Sword Display Case
I made this sword display case for my dad as a Christmas present (2013). My mom told me that he wanted to get one at some point and she gave me a small picture from an advertisement of one she had seen. It only listed overall dimensions of the case, but it was intended for the same type of sword, so I could design based off of that. There are various lengths of this type of sword and I didn't have access to one, so I increased the overall dimensions by an inch in each direction to be safe. I also designed the sword stands and scabbard hooks to be adjustable. This project turned out very nice, but it was plagued with problems.
All of the main parts are 3/4" x 3-1/2" maple, with the exception of the thin plywood back. The long sides are 43" and the short sides are 11-1/2". I wanted to use dovetail joints, but I don't have a dovetail jig. I started this project a bit late in the year, so I didn't have time to shop for a jig. I decided on box joints for the main case. This still required a jig, but that was something I could make myself. I only have a cheap table saw, which probably would not be safe with a dado stack, so I had to cut the joints on a router table. I made a simple jig with a piece of wood clamped to the miter gauge, ran the 1/2" bit through it and then glued in a 1/2" scrap of wood. I then unclamped the wood, offset it to give me 1/2" between the edge of the router bit and the the edge of the 1/2" peg, and reclamped it. You can find nice examples of box joint jigs on YouTube. The box fingers are 1/2" wide and 3/4" deep. Even though I have a powerful router, I didn't want to take all of that in one pass (mostly to avoid tear out). I did them in 3 passes, with the router bit raised 1/4" at a time. I snapped the locating peg off my jig just before the final passes on the last side of the last piece (I glued the peg in with the wrong grain direction). Rather than fix the jig, I just carefully located the piece on the miter gauge based on one of the partially cut fingers, clamped it it place and made the cut. I had to shut off the router, relocate and reclamp for each finger, but there were only 4 slots to cut, and it turned out fine.
I used the router table with a 1/4" bit to cut dados for the plywood back. Based on the location of the dado, I could cut completely through on the short sides because the dado aligned with an absence of a finger. Those would be covered by the interleaved fingers of the long sides. I couldn't go completely through on the long sides, because the dado aligned with a finger. If I cut all the way across, you would see a slot in the fingers on the side of the case. To do this, I marked start and stop lines on the router fence, carefully lowered the long pieces onto the spinning router bit and letting the router come to a complete stop before removing the piece. The back is slightly less than 1/4" plywood and just required 2 simple cuts on the table saw.
I also used the router table to create dovetailed channels running almost the entire length of the top and bottom (long sides). These would be used to secure the adjustable sword stands and scabbard hooks. I first used a 1/2" bit to make a slot 1-1/4" long, 3/8" deep. This would allow me to start the dovetail bit as well as insert the hold down nuts. I then used a 1/4" bit, 3/8" deep, to hog out most of the material in the channels. I followed that up with a 1/2" dovetail bit, set 3/8" deep, and routed the channel across the long pieces, stopping about 1" from the end. I should have used the 1/2" bit to create slots on both ends, because I had to back the piece up along the entire length to get the dovetail bit out. Cutting the dovetails this way wasn't really unsafe because the board was up against the fence and the dovetail bit sort of held the board to the table, but it didn't feel safe. I learned the lesson and I will plan better if I use dovetail channels on another project.
With the major pieces cut, I attempted a dry fit. My box joints were extremely tight. They only went together part of the way, even with stiff taps from a mallet. I didn't want to force it, because the fingers probably would have broken off. It took a bit of filing and sanding, but I got the pieces to fit nicely. They were still very tight. I knew I couldn't get any glue in them. It would grab before I could get everything tapped in place and I didn't feel like doing any more sanding, so I decided to drill and pin the corners. With the pieces assembled and the plywood back in place, I clamped the box and squared the corners. I drilled 3/8" holes through the interleaved fingers, stopping halfway through the last one. In retrospect, tt wouldn't have made a difference if I went all the way through to the back. I coated some dowels with glue and tapped them in place. Once the glue dried, I cut the excess dowels off and sanded them flush.
