Sawdust on the Floor

Welcome back. Now we’re ready to build the top of the steamer trunk. But before I could do that I had to address the fact that the unfinished edges of the plywood were still exposed along the tope edge of base. My first inclination was to simply tack a piece of the 4/4 oak along this edge, but after a little consideration I came up with a more elegant fix.

I was concerned that there was nothing the guide the top into its proper position, when the top was closed. My solution fixed both this issue and the one of the unfinished top edge of the base. The top of the trunk is more 4/4 oak that was ripped to 2 1/4″ wide. These pieces were installed with the pieces placed on edge rather then laying flat. The corners are all mitered at 45 Degrees, and along the top edge a rabbit was cut for another piece of oak plywood that would become the top of the steamer trunk. Along the bottom edge of each of the 4/4 oak pieces, I cut another rabbit along the inside edge. This rabbit is only a 1/4″ wide and a 1/2″ deep. I next milled more of the 4/4 oak that would eventually cover the tops of the base unit. On each of these pieces I cut a corresponding tenon that would fit into the rabbit in the top edge pieces. So when the top was closed onto the bottom piece the rabbit and tenon would act as a guide to help keep the top aligned to the base.

The next step was to apply final trim pieces to the top of the steamer trunk. I milled some more of the 4/4 oak, down to 1/2″ thick. and then ripped it to a width of 2″. Now I took this 2″ wide stock and places it flat along the outer edge of the top, to form a frame. I mitered the corners and then attached it with glue and pin nails to hold it in place while the glue set up. I then divided the distance inside the frame along the long edge into 3rds. Along the center line of each division I installed another piece of this 2″ X 1/2″ stock. I used a combination of glue and more pin nails from my pneumatic nail gun.

With the base and the top assembled, my next step was to install the hinges on the back of the cabinet. I wanted this done before I applied the finish, because I want to check the alignment of the top to the bottom before I went any further. Good thing that I took this extra step, because when I connected the two pieces and closed then upon each other, the top was just a smidge too wide across the front edge. To correct this problem, I clamped the top to the bottom to keep the alignment and then used a combination of my belt sander and random orbital sander to make both surfaces 100% the same dimensional size.

When all of the sizing work was done and everything aligned correctly, it was time to move on to finishing the steamer trunk. I sanded the entire trunk with a combination of my random orbital sander and some hand sanding. Then I cleaned the entire project with naphtha and then applied a coat of an oil based stain. After the stain was allowed to dry for several days, I applied several coats of a polyurethane. One of the tricks I learned someplace along the way is to use a high gloss polyurethane for the first coat of top sealer. The gloss has a slightly harder finish then the satin or semi gloss versions of the polyurethane. I did a complete sanding of the entire project between coats of the top coat.

After letting the entire project set up for several days it was time to add the rest of the hardware to this project. All of the hardware I choose was made from brass, which is a very soft metal, that means that it dents and scratches easily. It also means that the mounting screws for each piece of hardware are made of brass. Therefore, the hole for each screw used for mounting the hardware was pre drilled and each and every screw was lubricated before it was screwed into place. I have learned the hard way not to use hand soap as a lubricant, a habit that many older woodworkers and handy men have used for years. The problem is that soap contains lye which will stain the wood around the hole as time goes on. A much better approach is to use a product designed as a screw lubricant.

The hardware for the steamer trunk consists of several pieces. There are corner brackets, such as those at the left which are strictly decorative. A large decorative locking hasp was installed along the front edge of the joint between the top and bottom halves of the trunk. The nice part of this lock is that I didn’t require any mortising to install it, simply pre drill for the screws and then attach.

The final pieces that were installed on the outside of the steamer trunk were the leather handles. These were installed in special hooks that I purchased at the same time as the rest of the steamer trunk hardware.

So I figured that I had finished this project, that is until I was asked what about the tray for the inside. Tray inside I asked, what tray inside? Apparently steamer trunks all have a tray inside, and some how I had forgotten about this. Oh well, like I said in the beginning this entire project is modified from plans I found, so what’s the problem with another modification at this stage? None, but that’s for tomorrow.

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