One consistent feature in all of my various English tool chests is the lower skirt.  The end grain on ship-lapped floorboards is so ugly to my eye that I add a dovetailed skirt to hide the crime even on rabbeted and nailed chests.

Nearly identical to the last one.

I’m particularly proud of the dovetails on this chest, both on the carcase and the loqwe skirt.  For the first time, though, there is a pretty noticeable gap at the corners on the short sides.  My base lines just weren’t tight enough, which makes me think my marriage marks got mixed up while fitting the skirt.

At least the front and back skirt are gapless.

I am hopeful that a generous slathering of milk paint (black or red, this time) will fill those gaps enough for piece of mind.  This chest is for my personal use (the last one is finally going to a friend), so I’ll pretend not to care as much as I otherwise would.  It’s pretty much my only option at this point, other than prying it apart.  Clamping the crap out of the skirts during glue up certainly didn’t do the job.

Nor is this the best picture I’ve ever snapped.

Hopefully I’ll do better on the upper skirt.  Oh yes: this chest will have a full dust seal.  Mostly to hide the end grain on the “raised panel” plywood lid.

JPG