I then turned my attention to the back. This case is intended to hang on a wall and it has some substantial weight, so a french cleat seemed like the ideal mounting solution. I took a piece of 3/4" x 2-1/2" maple, cut it to fit the entire width of the back (set in between the short sides) and ripped it down the middle at 45 degrees. The one piece got glued to the 3 sides of the case at the top. I cut about 3" off the other half and predrilled countersunk holes every 2 inches. With this arrangement, the case can be placed anywhere on the wall, and the cleat will line up with at least 2 studs (possibly 3). With about 3" of horizontal play between the cleats, and holes every 2", the wall mounted cleat can always be kept within the confines of the case length and the position of the case is infinitely variable. I could have made the wall cleat the same length and drilled holes to suit when it gets mounted, but I wanted to make installation simple in case I don't get called over to mount it. I probably over thought this and treated it like a commercial offering instead of a custom piece that I will be installing. I also glued small triangles in the bottom corners to strengthen the joints.
I used 3/4" x 1-1/2" maple for the door. I mitered the corners on a the chop saw and used the router table to cut rabbets for the window. Once I had the door glued up, I realized it didn't sit flat on the case. It wasn't just slightly off; the one corner was 1/4" high. I often have trouble getting miter joints correct, so I thought my angles were off or I didn't glue the pieces flat. The fingers on the case were cut square and I checked the case for squareness when I doweled it, so I thought there was no way the case could be the problem. I checked everything carefully and realized the door was perfectly flat. I discovered the case had twisted. I had a good conversation with a fellow woodworker in my office about a week before Christmas. He pointed out that without a solid back (the plywood is floating) and the long sides, it would be prone to twisting. He suggested I glue a full length piece along as much of the back as possible. I couldn't do a full solid back because the french cleat is inset. I realized that cutting the dovetail channels probably contributed significantly to the twist.
To fix the twist, I used a router to remove the little triangles I had glued in the bottom corners and cut a new 3/4" x 3-1/2" piece to span the entire length along the bottom. I knew if I weighted the corners only enough to remove the twist while the glue dried on the new piece, it would still spring back part way. I needed to over stress the case to counteract the twist, but I had to guess on how far to push it in the opposite direction. With the case upside down, the low corners were set on shims and placed about 70 or 80 pounds across the high corners. This made the previously [1/4"] high corners 1/4" low. I clamped the new piece along the bottom edge and let the glue dry for 24 hours before removing the weight. I guessed correctly on the compensation, because there was virtually no twist in the case. This had me worried for a long time and I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish this project on time.
I didn't have a band saw at the time of building this, so the stands were cut with a jigsaw and cleaned up on the belt sander. The scabbard hook blocks were just cut on the table saw and the corners rounded with the belt sander. I marked the location of the dovetail channels on the stands and blocks (accounting for the thickness of the fabric that would be attached) and drilled clearance holes and counterbores for 10-32 screws. I used a 3/4" forstner bit to create holes for magnets at the top of the stands. The magnets were glued in place with CA glue. The stands have a ledge with a lip to hold the sword, but the magnets will just help hold it in place. I made some dovetail nuts out of aluminum using the mill.
The case and door were all sanded to 220 and finished with 2 coats of tung oil finish. I put a rubbed a coat of paste wax on top to finish it. I was going to use felt for the back of the case and stands, but I found some crushed velvet at the craft store and thought that looked much better. I adhered it with spray adhesive. Covering the stands and hooks was easy, but putting it inside the case was a nightmare. It was difficult making sure the adhesive didn't get on the finished sides and stretching fabric into place. I should have attached the velvet to a substrate (cardboard, thin plywood, foam board, etc.) as I have done in the past, but I didn't plan for the added thickness, so I couldn't do that with this project. It is much easier to cut a non-flexible material to fit inside a case and attaching fabric to it without the confines of case walls. I used an awl to poke through the screw holes on the stands and hooks. I opened them up just enough to push the screw through and the hole closed up a bit to hide the screw heads nicely. I screwed eye hooks in the scabbard hook blocks, but they may get changed depending on how the scabbard will be hung.
I mortised the hinges with a router. I often have trouble with hinge alignment when I mortise them, but it had to be done since the hinges on the outside of the case would look terrible. Luckily, I had no trouble this time. I used some brass hook latches to keep the door closed. I used a piece of acrylic for the window. I had planned to use glazing points to retain it in the door, but that didn't work out. Like most operations I haven't attempted before, I tested the points on a scrap piece of wood. The maple is so hard that the points bend and barely make a dent in the wood. I even tried drilling a pilot hole, but the hole had to be so large before the point went in that they just fell out. The rabbets in the door were not sized large enough to cut strips of wood to retain the window (like windows in cabinet doors). I had to come up with something quickly, since this was 2 days before Christmas. I found brass coated picture hangers (J-shaped hooks that get nailed to the wall). I cut them down to 1/4" x 1/4" L-brackets and drilled a small hole in each of them. I predrilled the door for #2 wood screws and still snapped the first one off. I coated the remaining screws with wax and they all went in without issue.
