dusty wrote: Are the joints where the sides mate with the bottom just simple box joints and glue?
I did a lot of mental analyzing on those simple glued finger-joints. The sides are quartersawn oak which should have been about as stable as solid wood gets. The bottom is a 3-part tongue&groove (poplar, poplar, oak) semi-loose assembly which should have let the sides stay straight through the seasons normally. But the sides were both warped outward at the front and back extremes.
I theorized that the sides had heavy stain and varnish on the outer faces, and very little finish on the inner faces, so a sustained "wet" event would have contributed to the warping I saw. I removed most of the outer finishes and toweled the outer faces fairly wet a few times, while also clamping those boards to flat references during drying. When I finally glued it back together, I used the Mk. V to bore long pilot holes through the finger joints (one hole passing through about 3" worth of interlocked fingers), and I drove in stainless decking screws. I'm thinking those joints will be pretty good for a pretty long time now:) .
I've seen some of the other Forum guys post some fantastic restorations, so that has been a good inspiration to keep me going. Also I don't have room or resources to restore cars, so this is a nice scaled-down substitute for that.
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