I finished the chest carcass and have all of the hardware installed. Most everything associated with hardware for the front panel had to be made but went fairly smoothly. The carcass is ready for glue up. We are cold and have had no precipitation for March to date so our relative humidity is quite low. I am using hide glue for the chest and the glue becomes tacky quickly. I will need to enlist aid for this as there is a lot to line up before clamping as well as the glue clean up after clamping. Then just the grunt work of sanding and staining. I won't apply finish until everything is done.
I need to make the lid and the two trays yet. The yellow cedar that I used on the front panel developed a significant check that is visible. I had planned to use other cedar boards for the top surface as well as the tray sides and back. I'm rethinking that as all of my boards are sequentially sawn from the same log and a minute flaw is visible that may too check.
I got the action and other parts back from case coloring and after long deliberation dulled the action coloring to a 'worn' look. The original plan was to French grey the action but I think the worn look is a better touch. The engraving is nicely visible now and thanks to Steven Dodd Hughes for the suggestion and the advice for getting this done. The action/trigger guard has engraving too and I need to decide whether that will also be dulled. The lever I will probably leave as is.
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