Viking style chest in pine

[Rick M]

I've been planning on making a Mastermyr style chest in oak but found some pine being thrown away and decided to do a practice run first. Made from 3/4" white pine with steel hinges. I was going to use wood hinges but after making them too loose I decided to put that off and just use metal for this box. I will revisit the wood hinge idea on the oak version. And forgive my botched attempt at carving, the pine was so brittle it just kept breaking out. Finished with amber shellac. One thing I forgot was to route a finger catch on the front of the lid.

This shows the construction.
I deviated from the Mastermyr chest in a few ways, most noticeably the bottom doesn't have a through tenon but sits in a dado instead.

Little more info here:
http://thewoodknack.blogspot.com/search/label/viking chest​

 

[Hmerkle]

O.K.
VERY cool - will applaud you if you can get those hinges... I know they are tough (definitely NOT from experience)

 

[Rick M]

Well my test hinges came out well so I thought, 'hey! this is easy!' But the actual hinges were a no-go. I would like to build a box joint jig but I might have another go at making them by hand. Tricky part is a hair either way and they are too tight or too loose.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Nice job, Rick, especially for a prototype. When you do the final version in oak, will you use white or red? I would think white would be a little better for carving, although I've never carved either.

 

[Rick M]

I'll use red oak because I have a bunch I bought 10 years ago on clearance. Two of the pieces are quartersawn and will be the front and back panels.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jeff]

Well my test hinges came out well so I thought, 'hey! this is easy!' But the actual hinges were a no-go. I would like to build a box joint jig but I might have another go at making them by hand. Tricky part is a hair either way and they are too tight or too loose.

Here's a simple box joint jig for the table saw. It works pretty well imo.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/workshop/video/tablesaw-box-joint-jig.aspx

 

[KenOfCary]

Let me know if you want to borrow my I-Box - box joint jig when you get around to trying it again. It mostly sits unused on a shelf in a cabinet. It works great, I just don't use it that often. I could stand to have it loaned out for several weeks.

 

[Len]

With straight line carving like that, you can reduce breakout by scoring along the lines with a sharp Japanese marking knife first. An X-Acto knife will work in a pinch.

Len

 

[Rick M]

Let me know if you want to borrow my I-Box - box joint jig when you get around to trying it again. It mostly sits unused on a shelf in a cabinet. It works great, I just don't use it that often. I could stand to have it loaned out for several weeks.

Thanks, I might take you up on that. It's a little embarrassing that I screwed up something so simple. I feel like I shouldn't call myself a woodworker if I can't make a couple box joints for hinges by hand.

 

[Rick M]

With straight line carving like that, you can reduce breakout by scoring along the lines with a sharp Japanese marking knife first. An X-Acto knife will work in a pinch.

Len

I did score them with a marking knife but the spaces between the lines is less than 1/8" wide. Originally I was going to chip carve them but the chip carving knife I made has a fairly thick blade and it was proving very difficult so I switched to a chisel. I should just buy a real carving knife. Another mistake is that I was cutting too deep. Mistakes kept adding up so I switched to a Dremel as router and that worked great but those thin sidewalls couldn't handle it. All in all it's me having no experience at carving and no idea what I'm doing.

 

[Len]

I did score them with a marking knife but the spaces between the lines is less than 1/8" wide.

Somehow they looked bigger in the picture.

If you're going to be doing much of that type of carving you might want to invest in a carving set, such as this, that includes small "veiner's" for doing narrow grooves. I received the 12 piece set for Christmas, and they're very nice.

Len

 

[Truefire]

Nice...making wood hinges, hasps, knobs and such is so much fun and much more rewarding...I'm right in there with you. Great job on the chest.