The sword in the pictures is not the one that will be displayed. Click on the pictures for larger images.
All of the main parts are 3/4" x 3-1/2" maple, with the exception of the thin plywood back. The long sides are 43" and the short sides are 11-1/2". I wanted to use dovetail joints, but I don't have a dovetail jig. I started this project a bit late in the year, so I didn't have time to shop for a jig. I decided on box joints for the main case. This still required a jig, but that was something I could make myself. I only have a cheap table saw, which probably would not be safe with a dado stack, so I had to cut the joints on a router table. I made a simple jig with a piece of wood clamped to the miter gauge, ran the 1/2" bit through it and then glued in a 1/2" scrap of wood. I then unclamped the wood, offset it to give me 1/2" between the edge of the router bit and the the edge of the 1/2" peg, and reclamped it. You can find nice examples of box joint jigs on YouTube. The box fingers are 1/2" wide and 3/4" deep. Even though I have a powerful router, I didn't want to take all of that in one pass (mostly to avoid tear out). I did them in 3 passes, with the router bit raised 1/4" at a time. I snapped the locating peg off my jig just before the final passes on the last side of the last piece (I glued the peg in with the wrong grain direction). Rather than fix the jig, I just carefully located the piece on the miter gauge based on one of the partially cut fingers, clamped it it place and made the cut. I had to shut off the router, relocate and reclamp for each finger, but there were only 4 slots to cut, and it turned out fine.
I used the router table with a 1/4" bit to cut dados for the plywood back. Based on the location of the dado, I could cut completely through on the short sides because the dado aligned with an absence of a finger. Those would be covered by the interleaved fingers of the long sides. I couldn't go completely through on the long sides, because the dado aligned with a finger. If I cut all the way across, you would see a slot in the fingers on the side of the case. To do this, I marked start and stop lines on the router fence, carefully lowered the long pieces onto the spinning router bit and letting the router come to a complete stop before removing the piece. The back is slightly less than 1/4" plywood and just required 2 simple cuts on the table saw.
I also used the router table to create dovetailed channels running almost the entire length of the top and bottom (long sides). These would be used to secure the adjustable sword stands and scabbard hooks. I first used a 1/2" bit to make a slot 1-1/4" long, 3/8" deep. This would allow me to start the dovetail bit as well as insert the hold down nuts. I then used a 1/4" bit, 3/8" deep, to hog out most of the material in the channels. I followed that up with a 1/2" dovetail bit, set 3/8" deep, and routed the channel across the long pieces, stopping about 1" from the end. I should have used the 1/2" bit to create slots on both ends, because I had to back the piece up along the entire length to get the dovetail bit out. Cutting the dovetails this way wasn't really unsafe because the board was up against the fence and the dovetail bit sort of held the board to the table, but it didn't feel safe. I learned the lesson and I will plan better if I use dovetail channels on another project.
With the major pieces cut, I attempted a dry fit. My box joints were extremely tight. They only went together part of the way, even with stiff taps from a mallet. I didn't want to force it, because the fingers probably would have broken off. It took a bit of filing and sanding, but I got the pieces to fit nicely. They were still very tight. I knew I couldn't get any glue in them. It would grab before I could get everything tapped in place and I didn't feel like doing any more sanding, so I decided to drill and pin the corners. With the pieces assembled and the plywood back in place, I clamped the box and squared the corners. I drilled 3/8" holes through the interleaved fingers, stopping halfway through the last one. In retrospect, tt wouldn't have made a difference if I went all the way through to the back. I coated some dowels with glue and tapped them in place. Once the glue dried, I cut the excess dowels off and sanded them flush.
I then turned my attention to the back. This case is intended to hang on a wall and it has some substantial weight, so a french cleat seemed like the ideal mounting solution. I took a piece of 3/4" x 2-1/2" maple, cut it to fit the entire width of the back (set in between the short sides) and ripped it down the middle at 45 degrees. The one piece got glued to the 3 sides of the case at the top. I cut about 3" off the other half and predrilled countersunk holes every 2 inches. With this arrangement, the case can be placed anywhere on the wall, and the cleat will line up with at least 2 studs (possibly 3). With about 3" of horizontal play between the cleats, and holes every 2", the wall mounted cleat can always be kept within the confines of the case length and the position of the case is infinitely variable. I could have made the wall cleat the same length and drilled holes to suit when it gets mounted, but I wanted to make installation simple in case I don't get called over to mount it. I probably over thought this and treated it like a commercial offering instead of a custom piece that I will be installing. I also glued small triangles in the bottom corners to strengthen the joints.
