Bay Area Dave asks:

Charlie, if I understand you correctly, I would have to cut the back down so
that I
could slide the bottom in, right? Cutting with my PC7518 router, I wouldn't
be
able to get the slot cut very close to the back, by a long shot. I used
Baltic
birch, which is a bear to work with using hand tools. Maybe I'm
misunderstanding
your advice? Thanks.

Sorry. I was tired. Slot the insides of all four sides with a router with slot
cutter and a bottom bearing. Then use a chisel or shoulder plane to lift the
"slot" piece off one side, forming a rabbet. Square up those two corners with
the chisel. Round off the bottom corners at the other side to fit the grooves.
Slip the bottom in place and fasten with either two dabs of glue--good use for
poly glue here--two small screws into the rabbet, or some kind of "you work it
out" strip of wood fixed in the rabbet to hold that side in place. Twere it me,
I'd make the rabbeted side the back.

You'd have your basic slots on three sides, a rabbet on one side, and shouldn't
even lose much load capacity, while retaining a fairly decent "I meant to do it
that way" look.

Experiment on scrap, of course.

Charlie Self

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave
it to.
Dorothy Parker