Anyway, Mel grabbed another stick for me today, and I finished off the wood work after work; did the final sanding, then cleaned sealed, stained, sealed, and put the first coat of spar varnish on the thing.
These pics were taken as the first coat flashed over (the point where the surface has dried, and color has changed).
Oh and the distortion is from the lens and the angles I was taking the pics from, not from the box. I messed up some of the corner joinery (like I said, getting to 1/16th" precision over 60" with a portable table saw is a bit hard, and honestly after I missed the dimensions I didn't bother to try and make it fine joinery), but didn't do THAT bad.
Here's the front:
The two latches are window sash latches, which tighten the top down over a gasket to make a nice tight weather seal. The center latch is a rotating padlock hasp.
Here's the top:
Big SOB aint it. It's a 24"h x19"d x60"l box, made from 3/4" oak plywood with a 1/2" x2" red oak face frame. All panel joints are stair step lap (full lap joints) water proof glued and cross nailed; for strength and water resistance. All face frames are glued and nailed; and I'm going to put some countersunk screws in as well before the next finish coat.
Heres the left front corner with a closer view of the latch, and the chest handle:
And the left rear corner, showing the piano hinge detail (and my poor miter joint):
And the right rear corner, to finish the circle:
Overall I'm pretty happy. It's not furniture quality; but it's huge, it's strong,it's waterproof, and to my eye it looks pretty good. Most importantly, it's ready for the Texas trip.