I used 3/4" x 1-1/2" maple for the door. I mitered the corners on a the chop saw and used the router table to cut rabbets for the window. Once I had the door glued up, I realized it didn't sit flat on the case. It wasn't just slightly off; the one corner was 1/4" high. I often have trouble getting miter joints correct, so I thought my angles were off or I didn't glue the pieces flat. The fingers on the case were cut square and I checked the case for squareness when I doweled it, so I thought there was no way the case could be the problem. I checked everything carefully and realized the door was perfectly flat. I discovered the case had twisted. I had a good conversation with a fellow woodworker in my office about a week before Christmas. He pointed out that without a solid back (the plywood is floating) and the long sides, it would be prone to twisting. He suggested I glue a full length piece along as much of the back as possible. I couldn't do a full solid back because the french cleat is inset. I realized that cutting the dovetail channels probably contributed significantly to the twist.
To fix the twist, I used a router to remove the little triangles I had glued in the bottom corners and cut a new 3/4" x 3-1/2" piece to span the entire length along the bottom. I knew if I weighted the corners only enough to remove the twist while the glue dried on the new piece, it would still spring back part way. I needed to over stress the case to counteract the twist, but I had to guess on how far to push it in the opposite direction. With the case upside down, the low corners were set on shims and placed about 70 or 80 pounds across the high corners. This made the previously [1/4"] high corners 1/4" low. I clamped the new piece along the bottom edge and let the glue dry for 24 hours before removing the weight. I guessed correctly on the compensation, because there was virtually no twist in the case. This had me worried for a long time and I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish this project on time.
I didn't have a band saw at the time of building this, so the stands were cut with a jigsaw and cleaned up on the belt sander. The scabbard hook blocks were just cut on the table saw and the corners rounded with the belt sander. I marked the location of the dovetail channels on the stands and blocks (accounting for the thickness of the fabric that would be attached) and drilled clearance holes and counterbores for 10-32 screws. I used a 3/4" forstner bit to create holes for magnets at the top of the stands. The magnets were glued in place with CA glue. The stands have a ledge with a lip to hold the sword, but the magnets will just help hold it in place. I made some dovetail nuts out of aluminum using the mill.
The case and door were all sanded to 220 and finished with 2 coats of tung oil finish. I put a rubbed a coat of paste wax on top to finish it. I was going to use felt for the back of the case and stands, but I found some crushed velvet at the craft store and thought that looked much better. I adhered it with spray adhesive. Covering the stands and hooks was easy, but putting it inside the case was a nightmare. It was difficult making sure the adhesive didn't get on the finished sides and stretching fabric into place. I should have attached the velvet to a substrate (cardboard, thin plywood, foam board, etc.) as I have done in the past, but I didn't plan for the added thickness, so I couldn't do that with this project. It is much easier to cut a non-flexible material to fit inside a case and attaching fabric to it without the confines of case walls. I used an awl to poke through the screw holes on the stands and hooks. I opened them up just enough to push the screw through and the hole closed up a bit to hide the screw heads nicely. I screwed eye hooks in the scabbard hook blocks, but they may get changed depending on how the scabbard will be hung.
I mortised the hinges with a router. I often have trouble with hinge alignment when I mortise them, but it had to be done since the hinges on the outside of the case would look terrible. Luckily, I had no trouble this time. I used some brass hook latches to keep the door closed. I used a piece of acrylic for the window. I had planned to use glazing points to retain it in the door, but that didn't work out. Like most operations I haven't attempted before, I tested the points on a scrap piece of wood. The maple is so hard that the points bend and barely make a dent in the wood. I even tried drilling a pilot hole, but the hole had to be so large before the point went in that they just fell out. The rabbets in the door were not sized large enough to cut strips of wood to retain the window (like windows in cabinet doors). I had to come up with something quickly, since this was 2 days before Christmas. I found brass coated picture hangers (J-shaped hooks that get nailed to the wall). I cut them down to 1/4" x 1/4" L-brackets and drilled a small hole in each of them. I predrilled the door for #2 wood screws and still snapped the first one off. I coated the remaining screws with wax and they all went in without issue.
The sword in the pictures is not the one that will be displayed. Click on the pictures for larger images.