Some ancient time ago I saw a sketch of an old 19th century (?) joint
that was used for making outdoor weatherproof chests in 3/4" pine or
similar. It was a dovetail, AFAIR, but there was also some way of
seating oakum into the joint to improve weather sealing.

Anyone got any bright ideas on how to do such a thing ?

Andy Dingley wrote:

Some ancient time ago I saw a sketch of an old 19th century (?) joint
that was used for making outdoor weatherproof chests in 3/4" pine or
similar. It was a dovetail, AFAIR, but there was also some way of
seating oakum into the joint to improve weather sealing.

Anyone got any bright ideas on how to do such a thing ?

Leaving room for caulk was a "design feature" of many of my early
attempts at dovetailing, and I occasionally do one like that just for
practice. g
--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked infrequently.

Saw where Frank Klaus (sp) the King of Dovetails was making a pine,
waterproof box on Roy Underhill's show once that may give you an idea or
two. The box was for holding water that held the stones he used to sharpen
his chisels and plane blades.

As I recall, he didn't do anything special to the dovetail joints since they
would swell and seal shut after the box was filled with water. The box was
not treated or finished. Along the bottom of the side pieces, he took a
bent, hard wire that he lightly hammered into the sides making a groove
about 1/8" deep and wide the length of the side. After compressing
(indenting) the wood by making the grooves, he then planed the bottom edges
until the compressed wood could barely be seen.

He then assembled the pine box using plain old nails to hold the bottom to
the sides, with dovetails holding the sides together. Filled the box with
water and no leaks. As the water soaked into the wood sides, it would cause
the compressed wood to swell - creating a water tight seal. The dovetails
also sealed after the joints were exposed to water for a few moments.

Bob S.


"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
Some ancient time ago I saw a sketch of an old 19th century (?) joint
that was used for making outdoor weatherproof chests in 3/4" pine or
similar. It was a dovetail, AFAIR, but there was also some way of
seating oakum into the joint to improve weather sealing.

Anyone got any bright ideas on how to do such a thing ?

In article ,
BobS wrote:
Saw where Frank Klaus (sp) the King of Dovetails was making a pine,
waterproof box on Roy Underhill's show once that may give you an idea or

It was really cool the way he got the bottom of the box to seal:

1.) Once the box (minus the top and bottom) was assembled (no glue), he
used a finishing nail (laying on it's side) to create an indentation all
around the bottom edge of the piece. (Basically created a valley in the
middle of the wood along the bottom).

2.) Next, he planed (by hand, of course), the bottom of the piece until
it was almost flush with the indentation.

3.) Used a sponge to then wet the wood and raise the indentation back
up, essentially creating a wooden gasket of sorts

4.) The last step was to use the finishing nails to nail the bottom on
the piece, with nails every 1.5 - 2 inches.

I always thought it was really cool the way it all worked out...

Regards,

--
-Steve in Banks, OR
http://woodworking.bigelowsite.com

I have Japanese drinking cup just done with finger joints. No nails, no
wires, no caulking, no nothing else, just the finger joints and its water
tight. How they do that?




"BobS" wrote in message
...
Saw where Frank Klaus (sp) the King of Dovetails was making a pine,
waterproof box on Roy Underhill's show once that may give you an idea or
two. The box was for holding water that held the stones he used to
sharpen
his chisels and plane blades.

As I recall, he didn't do anything special to the dovetail joints since
they
would swell and seal shut after the box was filled with water. The box
was
not treated or finished. Along the bottom of the side pieces, he took a
bent, hard wire that he lightly hammered into the sides making a groove
about 1/8" deep and wide the length of the side. After compressing
(indenting) the wood by making the grooves, he then planed the bottom
edges
until the compressed wood could barely be seen.

He then assembled the pine box using plain old nails to hold the bottom to
the sides, with dovetails holding the sides together. Filled the box with
water and no leaks. As the water soaked into the wood sides, it would
cause
the compressed wood to swell - creating a water tight seal. The dovetails
also sealed after the joints were exposed to water for a few moments.

Bob S.


"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
Some ancient time ago I saw a sketch of an old 19th century (?) joint
that was used for making outdoor weatherproof chests in 3/4" pine or
similar. It was a dovetail, AFAIR, but there was also some way of
seating oakum into the joint to improve weather sealing.

Anyone got any bright ideas on how to do such a thing ?

It was somewhere outside Barstow when "Kim" wrote:

I have Japanese drinking cup just done with finger joints. No nails, no
wires, no caulking, no nothing else, just the finger joints and its water
tight. How they do that?

They fit tightly, they're smal enough that they don't get racking
stresses and they don't stay sealed forever. If you have some
paulownia or lime (basswood) it's a good exercise to make a couple.

The "gasket" trick is a good one, but it only works for long grain. I
already use it for sealing the boards in the bottom. What I'm after
here probably needs to be a groove to take some glued or tarred hemp
string. I think I'll saw the inside corner at 45° and caulk into that.
It's for a reasonably big chest to be used for camping.