What joint would you use?

[Craig Earls]

I am building a simple treasure chest for a 4 year old. He is quite the brute so it needs to be able to take a licking.

What sort of joint would you use to hold the coopered top slats to the end pieces? There isn't much but end grain up there to deal with, no matter which way I orient the end pieces.



I have no religious objections to nails, but is there a nicer way?

[Jamie Buxton]

Look in to Miller Dowels. They'll hold well in that situation. They're nicer than nails, at least in my opinion. http://millerdowel.com/

You can buy them at most of the online wood catalogs.

[Kurt Bird]

Another possibility would be to use biscuits to add strength and increase the gluing area.
Kurt Bird

[Chris Friesen]

I'd be tempted to go with horizontal grain in the end pieces, and finger joint the ends to the lower pieces of the lid. The top piece will be a strong glue joint as it will long grain to long grain.

The diagonal pieces are a bit tricky. They'll have strong joints to the other boards in the top, but for joining to the ends I'd be tempted to go with biscuits, miller dowels, or plugged screws.

No matter what joinery you use for the top you may have issues with wood movement (depending on species, finish, humidity variations, size, etc.). The only way to avoid that for certain is to use plywood, possibly covered with veneer to match the rest of the piece.

[Chris Padilla]

Pocket joints/screws and you can even cover up the holes. Very strong.

[John Schreiber]

There's nice looking hardware designed for old style trunks which would do the trick nicely. Kind of like an L bracket, but attractive.

I Googled up this site which has some for not too much money.

[Mark Rios]

My favorite joints are the elbow and the knee.

[Don C Peterson]

How about a strip of wood around the inside? That would give you long grain to long grain glue joint all the way around. If you didn't want to make a strip, you could just use blocks. Either way, you could also screw, or dowel them without the screws or dowels showing from the outside.

[Earl Reid]

Also make sure you use very good lid supports. Looks like a heavy lid.
Earl

[glenn bradley]

Pocket joints/screws and you can even cover up the holes. Very strong.

I'm with Chris if you want no hardware showing on the outside. I did a "pirates chest" breadbox on commission; glue and decorative nails: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachme...9&d=1149832176

Part of the requirements was that is hold FOUR loaves of bread.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachme...0&d=1149832185

[Paul Simmel]

Glen's example at least has 5 sides hence considerably less grain differential.

IMO, the only feasible solution outside of using a very stable material (not solid lumber), is Frame & Panel. Short of that, with the 3-sided lid... pocket holes, regular screws, pins, dowels, etc., movement will at the very least make the top rickety and loose in short order.

I can visualize an awesome F & P piece out of the OP's design that would be extremely strong with spines and glue.

What do you guys/gals think?

[Jason Beam]

My favorite joints are the elbow and the knee.

Oh no way. Hips by far!!


I'd use pocket screws on the inside of the side pieces. Otherwise, a really really strong joint would be floating tenons, I'd bet.