My Wardrobe Steamer Trunk

Rejoining Side One's Structure

With the lining of side one now complete it was time to re connect all it's internals, starting with the timber sliding compartment. All the way through my work on the trunk I have been concerned about the rejoining process. Specially with regards to the clinched nails and the individual angles that each nail aligned to, plus whether I could get them in as tight as the original trunk makers did.

Therefor, I decided to rejoin the trunk using Chicago Screws, also known as Binder Screws.

I had to drill every external hole 6mm to accommodate the diameter of the screws shaft, while making sure the hole went straight and by passing the bends left from the clinched nail. This process was quite fiddly to do, but I got there in the end.

Chicago screw open and closed

When putting back the sliding rail runners I noticed they would not go all they way to the back of the trunk. There was a problem with the thickness of the sewn edge of the material. I had to trim back the material from both corners to allow for the fit.

Another problem occurred with the rail section. While I managed to line the holes up to the sides of the trunk they weren't able to pull in tight because of the Chicago screw head.To overcome this problem I countersunk into the back of the timber to encase the screw head.

This worked, but I feel I may have to do this in several other timber joining areas. Time will tell.

Timber sliding rail back in place

The bent metal bar mentioned earlier was left as is rather than jeopardise cracking the timber, plus I like its character. Also mentioned earlier was the out of alignment hanger which I re-glued, well it actually popped out and a second re-glue was done.

When getting it out of storage to put back in I noticed it had popped for the third time. I could have pulled it apart and chiseled out the half joints but decided not to beacuse the problem was mainly in the top join. This problem stemmed from the fact that the main centre length of timber was bowed at the top. A small sawed out section was made into the tight side to release some pressure.

This worked to a degree but I did felt that it may pop again, so I thought what the heck, I will screw it as well with Chicago screws. I set two on a diagonal as well as another two sets further down the length, to aesthetically tie it in.

Timber hanger full length view

Once the sliding section was complete the hangers were removed to allow for the timber side supports to go back in. Yep, as I thought more counter sinking of screws was needed as well as a slight chiseled section. To complete this area the sliding rail needed to be removed three times to make all the adjustments needed. A bit of a pain but I kept at it and achieved the results.

Bent centre metal rod and diagonal screws of timber hanger
as well as a view of he top end of the side support finally in place

Once this section was completed I felt I could finally say I had completed side one except for the addition of the two cane holders which could not be done until side two was re-attached because I knew the Chicago screws would be very close to the back hinges and they may need to be nailed back in at a slightly different angle.