Wooden Toolbox, Part 3: Panels, Shaping and Glue-up

Last time, I ended up with the main carcass like this.

Two ends dovetailed to the bottom, horizontal divider joined to
the ends with multiple 1/2" x 1/2" through mortises and tenons

I decided to fit the front and back panels into grooves.  The front panel is shorter due to the drawer opening below the divider, so grooves went near the front edge of the divider as well as near the front edges of the ends above the divider.  For the back panel, the bottom and ends were grooved near the back edges.

Putting a 5/16 groove near the front edge of the divider

Rabbeting three edges of the front panel -
homemade rabbet plane at left, restored skew rabbet plane right

I didn't get a picture, but to fit the back panel, the toolbox bottom got a groove near the back edge. Later, after the bottom and ends were assembled, the groove showed as a hole (on the outside of the carcass) that I had to fill in.  That is one of the few things about this build that I didn't like - the filler pieces don't match the grain very well and it's fairly obvious (at least to me).

In addition to the groove in the bottom, the ends received grooves near their back edge from bottom to a height equal to that of the grooves for the front panel.  I had laid out the dovetail joints at the bottom corners of the carcass so that the grooves would not interfere with the joints.

The left end.  Note the stopped groove (shallow mortise) on the near edge.
The groove at the far edge goes all the way to the bottom of the end piece.

One further note: I had originally made the horizontal divider as wide as the ends and bottom.  But for the back panel to fit, I cut off 5/8" to allow the inset panel.  When figuring out how much to cut off the divider, I dry-assembled the toolbox after the rear grooves were cut in the ends (and before the back panel was put in place.  I marked with a knife where to cut the divider directly from these grooves.

Once the panels were fitted, I was able to do some shaping on the ends, as well as the handle.  Then a dry assembly showed it was really starting to look like something.  The glue-up followed shortly after a couple rehearsals.

Shaping an end

A first dry assembly

And then with glue and clamps

I ended up adding a couple more clamps after this.  I saw that the bottom dovetails had not quite closed up.  Another clamp and a few hammer blows got them seated.

I also glued strips to the interior of the front and back panels that would support the tray.  These 3/8" x 5/8" strips were positioned so that their top edge was 3 1/4" above the floor of the upper compartment.  That allows 3 1/4" of vertical space below the tray - just enough for me to fit my battery drill in there.

Gluing in the tray support strip.
The wooden block in there was used to set the height of the strip.

Next time I'll write about making the upper tray and the drawer.