Wood patch box lid - how high?

[steved]

I am going to install for the first time a wood patch box lid on a Chambers' Early Lancaster kit that I'm building for a friend. There was no precarve cavity and lid because the wood patchbox was not part of the original plan and therefore not on the kit work order. I have the cavity chiseled out to a uniform 1/4" depth and soon I will cut in the female dovetail on each side to accept the dovetail on the wood lid. I plan to make the two piece lid as described in Alexander's book. The dovetailed base will of course be 1/4" thick. My question is: what is the typical height/thickness of the lid at its thickest point, assuming the height of the lid above the 1/4" base piece?

 

[Stophel]

First of all, it is way, way, way, way, way, way, WAY easier to make the lid from ONE piece, rather than two. Not to mention vastly more historical.

I hope that you first have the whole area of the stock where the lid will be FLAT. And I mean FLAT. :wink:

As far as the lid thickness over the dovetail portion, Depends on the gun, but about 1/4" to 3/8", I guess, more or less.

 

[steved]

Hi Stophel,

Thanks for your insight and pictures. I was going to try to make a one-piece lid but after I flattened the stock and laid down the flat bottom of the lid (still "square" at this point") onto the flat profile on the stock, the fit was perfect. I don't know if I could replicate that fit by measuring, scribing and cutting out the male dovetail and thereby creating a new "bottom" for the lid - the portion that hangs over the stock. I've tried to make that type of measure/cut before when making base plugs for powderhorns and I can never make that profile perfectly even. So, I figured since I already have the perfect lid-to-stock fit I'd change my approach and make a two-piece lid. Should be easy enough to fashion a separate dovetailed base and once it's fitted into the dovetail in the cavity, just file it flush to the stock and attach the lid to the base.

 

[Stophel]

I use a marking gauge to mark the depth of the dovetails on the lid, so they will be straight and even. It's really a no fuss-no muss operation, and much simpler than trying to fit two pieces of wood together and glue them in place. I started years ago making two piece lids, thinking that it had to be easier than making them one piece (all the while finding that it was a PAIN). Finally I started making them one piece and it was like the clouds rolled away! :haha:

The biggest part of wood lids is getting the taper of the lid matched up to the taper of the dovetail opening in the stock.