In The Workshop with Charles Neil

[wlhutch]

Charles,

I going to build the Sugar Chest as my next project. In viewing the DVD, you used a shim to locate and drill the key hole for the lock. If the lock is mortised into the case, it seems the hole would not align. What size does the shim represent?

Thanks.

[CharlesNeil]

as i recall the shim is the thickness of the keeper plat , or actually use the keeper plate in the lock to locate the distance the hole needs to be below the top of the chest...if you dont use the keeper or shim, when the keeper plate is installed on the underside of the lid it will cause the top to sit high , while you dont want the lid to come tight to the chest top, you want to sit the lock slightly lower in the chest to compensate for the keeper thickness , other wise you will have to mortise the keeper plate into the lid....hope i explained this well enough, if not ask away

[wlhutch]

Thanks for taking time to explain the process.

It took a few more times viewing the DVD to finally "get it." At first, it looked like you placed the shim on the edge of the box front and then set the lock on top of the shim to mark the hole.

I now see that the shim is placed on the lock and both held even with the top edge of the box, thus positioning the lock hole while accounting for the keeper plate.