With the grooves made and the bottom fitted (1/4" plywood hammer veneered on both sides) the next job was to make the interlocking rebates for the lid. One setup and two passes each piece on the table saw, right?
How about one setup and one pass each on the router table? OK, hand toolin' here with my lovely little shoulder plane …....... swish, .... swish….......... Kind of nice if it did take all afternoon.

 

This one is here just because I like the light in it.

 

I may need to alter the throat of this plane a little. I spent way too much time cleaning it out. I'm thinking of creating a sort of spiral angle to send the shavings sideways. Any thoughts on that?

 

Then it was on to the hinge. In this photo I'm actually applying the first coats of shellac. The inside veneering is already done. Sorry, no photos of exactly how I managed to get the veneer to follow the curve but it wasn't hard at all.

 

 

So much for the easy side. Now to see if I can bend the marquetry. I separated it on the line that I showed in the first segment by taping the crap out of it and carefully cutting the line with a knife.

 

Then I used the same method to glue it as I had with the inner veneer. This time I got pictures. It's a little more complicated with the marquetry side because it has to register perfectly. First I taped the edge in the notch between the hinge parts to register it exactly. Then I trimmed the bottom and taped it while the notches were still registered …............ and then I removed the notch tape and hinged the veneer back for glue.

 

I put strips of tape up the hinge tabs that would have to bend, applied the hot hide glue ….

 

...and then closed the veneer hinge down onto the substrate, wrapped the tape down tight, and stuck it in the press. For the most part this got the job done. Small unglued spots on the curve were easy to repair with my iron. (Yes, the laundry kind)

 

To further hide the hinge I added a whole bunch of little bits of veneer in the notches on the box.

 

Here they are all cleaned up.

 

This is what the stealth hinge looks like. I can't do much about the shadow line but I'm very happy with the results. I really wasn't sure I could get away with this one. I wasn't going to spill the beans by showing this view until the project post but I guess that anyone who slogs through my blog deserves a little preview.

 

All easy sailing (I wish) from here on. All I have to do now is get all the corners to match perfectly and glue the thing up. Those matches are the next tricky fit. I still haven't decided on the top marquetry yet …... you know the part everyone will focus on. .....

That's it for now.

Thanks for looking in.

Paul