Hi guys. I have a quandry. I am building a hope chest for a neighbor girl for her sixteenth birthday. The top is going to be curved (see picture below of side view of lid). I am building the top out of 12 pieces of maple and after they are glued together I will sand them to a smooth curve. I have glued them into three sets of four boards and am now having trouble gluing the three sets to each other.
I have tried gluing only two of the sets of four together by holding each of the ends together with some hand screw clamps and then using six Bessey's to clamp from the front/back. But no matter what I do, when I tighten the Besseys, the glue joint splits apart. The hand screws won't hold it in place.
Has anyone ever made a chest like this and have they successfully glued up a lid like this? What did you do to glue it up? Thanks for the help!
Hope Chest Lid.jpg