I was driving home Tuesday when I realized that I wanted a retro gun case for my recently acquired 1874 Sharps rifle. I stopped in to HD and picked up the supplies I needed for the project. Since I do not know how to make those fancy interlocking corners in the wood I had to rely on butting the ends of the wood and gluing them. The joints are a skill I need to learn so I am asking for help with this

. Anyway I applied my homemade alkanet root stain and the waxed. I think it came out pretty good. I still need to put the dividers inside and install the green felt but I think this case should work well.

Hey, nothing wrong with Butt joints. You can always thru drill and glue some dowels in the corners. Or counter drill 3/8" hole and use some 1 1/4" screws and plug the holes too, if you want to make sure that they never come apart.

I sure like the way you oriented the grain in the top, that is excellent. That finish no complaints from here.

Herb

Edited February 8, 20197 yr by Dadio

What Dadio said about the grain! Beautiful!

3 minutes ago, lew said:

What Dadio said about the grain! Beautiful!

make that... character to go along w/ the beauty...

Beautiful looking box.

Wow that is some beautiful wood. Very nice work Kenny.

The wood is common Poplar that I colored with homemade stain and I was lucky to find 1"X12" planks. Thank you for the compliments 

2 hours ago, Monkey Paws said:

The joints are a skill I need to learn so I am asking for help with this

Some additional suggestions here Kenny...before applying the felt, you could reinforce the corners by adding inside corner blocks...glue & brad nail or glue & screw. Going forward using pocket holes joinery would work well for a case such as this. You can use plugs to fill the holes, then cover with your felt; would be invisible. However, we can help you spend your money for router bits and jigs for the fancy stuff.

 

Your finish potion turned that poplar into some beautiful looking wood. The brass corner plates adds period character too especially with the color. Well done

 

2 hours ago, Monkey Paws said:

I wanted a retro gun case for my recently acquired 1874 Sharps rifle.

Have we seen this yet? I can't recall. Hopefully we will once the case is completed.

12 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

However, we can help you spend your money for router bits and jigs for the fancy stuff.

Yes just sign over your next two unborn children and one grandchild.

I will show pictures of the Sharps when it arrives tommorow.  Think Quiggly down under. He was shooting an 1874 Sharps. Here are some pictures of the wood bare and with pre-stain. I am quite sure all of my friends PW would be more than happy helping me spend some money.

A beautiful job, Monkey. Can't wait to see it with the Sharps in it.

That is sweet!  And I really like what your homemade stain did to bring out the contrasts in the boards.

Awesome work and thanks for sharing. 

See the recent posts on box joints they would look awesome also.

Or 

Dove tails cut by hand ask Mr. Newman how to cut them. 

Here's one with dovetail keys. I cheated and used a purchased jig.

 

15 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Some additional suggestions here Kenny...before applying the felt, you could reinforce the corners by adding inside corner blocks...glue & brad nail or glue & screw. Going forward using pocket holes joinery would work well for a case such as this. You can use plugs to fill the holes, then cover with your felt; would be invisible. However, we can help you spend your money for router bits and jigs for the fancy stuff.

 

Your finish potion turned that poplar into some beautiful looking wood. The brass corner plates adds period character too especially with the color. Well done

 

Have we seen this yet? I can't recall. Hopefully we will once the case is completed.

Please explain pocket hole joinery.

3 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

Here's one with dovetail keys. I cheated and used a purchased jig.

 

How do you do keys like this? I like making things like this but I have never been taught how to do the fancy joints

I really like how the box came out but wouldn't  it look much nicer with fancy corners?

4 hours ago, Monkey Paws said:

Please explain pocket hole joinery.

pocket-hole-joinery.pdf

Edited February 8, 20197 yr by Stick486

3 hours ago, Monkey Paws said:

Please explain pocket hole joinery.

While the technique has been used for some time with a variety of jigs, Kreg Tools brought it to the "main-stream" in recent years.

Kreg Pocket Hole Jigs & Techniques

 

Quite recently, Milescraft introduced their version which is slightly less expensive.

 

I've seen both at Menard's. I bought a Kreg K-4 system off CL for about 1/4 of new...it had been used once.

 

Pocket holes are not a one size fits all method but works well in many, is strong and can be hidden. Great for cabinet face frames. Lots of videos on You-Tube...Search Pocket Hole Joinery

6 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

While the technique has been used for some time with a variety of jigs,

a jig from the 50's...

 

 

DIY...

pocket-hole-jig1.pdf