Shopsmith Forums

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.

Chris,

It really came out great.That red felt gives it a nice Starrett look.
Ya know, that is the same chest that Woodsmith modeled for their plan in their magazine, we did this project in June of 09 here s the link.

http://www.woodsmith.com/magazine/sourc ... sts-chest/

Originally built by Union Chest Works of Rochester NY. probably dates around the roaring 20`s

Glad all the hardware worked out for ya.. Thanks again...MC

Finally getting around to making a new front-panel for the chest. This part was totally missing from the original.

I used the SS Bandsaw quite happily for resawing 3/4"-thick oak into thin planks. When I have a nice, reasonably fresh blade, I can cut a very true 6"-wide resaw just by running the timber right down the fence, no aligning for 'drift'.

I used QS White Oak for the frames. For the middle panel, I deviated to Red Oak and used a nice plank that I found a few years ago at ACE hardware of all places .

On the top & bottom frame-pieces I added a 1/8" thick groove with the tablesaw mode. For the side pieces I used a 1/8" bit in the Router Chuck and ran the PowerPro fairly fast for stopped cuts. The grooves were for holding the center panel; I don't have a true tongue&groove joinery. My frame pieces are doweled together. I just basically like doing dowel joinery with the Shopsmith.

Haven't had time to clean it up and stain it yet...

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The front panel came out pretty decent. I had to trim every which way with a block-plane, then install the retainer-pins (on the lid) and sockets (on the front-panel's top edge).

It's pretty much done, just some color-evening and odds and ends to tidy up. A long project over many sessions, but very fun!

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Front panel looks good can`t even tell it was replaced. Great Job!!!

I applaud anyone for "Restoring our American history in the work place"

Here is a link to my flickr page for the drawing on the panel cut out for the lock.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49759867@N ... hotostream

And of coarse a replacement as close as I can get to the original lock. It`s a beautiful lock.
It`s machined all over.I started out with fifty and am down to the last one in stock. One day I hope to get some stamping dies made and perhaps a die cast mold for the lock body to get the price down. It was also used on piano key board tops and roll top desks...

http://www.machinistchest.com/site/prod ... item_id=40

Thanks ...MC

Chest #1 -- described above -- got completed and shipped to my nephew. He likes it! He has some collectibles which would find a nice home in that chest.

Chest #2 -- Another oak basket case -- was just ordered from e&ay! It starts with $30.00 -- not counting whatever I decide to put into it when I get it. Finding the busted/incomplete ones is the only way to stay under $100, it seems.

nuhobby wrote:Chest #1 -- described above -- got completed and shipped to my nephew. He likes it! He has some collectibles which would find a nice home in that chest.

Chest #2 -- Another oak basket case -- was just ordered from e&ay! It starts with $30.00 -- not counting whatever I decide to put into it when I get it. Finding the busted/incomplete ones is the only way to stay under $100, it seems.

Here's Chest #2 in raw form. There's a few differences as I get into what I got...
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#1 was Quartersawn white oak. #2 is more conventional cuts of red oak.

#1 had wood drawer-bottoms, and several cracks in the all-wood drawers. #2 has (rusty) tin-bottom drawers, plus missing drawer parts altogether.

#1 was solid wood everywhere. #2 has a plywood top and back, plus really ugly almost black stain which I'm planing off.

How can you tell if it's red oak or white oak .. I can kinda tell when they are unstained but I don't think I would be able to tell after varnishing though I have noticed that red oak I am using at the moment seems to show grain as a way darker contrast after staining...

Great job by the way

WOW! Very nice work, I admire the patience you have to be that careful.