Jewelry Box Update

[steve-norrell]

In a previous post (http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=53720) I showed pictures of a jewelry box for a grand daughter. At the time, I did not have a chain to keep the lid positioned upright.

I finally figured out how to do that -- the results are shown in the attached photos. The answer was what is essentially a 3/8th inch mortise, with the side toward the back sloped, cut into the side of the box. The ball-type chain folds into the mortise when the lid is closed.

Perhaps someone else will find this idea useful.

Regards, Steve.

[pelligrini]

Pretty cool idea. Did you mortise it with a small cove bit? It looks smoothly rounded.

Along the same lines, but this would probably need to be done earlier, you could bore a deep hole from the bottom and attach a weight to the end of the chain. The weight would act as the stop when it reached the top of the hole. The top would need to be drill at a smaller diameter.

[steve-norrell]

Did you mortise it with a small cove bit? It looks smoothly rounded.

Along the same lines, but this would probably need to be done earlier, you could bore a deep hole from the bottom and attach a weight to the end of the chain. The weight would act as the stop when it reached the top of the hole. The top would need to be drill at a smaller diameter.

Erik,

The mortise was cut with a 3/8 inch Forstner bit and the sides cleaned up with a chisel and rotary file in a Dremel Tool. Hindsight being what it is, the mortise probably did not need to be as long or as deep as it is. Also, if it were positioned slightly further back toward the rear of the box, the sloped end would not be needed either.

The idea of using deep hole from the bottom is intriguing for shallower boxes. Since this box is about 10 inches deep, it probably wouldn't be appropriate here (and it too late anyway -- as you pointed out).

Here's a sketch (not drawn to scale).

Regards, Steve.

[chopnhack]

Very cool solution Steve!