# Hope Chest Question???



## Shaw Racing (Nov 15, 2008)

Hello everyone!

I am making a Hope Chest and have a question about the best way to make a lid. I am using 3/4" popular ripped to 6-7"'s wide to reach my desired width of 19". Overall length will be 37.5".

I have a self-centering doweling jig, which I have used before with good results, but not for a project like this. I also have a detail biscuit joiner, which uses a biscuit 1" long and 1/2" wide. I was planning on using the biscuits, however I am not too sure about that now.

My question is what method would you recommend to make the lid? Do you think that the biscuits would do the job, or should I use dowels?

I do not have a planer to clean up the lid and even the boards, so I will be attempting to do that with sanders.

My other option is to make the lid similar to the sides, which I used a rail and stile design with tongue and groove joints, and a 1/4" birch plywood insert.

What do you think?

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Rich


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## egnuol (Jun 25, 2009)

Shaw Racing said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> I am making a Hope Chest and have a question about the best way to make a lid. I am using 3/4" popular ripped to 6-7"'s wide to reach my desired width of 19". Overall length will be 37.5".
> 
> ...


 
Hi Rich, 

I have had good luck with biscuits but you might want to use bigger ones(#20) if you have the cutter. They don't make the joint any stronger but it does help to align your boards. You could also use scrapers and hand planes to get them nice and flat when finishing.
Good luck, Darrel


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Hi Rich, I made a chest awhile back and I did not use either. I just jointed the edges and glued the boards together. This worked well for me and is extremely strong. I think the biscuits and dowels, as mentioned, will be good for alignment, but the strength of a glue joint is sufficient for the lid. The frame and panel lid looks nice too though. As far as a planer to smooth it, I didn't have one either. I used a sander to smooth mine out, but the use of cauls to keep the glue up in line will help minimize your need to clean it up. If they stay aligned a sander or scraper will clean it up nice. Another option is to find a lumbermill, millwork factory, friend, etc with a wide belt sander and pay them to clean it up. Most will do that for you. Good luck.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

Rich - I used to use biscuits on just about everything because I thought there were needed. On a panel such as you described, a good tight joint with regular wood glue will be more than adequate without biscuits or dowels. The glue joints will be the strongest point on those panels so long as the joint is tight and they're glued with some clamp pressure. 

To achieve those tight joints, you'll need the boards to have a good straight edge that's square to the board's face. The best tool for that task is a jointer, but a decent TS can achieve a reasonably flat square edge for butt joints. If you're not familiar with the technique, check out this link, or this one. A decent hand plane can be helpful for edge jointing too, and can also make cleaning up the glue joints go a little quicker.


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## Shaw Racing (Nov 15, 2008)

*Thanks!*

Thanks for the quick reply's! After looking at some finished projects, I did really like the look of the top matching the sides. I think that this is the route I am going to take. I just wish I had thought of this when I had the table-saw and rotor set up and could have made all the pieces at once! lol

Oh well, live and learn!

Thanks again!

Rich


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## skymaster (Oct 30, 2006)

Rich, how many pcs do you need to do? IF u want to run up the street to my shop let me know :}:}:}
Muskie Jack:smile:


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