blanket box help

[pitch pine]

I have been making a blanket box from some beautiful Parana Pine boards that came from a workshop clearance. I have built the body of the box and included a couple of hidden drawers (copying a Victorian blanket box I already have). The problem is the lid. I jointed up enough width from the boards I had and flattened it after gluing up. When I test fitted it and left it closed overnight the difference in humidity made it warp alot. If I leave it open it goes back to true. Will this movement be reduced by having a finish on the wood? Could I fit breadboard ends to minimise the movement? Thoughts please. The first picture shows the fit before it has been closed for 24 hours. Overnight it opens up over 1/2 inch.

 

[MikeG.]

Take it in and get it dry. This may take a few weeks, depending on how long it has been in your workshop and so on. Then adjust as necessary. I certainly wouldn't be applying a finish until then. You could do some sliding dovetail cross battens in that lid if you fancied a bit of practise. This would help hold everything flat.

I like the dovetailed plinth.

 

[pitch pine]

Thanks Mike. I had thought about screwed battens, but I can see that sliding dovetails would be better.

 

[pitch pine]

So I have had the lid in the house drying and it has done the worst thing possible, it's twisted over its length ("in wind" is the expression I think). I don't think this is salvageable with battens. I had thought of redesigning the lid and using some of the existing lid as a panel within a mortise and tenon frame. I should have taken more time when selecting the boards for the lid, I remember rushing it a bit and am now paying the price.

 

[Jacob]

If you leave it long enough it'll stabilise and you can have another go. I wouldn't glue the boards - T&G and nail them on battens. Or just butted up. Or Mikes DT battens - a neat very trad solution.
A solidly glued up lid is doomed to move about - especially Parana pine which is relatively unstable.

 

[pitch pine]

I am going to leave it longer Jacob before I try and sort it. I wanted a jointed top as I am copying a Victorian one I have. That one is just 2 wide boards edge jointed with a loose tongue. I think I have 5 boards in my top. Is this timber typical for Parana Pine in terms of grain and colour Jacob? Most of this timber came from a single 12x2 inch board with the lovely pink colour, but another smaller board was much paler and uniform (looks like the wood on the outside of the tree going by the growth rings).

 

[MikeG.]

Parana pine does have some striking colour variations, with patches of pink, so yes, that's typical. And if the other board is noticeably pale and clearly the outside of the tree, then it is sapwood, and 99% of the time you just bin it.

It sounds as though you have made this from re-sawn timber. Again, a lesson for the future, as soon as you re-saw you have a drier side (the old outside) and a damper side (the old inside). They behave differently, with the dry side remaining fairly stable and the wet side shrinking. This causes movement in the workpiece. Again, next time, get everything stabilised first before you make anything from it.

 

[pitch pine]

Thanks Mike. I have learnt the lessons previously, and then impatience takes over. The wood stays the same waiting patiently for me to catch up...

 

[woodbloke66]

A solidly glued up lid is doomed to move about - especially Parana pine which is relatively unstable.

Agree about Parana Pine; it's notorious for twisting and moving. As others have mentioned quite correctly, leave it to do it's own thing (preferably somewhere cool and not too hot indoors...in stick under a bed is ideal) for several weeks or even a month, then start work on it again.
This stuff used to be pretty common years ago but I haven't seen any for a very long time - Rob

 

[MikeG.]

.....This stuff used to be pretty common years ago but I haven't seen any for a very long time - Rob

I've got a stack of it here, just waiting for the right project.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Again, a lesson for the future, as soon as you re-saw you have a drier side (the old outside) and a damper side (the old inside). They behave differently, with the dry side remaining fairly stable and the wet side shrinking. This causes movement in the workpiece. Again, next time, get everything stabilised first before you make anything from it.

Mike, It's not always the case that the outside of a board is drier than the inside. Frequently it's the reverse, with the core being drier than the shell, and which way around the the drier and wetter part of a board are depends on a number of environmental factors, e.g., storage prior to use, whether it's summer or winter (for both interior and exterior wood), and so on.

However, your point about getting everything stabilised prior to working the wood is a good one anyway, so no nitpicking on that point from me, ha, ha. Slainte.

 

[pitch pine]

So many months later I built the lid, a design I took from Chris Schwarz. I was able to use the original lid, cut it down and make 2 floating panels to fit into the mortise and tenon frame.

Sorry about the rotation.

I still have to do the final shaping of the lid. The end in in sight......

 

[pitch pine]

Click on it and it will open the right way up!

 

[Blackswanwood]

That looks very smart.

 

[NickM]

It looks great.

 

[pitch pine]

Thanks for the positive comments. Hand cutting the 3 3/4 inch mortices for the lid frame has started me looking for a small morticing machine.......They were deep and took me ages to cut.

 

[thetyreman]

nice job!

 

[pitch pine]

Thanks Ben. I hope to fit the carrying handles this weekend so I can move the whole thing into to the workshop for a final plane and lid shaping.