There’s one more fussy operation to do, and that’s fitting the stiles between the rails. You might think this is asking for trouble, but it only takes a minor adjustment of your fence to get it right.
The first thing to figure out is the exact length of the stile, which includes two tenons. Assemble the front of the chest, without glue, by clamping together two long rails and two legs. Measure the opening and add the length of the two tenons (Fig. A, Detail 6). You can do this without a ruler by marking directly on a stile.
Cutting the opposite face of the tenon requires lowering the dado set. Leave the fence where it is. Place a rail with its face side up next to the blade. Lower the blade until it lines up with the bottom wall of the groove, just as you did before. Cut a test piece and try it in the mortise (Photo 10). This is a finicky setting, so it will take a number of attempts to get it right. Record this blade height, too.
Cut all the stiles to length. Then cut a complete tenon on one end of each stile. Because you recorded the two heights of the dado set to make a tenon, this should be easy. If you use all the dado chippers, add a wooden face to your fence.
Fit the stiles to the opening when you cut the tenons on the other end. You can fine-tune the stile’s length between its shoulders by moving the saw’s fence.
Now you can precisely mark the mortises directly from the tenons (Fig. C and Photo 12). Take the front apart and make three spacers the width of the panel openings. Mark alongside the tenons on one rail, then clamp all the rails together and transfer these marks across them. Cut the mortises.
You can size the panels by another method of direct measurement using “pinch sticks” (Photo 13). They’re two narrow sticks, each a bit shorter than the opening. Reassemble the front with the stiles in place. Butt one end of each stick into opposite grooves and pinch them together with a small spring clamp. Wiggle the pinch sticks out of the opening and you’ve got another “thing itself.”
Cut the panels 1/16-in. smaller in width and height than the length of the pinch sticks. Shape the panels with a 3/4-in.-dia. round-nose bit on a router table equipped with a tall fence (Fig. A, Detail 2. Also see AW #73, p. 39 for more information on raising panels and Sources, at right for the bit). Sand and apply a finish to the outside of the panels before you glue up the case.
The bottom is notched around the legs. Don’t mess around with measuring angles to make the notches. Here’s a direct method:
Put the whole chest together without glue to figure out exactly how big the bottom needs to be. Measure from the bottom of one groove to the opposite groove as you did for the panels. Make the bottom from three loose boards connected by tongue and groove joints (Fig. A, Detail 2). Cut the bottom boards to length and width, put them together on a flat surface and place the chest on top of them. Scribe around the legs onto the bottom, remove the bottom from under the chest and cut out a notch in each corner on the bandsaw (Fig. A).
Glue up the top and cut it to fit the chest. Rout a molding on the front edge and ends, but not the back (Fig. A, Detail 1).
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JOINTS BETWEEN STILE AND RAIL
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LAY OUT THE MORTISES in the long rail directly from the stiles. Cut spacers that are the width of the panel opening and place them between the stiles. Then draw a pencil line along the side of each tenon. |
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PINCH STICKS DIRECTLY MEASURE the size of the panels. Misreading a ruler can get you in trouble, but these sticks are always accurate. |
Hope Chest
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Tools, Materials, & Sources
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Exploded View of Hope Chest
The Grooves & Mortices
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The Tenons
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The Tenons (Continued)
The Stiles & Panels and The Top & Bottom
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Assembly
Project of the Month • Frame and Panel Hope Chest • February 2000
© 2000 American Woodworker