Rifflers Handles & Case - #6 Top Part 2 & Finishing

Next is to make risers that go between the dividers and a cross brace that will go inside the lid.  The risers will lift the riffler’s cutting surface up and make them a little easier to grab.

The grain in both these pieces are a little different than what you would usually find in pieces like these.  So as not to have a cross grain situation the long edge will be end grain.  The blanks are cutoffs I saved when making the end piece blanks.   I used a router with a 3/8” round over bit to cut the top and bottom ending up with a bullnose edge.  Here is the setup on the router table.

To cut the riser and brace off I used the table saw with a slightly different setup.  Rather than measure between the fence and the blade for the kept piece I set the fence so the cutoff was the kept piece.  This is because the kept piece is not very wide and has a rounded edge that I thought might roll a bit as I made the cut.  If that happened the blade could grab it and that would be a bad thing.  Making the cut as shown below gives a nice wide flat surface to hold onto while making the cut.

With the riser blank cut I could start cutting the individual pieces that go in the base.  Below is a photo that has the whole blank with the riser cut off, it set in place in the base and a close-up.

With the piece length verified I clamped a playing card to the fence as a stop making the cut just a little long.  I used the card rather than a regular block because I was worried that because the cut-off was the piece I kept with a regular stop it could get pinched between the stop and the blade.  If that happens things can get really exciting in a hurry and not in a good way. 

The pieces are cut just a fraction long because as careful as I was when setting the divider spacing there are minor differences.  No more than a couple hundredths of an inch but enough I wanted to be able to fit each one exactly.  Final fitting is done with a 12” disk sander and a miter gauge to keep the face square. 

The only thing of note as I glued the risers in was the use of a spacer to make sure when done they were all lined up straight.  A single similar piece will be made for the top that will act as reinforcement.

Next is to round over some of the edges.  As a way of assuring that I routed just the edges needed I marked the cut edges with chalk.  I will be holding the routed pieces in all different directions and it would certainly be easy to get confused and route an edge that should not be routed.  Here is the lid marked and ready to go.  The roundover bit in the router is a 1/8” radius.

 

Here is the lid on the base after routing.  The corner circled in red is end grain and is so small I was concerned that if I used the router to make the cut the odds of a mishap were pretty good.  It was pretty easy to use sandpaper to match the radius and blend the two edges.

The pins that will hold the top in place and allow it to open are next.  I wanted to make the pins out of ¼” diameter brass rod and had a heck of time finding it.  I finally found a brass rod threaded on both ends that was a replacement part for a water filler for a stock tank.  As an added bonus the treaded ends will work to help keep the pins in place.  With the top held in place with spacers I marked the pin length and cut it off with a hacksaw.

Once cut I chucked the pin up in the lathe, used a fine file to shape and bring it to the proper diameter as the rod was a bit oversize.  From there I used sandpaper starting with 320 and ending with 1,500 wet then on to steel wool.  Final work is with a cloth wheel loaded with polishing rouge which gives me a fairly polished surface. 

For feet I used the same process except using a file I cut a decorative groove just above the bottom.  The little feet will be installed in a ¼” holes in the base.  Below are all the brass pieces for the project.

Next is the marking and drilling of the holes for the brass pins.  These need to be carefully measured so the holes line up on each side.  To hold the top and bottom together while drilling I shimmed the gap between the two pieces then taped everything in place.  With that done I moved to the drill press, clamped a tall extension board to the fence, checked for square, made sure the drill was lined up with the center mark, clamped the piece in place and drilled the hole.  With one hole done I flipped the piece keeping the same fact against the fence and drilled the other side.  Below you can see the total setup plus a closer view.  The depth of the holes is critical as the pins need to bottom out in the holes so when they are installed they only go in so far.  With this design there is no way to get them out if they get pushed in too far.  The last bit of woodworking is drilling holes for mounting the feet in.  I used the drill press using the process as above.

Finishing is next.  I am using Danish Oil rather than my usual lacquer finish because I think that over time the case could get a little beat up.  If that happens I can refurbish it by applying another coat of oil.  I started with the top to get a feel for how the wood will react with the finish.  Here is a photo of the top with one coat and the bottom with none.  This gives a good idea of how the finish brings out the grain and richness of the walnut used.

Once the finishing was done I installed the feet.  The piece of wood with the hole in it is my stop.  I put some epoxy in the hole, the foot in the spacer and use a clamp to press the foot flush with the spacer.  Follow the same process and presto all four feet are set at the same level.  At least that was the plan.  I must have bumped one of the feet as I was cleaning the squeezed out epoxy off.  I ended up with one being just a little to deep.  Once the epoxy has cured the fix was pretty easy, I clamped a full sheet of sand paper down then rubbed the piece back and forth until everything was level.

With the feet in, the last thing was to glue in the pins.  I used yellow carpenters glue rather than epoxy because this is a one shot install.  As I said once I push the pins in there is no way to get them out.  I expected some squeeze out of glue when they are installed and it did happen.  Cleaning up was a lot easier with the water soluble yellow glue than it would have been with epoxy. 

 

 After letting the glue cure overnight I put the rifflers in the box and was done.

I had fun doing this project.  I know I could have used a canvas roll to store the rifflers in but I wanted a wood case.  I had the walnut on hand so the only thing I had to get was the brass.  Besides I am retired and just wanted to build this. :)