I spent more time in the workshop working on my US toolbox. I made the framed lid by running the grooves, mortise and tenoning the joints and then raising the two lid panels with my #4 plane. The joints took 8 minutes a piece and I had 4 in the top and 4 in the bottom frame. The whole process is fun to do and very simple with the Veritas plough plane. Hopefully, when I return in February, I will have it ready for the next show in Virginia and New Jersey. I can make the drawers in Wales and bring them back to glue them up when I arrive here in February.
The top formed and assembled
The raised panels are quite simple to fashion. Someone asked me why I didn’t raise the panels clamped in the vise flat rather than upright in the vise. There are a couple of reasons. If I clamp in the vise flat I can cause the wood to belly up or down and that being so the bevel will come out uneven. If the wood is already bellied, the vise will flatten the wood and the bevel will be perfectly even. The same is true on the bench top with bench-dogs. If the panel is cupped or bowed, the bevel I cut will be straight and show as uneven bevels.
Superstructure nearly done
I like the top with two panels. I left them the full 3/4 “ thick so that, if I want to, I can screw supports to the underside of the lid to hold saws and such.
