I am making a Treasure Chest for my oldest daughter. She is almost 40 and still wants a treasure chest.
It is made from different woods I have and all are natural wood. Only some 1/2 inch veneer Jatoba plywood (A/A grade) for the floor of the chest.
She wanted a brass lock and key. I have a quality solid brass morticed lock to install.
I wonder about that Lock with wood movement. How tight of a fit for the locking parts when installed? Anybody have a good idea for a tight top fit (with the lock) and still open close after the wood does it’s thing? Maybe a spring loaded latch plate or lock?
The woods are a variety of leftover treasures woods I had available and everything is approximately 1/2 inch thick. Approximate size is 24 inches long by 20 inches deep by 30 inches high. No Golden rule but the size of the woods I had on hand as she requested it. Not sure she will be happy with the brass plated piano hinge for the top.. It was a quality (as in expensive) brass plated steel hinge. I think a strange size but it looks better than it sounds by the sizes.. I hate big scraps of wood when cutting what I have…
Replies
Hi Will,
If the lid of the chest is solid wood, seasonal movement can be a problem. Modern chest locks do not have a lot of allowance built into them for movement between the lock body and the keeper- the part attached to the lid that enters the lock body. Old time chest locks have as much as 1/2" of slop built into the interface between these parts. If you have some narrow warding files or needle files, you can open up the top of the lock body to make a little more room.
Alternatively, you might consider making the lid up as a frame with a panel, if the design of the chest allows. This will minimise the movement at the lock.
Ray
Ray.. Thanks..
I have made the 'top latch plate' adjustable 'a bit'.. with 4 set-screws. Two top and two at the bottom. I will leave the Allen wrench and instructions for my daughter...
She is wonderful at Chemistry math but not that good with tools so I would suppose that I will have to come over to fix it?...
Then again, I KNOW, that she is well versed with hand tools but it is easier for her to have me do it!
I only wanted the less slop possible to keep the dust out.. Maybe a better solution would have been stick on felt strips?
Hi Will,
It seems to me that you are worried about the lid lifting up away from the case. That may happen, true, but far more likely, certain, actually, is that the lid will get wider and narrower from summer to winter. Quartersawn stuff for the lid will help in both areas. The the big problem is if the keeper will move more than the recess in the top of the lock can accomodate.
I had a customer bring me a liquor chest that I'd built for him a couple years before, saying that the lock would not work. What had happened was the lid had gotten wider, and the keeper was "bound" in the lock. The lock was unlocked, but the keeper was pushed (by the widened lid) against the inside of the lock so tightly that it seemed to be permanently locked. I had to open up the slots in the top of the lock to make more room for the keeper to move back and forth as the lid got wider and narrower with the changing of the seasons.
The wider the lid is, of course, the more it will move. And if the lid is quartersawn, the less it will move.
Ray
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