together to make the base, and this was dry fitted into a rebate in the sides. I then put a little cambered detail on the bottom of the base to give it a bit of interest, and glued it all up.

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This is a pic of the front, note the line marked on the front where I was going to hand cut the dovetails before bottling out :roll: :oops:

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Next I started on the lid. I took this design from a copy of Practical Woodworking then slightly modified it for my own purposes, so I can't lay claim to thinking up the coopering technique. I will however hold on to my smugness of actually managing to not completely balls it up :lol:

After working out the optimum number of slats for the top, in this case 17, you divide 180 (half circle) by 17 (number of slats) giving you the total number of deg per slat, which you then half for each side of each slat :shock:

I used my crosscut sled and set up a block of wood on the left as a stop block. Then I set my workpiece just over the slot and wedged it up to 5.1 degrees and clamped it in place and made a cut along the edge of the workpiece.

Then I flipped it over and pushed it up to the stop, which was set to the correct distance, wedged it up to 5.1 deg again and made the second cut, then flip and repeat until all pieces cut.

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Stacked around the former

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Once all the pieces were cut to width you place them thin side down and tape them together across the top.

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Then flip them over to glue gaps

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Then put the pre cut end pieces in place, with tape over the edges so they don't stick to the inside (yet) and glue up. Pull the tape up tight and this forms the pieces round the former and pulls up the glue joints nice & tight. I also used a car roof rack ratchet strap to pull them up tight.

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When the glue has dried I removed the formers and planed off the angles where the slats meet to round it off nicely, then give it a bit of a sand to smooth out. I cleaned up the inside with a curved cabinet scraper.

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Then cut to length on bandsaw and fit the end pieces, then glue up and clamp.

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I then put some finish on the lid, same as the rest of the box, 6 coats of Danish oil cut back with 600grit between coats to take off the shine. Then I fitted some lovely strap hinges that I got from Lee Valley and fitted with brass screws after heating them and bending them to shape around a plywood former of the same radius as the lid.

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Next I hacksawed the heads off 16 hand forged rose head nails that I picked up and filed off the remainder of the nail so I just had the nail head with a flat bottom and glued these to the heads of the brass screws. Might sound odd but I wanted the strength of the screws with the look of the nails. Should any of the screws fail I can then prise off the nail heads, repair and re-fit nail head.

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Lastly I fitted a nice little morticed piano style lock that I got from Hafele (through Chippy's mate, very helpful bloke called Darren) to finish it off.

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And here's a few shots of the finished article.

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The box is made out of one of the spare floorboards from my house, you can see them in the last few pics. I like to recycle :lol:

Sorry for the huge amount of pics but I wanted to show it off seeing as it's the first thing i've ever made, and hopefully it might help others with similar projects.

Please let me know what you think, and any improvements you would make. I have been asked to make a couple more so any ways to improve it would be welcomed.

Cheers

Mark
 
Are you sure this is your first project :shock:

Fantastic job well done you and the pictures are great for anyone else planning this type of box .



Mic.
 
Mark, I think you have created a very nice piece. The attention to detail is very commendable. I'm not sure if the coopered top is a bit too thick, looking at the end view, maybe you could test it with thinner pieces to see if its any better. Other than that I think you should be proud of it as I'm sure your friends daughter will be.
 
eggflan":1nlpxpe8 said:
Are you sure this is your first project :shock:

:lol: Yep, but it has taken me the best part of 3 months to do because I have been so paranoid about getting anything wrong that I mulled over every stage for ages.

Shultzy":1nlpxpe8 said:
I'm not sure if the coopered top is a bit too thick, looking at the end view, maybe you could test it with thinner pieces to see if its any better.

Yep, might try that on the next one. I made the thickness of the pieces the same thickness as the sidewalls of the rest of the box as I thought that was how it should be done. It looks more in proportion in real life than on the pics, but I can see what you mean.

Here's another pic of it, what do you think?

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Thanks for all your kind comments.

