designs for a wood effects case

[PRNDL]

I'm thinking about making a case to hold 5-6 effects out of wood.
It would look like a briefcase.

The sides could be a simple square box with finger joints about 3" tall.

I'm not sure about how to make the top and bottom - how to join them to the sides.

I suppose I could make finger joints on all four sides -- but that seems like overkill.

Does anyone have plans for s wood briefcase?

Thanks!!

[Paul P]

The problems are the same for all boxes in that there's going to be
wood grain at 90 degrees in places and that spells disaster if you
don't let the wood move freely at the junction (with changes in
humidity wood moves a lot across the grain and very little with it).
You can use a simple single piece lid that can move because it's
not attached to anything except by the hinges but the bottom will
be a problem.

The traditional way is to use a frame with a panel held captive in
a groove around the inside of the frame but free to move and is
aptly called "frame and panel" construction.

Plywood lets you get around this problem since it doesn't move much
in either direction, being made up of thin layers of wood going in alternate
directions. So you could probably get away with rigidly attaching a
panel of plywood to a frame of wood and it should be ok but it won't
look very nice.

I don't much care for a frame that stands out from the panels and I like
rounded corners so what I'd do, but you need a certain amount of tools
to do it, is like this :

The sides of the box can be fingerjointed and then the top and bottom are
held in the grooves. If you use hardwood for the panels there'll have to be
some sort of gap where they meet and you have to be creative in making it
look good, maybe with a slight "V" or a moulding. If you use plywood you
can probably just glue the whole thing together.

You could make the box all in one piece and then saw it in half, that
way the grain will be continuous across the sides, or cut the pieces
in half first and make sure you don't mix them up.

I always wanted to make a wooden briefcase but never did.

Paul P

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