Stage 3 Cont: Bells & Whistles

With the trim completed, the next step is to cut the rest of our veneer and start the replacement process. But, as is becoming a trend in the process, when I opened the lid at one point in the process I found another little bit to be fixed.

Down in the corner where the original cedar veneer on the inside of the chest had dried, it had cracked and was pulling away from the body of the lid. Since it was still attached at the seam, I took a box cutter to the bottom to prevent it bubbling and cracking once I clamped it down. The veneer was then peeled back some with a tool while carpenter's glue was applied to the inside using a paintbrush. Then we placed a wood block up against it to keep it flat while gluing and clamped it down tight. It was a very easy fix and one that was more mildly irritating than it was truly displeasing. While the glue dried here, we moved back over to the table saw to cut a new board for the veneer in the same fashion as the previous pieces. I purchased this lumber solely to do the veneer along the bottom of the chest, but because I had cracked (see Stage 2; Setback) one of my original pieces and feared the same wood would yield the same results, I decided to go with the new veneer for the complete project. Plus this way the coloration would be consistent (and I actually like this new board better). It's a near perfect board; no knots, which removes the obstacles in the curvature on the lid.

It's the same old story as far as cutting the veneer goes. You can find the process we used in Stage 2: Repair & Replacement. This time, however, I managed to get a picture of how we plan for the wood grain to come out on the lid. The patterning is of course a matter of personal preference, but I chose the wood I did because I knew it would yield these nice white lines that would give us some nice color variation.

Since I got the idea to replace my coffee table with this piece of furniture (protected of course), I wanted to be able to move it easily when it's filled. As it was, the chest itself was relatively heavy and would be a burden to move even by "walking" it one way or another so we salvaged some old casters and attached them to the underside using scrap lumber for spacing.

The black pieces were cut to size and attached to the underside of the chest using wood glue and screws. Special care was taken when drilling pilot holes not to puncture the chest floor. Next we attached squares of 1x6" boards to which we could mount the casters. Once we got it on the floor though, we only had about 1/8" clearance, which is fine for concrete and hardwood floors, but doesn't do much good for my carpeting. To get some more clearance, we removed the casters and reattached them after putting on an additional 1/2" spacer. 

Work Time: 4.5 Hours

Total Time: 26.5 Hours