Cheers

Mark
 
Hi Mark,

I think the finished article looks great. A box with a coopered lid was quite a complicated piece for your first major project and I think it's turned out very well.

Cheers :wink:

Paul
 
Mark, I reckon any little pirate would love it!
Nothing wrong with the thickness of the top it follows the line of the joint nicely. Only thing if I was being picky I would have tried to match the figuring twixt side of box and lid if possible.(Although I'm not certain a pirate would care)

Regards Tom
 
Mark

Very nice and I think that the lid gives the feeling of great strength just as a pirates chest should.I bet she will be delighted to fill it with treasures.

Dennis
 
Mark - Personally I don't think this is your first piece as it's so good - you just had to get it off your chest!!! :shock: :wink: :wink:

Only jokin' fella, it's superb for your first effort, wish I'd done as well with my first outings :cry: :cry: .What sort of table saw have you by the way?

Mark
 
That's fantastic mate, no need to apologise for the pics, they make the thread well worth reading.

I think the lid does look a bit thick on some pics but not so on the final pics so it might just be the way they are showing it.

You should be very proud of it and I'm sure your friends daughter will be well pleased with it. If this really is your first project then we have got some excellent future projects to look forward to.

Well done,

regards

Brian
 
Great work :D

A couple of my thoughts ...

I too feel the thickness of wood is just a little over proportioned. A thought perhaps for a similar lid, you could plane/sand to give a slightly barreled effect, thinner at the edges ?

I love the strap hinges ! but I might be inclined to 'distress' the wood a little to match the look of the metal.

you do have cross grain on the ends of the lid, hopefully it wont give you any trouble.

Definitely a job to be proud of - well done :)
 
Bloody Hell! If those D/Ts are your first effort you have reason to be proud! My first effort were shove tails! Well done indeed.

Roy.
 
woody67":1p5hkknl said:
Mark - Personally I don't think this is your first piece as it's so good - you just had to get it off your chest!!! :shock: :wink: :wink:
It is, honest! Like I say, I spent a veeeeery long time on every part that I wasn't 100% confident with and made sure that I worked very slowly to get everything right. It took waaay too long, but I think it was worth it as all our friends who have seen it have made nice noises, and I have a couple of orders for more :) I reckon, now I have the jigs set up for it, that I could probably knock another together in a weekend and have it to the same level as this one in two.
woody67":1p5hkknl said:
What sort of table saw have you by the way?
It's a shocking thing, cost my mate about £100 from B&Q about 4 years ago when they had a sale on, it's one of their Performance Power range. He needed space in his garage for his 'new' 1964 (I think) MGB Roadster, so he gave it to me on the premise that he could borrow it back if he ever needed to.

I have chopped out the 1.5" rear vacuum port and replaced with a 4" port which connects up to my extractor. I have also blocked up all the holes in the bottom panel so that I now have good suction through from front to back. Not worried about overheating as I am only a novice so it's never on for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

Also sanded all the plastic coating off the aluminium table and waxed it, replaced the blade and dumped the 'fence', for what it was worth, and made a crosscut sled that is also waxed. I can now push the whole sled across the blade with my little finger it is so smooth.
Tusses":1p5hkknl said:
I love the strap hinges ! but I might be inclined to 'distress' the wood a little to match the look of the metal.
I did consider that, but with it being for an 8 year old girl, who probably isn't going to be into pirates for ever :) that leaving it with a nice finish would enable it to be used as she gets older and still look okay.

I will post a final picture in a bit when I have filled it with the 'treasure' I have bought. The recipient is coming round for a BBQ tonight so will hand it over then and let you know how it went down.

Thank you all for your kind comments. I have learned masses from you lot on here so I feel like you are my judges :lol: My next project is a swinging crib for my upcoming addition. I have bought the ABW and am sourcing bearings next, then off to work we go. Will do a full WIP on that too and will no doubt be tapping you all for help along the way....

Cheers

Mark
 
A superb first project Mark!
Thanks for sharing and don't worry about too many WIP pics - most of us like lots of details.

Bob
 

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