How to Build a Pirate Treasure Chest

Every pirate needs a chest.

The metal-banded casks of yore held everything from smuggled brandies to fine silks to exotic spices. Keep your sea dogs happy with a trove of grog and ale spilling from a grand treasure chest. Golden chips and bratwurst doubloons burst from smaller chests on your galley table. The boarding party need never know whether the chests were custom construction or made from salvage.

Things You'll Need

• Scrap plywood
• Miter fence and table saw or back saw and miter box
• Four bar clamps with 2-feet spans
• Carpenters' square
• Yardstick
• Carpenters' pencil
• Two antique-look brass, hasp-style hinges
• Bricks, books or other heavy objects
• Power drill, 1/16-inch diameter bit
• 1/8-inch diameter brass wood screws
• Old black plastic landscape edging
• Blow dryer
• 5-minute epoxy
• Brass upholstery tacks

Instructions

1. Cut four pieces of same-thickness scrap plywood, 2-feet by 4-feet. Cut two pieces 2-feet by 2-feet. The larger boards will make the top of the lid, front, back and bottom and the smaller ones will be the two side pieces.

2. Cut two pieces scrap plywood, the same thickness as all the others, 4-inch by 4-feet. cut two pieces 4-inch by 2-feet. These will make the frame for the lid.

3. Set two of the 2-feet by 4-feet sheets aside.

4. Assemble the lid frame and box frame separately. This is called "sub-assembly," and makes it easier to ensure that each part of the chest is correctly aligned and squared before final assembly.

5. Miter the remaining sheets along the right and left sides to a 45-degree angle. For the 2-feet by 4-feet sheets, the right and left sides are the 2-feet sides.

6. Sit the box frame on one of its 2-feet sides and dry-clamp it using four bar clamps, one six inches from each end and the other two spaced evenly between them, on alternate sides. Dry-clamping is done without any adhesives.

7. Check the corner angles with a carpenters' square to ensure 90-degree angles. Place a yardstick across each diagonal to ensure they are the same length.

8. Adjust clamp pressure and placement until any problems are corrected. Mark clamp placements using a carpenters' pencil.

9. Remove clamps and apply carpenters' glue along the mitered edges of the pieces from the previous step. Press the mitered edges together to form a box frame 2-feet by 4-feet by 2-feet, sitting on one of its 2-feet sides.

10. Replace clamps in their marked positions. Apply just enough pressure to hold the surfaces together without forcing the glue out of the joint. If a large amount of glue is forced out, loosen clamps, reapply glue and tighten clamps with slightly less pressure.

11. Allow glue joints to dry 12 to 24 hours.

12. Assemble the lid frame using the 4-inch by 4-feet and 4-inch by 2-feet pieces, following the procedures in Steps 4 through 10. The 4-inch sides are the right and left sides of each board.

13. Apply carpenters' glue to the top edge of the lid frame. Place one of the 2-feet by 4-feet sheets set aside in Step Three on top of the lid frame, flush with all four sides. Place equal-weight bricks, books or other heavy objects on each end of the lid while the glue dries overnight.

14. Repeat Step 12 for the bottom box frame.

15. Drill 1/16-inch diameter pilot holes through the top of the lid and into the edge of the top frame every six inches, beginning one inch from the right front corner, all the way around the lid. Secure with 1/8-inch brass wood screws.

16. Repeat previous step for the box bottom.

17. Place the finished lid frame on top of the finished box frame so that all sides are flush. Position each hinge 12 inches from the right and left sides. Hold the hinges in place one at a time while marking their positions on the box and lid and set them aside.

18. Cut plastic landscape edging into 2-inch wide strips. Position landscape edging three inches from each end of the lid, going up and over from front to back. Mark the position of each strip with a carpenters' pencil. Repeat for the box bottom.

19. Warm the landscape edging with a blow dryer to make it as flexible as possible. Apply 5-minute epoxy to the landscape edging and press it into place.

20. Apply 5-minute epoxy to the underside of each brass upholstery tack. This to That, an adhesive choice tool, advises using epoxy to secure metal to plastic. Secure landscape edging by driving tacks through it into the wood of the box and lid frames.

21. Position hinges where marked in earlier steps. Secure with whatever fasteners were supplied by the manufacturer.

Tips & Warnings

• Fill the chest with root beer and ginger ale for cabin boys and girls. To make tabletop chests, halve all measurements.

• Apply adhesives in well-ventilated areas only. Open windows and doors and have a box fan blowing across the workspace while working with adhesives.

References

• Woodworkers' Journal: Ian Kirby Guide to Gluing and Clamping with Confidence; Section 1, par. 1
• This to That: Adhesive Choice Tool