Question for you wood workers....

[Handloader109]

Make a thicker base and route a groove into base for the sides to fit into. Or maybe easier, use similar thickness wood as the raised section mentioned earlier but leave the ( groove, channel ) for the lid i.e. sides to drop into. More secure than just raised center

 

[dougtrr2]

If you made the box wide, so the bible could be opened up to a significant passage, then when you closed the bible it would easily have enough room on the sides to lift it out of the box.

Doug in SW IA

 

[Richard]

Been taking all this in.... wonder about it as I might be driving in car for 2-hours to get to destination..... came up with something else....

Who, ME.....over analyze? Pffffffffffffft!!

Imagine the glass top. Personally, I like that touch! Plate glass... some dufas sets a coffee cup on it, might break. Now you have shards of sharp glass you have to figure out and then, how to take box apart to replace said glass. (could use screws...so that's not huge issue)

Instead, use tempered glass....then instead of sharp slices of glass, you have a gazillion bits of glass BUT, should still be easy to clean them out.

Keeps thinking......


Question, does anyone know if you can buy a Sapphire piece of "glass" that would be let's say 12x16 inches? Think of a watch crystal that is sapphire. Very hard, very scratch resistant.....very expensive I'm sure.

For a family heirloom, I don't know that I mind the expense, unless it's stupid crazy.

Been looking online. Actually sent someone a question in their "contact us" link but thus far, crickets. To be fair to them, it was during Christmas Holidays... so might have been lost in shuffle.

Anyone know about special ordering a rectangular piece of sapphire? Something like 1/8" or 3/16's inches thick (I think they go by millimeters though)

 

[dstig1]

Apple tried getting into sapphire for iPhone screens several years back. The company that was doing it folded as they couldn't make it work at scale for the size needed. I rather doubt you are going to find it. There are much easier options.

Put a thin sheet of lexan below the regular glass so if it breaks, no glass gets in your book. Or just use lexan and skip glass. You can even get coated versions that are a lot more scratch resistant than the basic material, but you aren't likely going to find it at HD. But maybe... Could certainly get that from Mcmaster or other places online, or possibly from local glass shops.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I would think 1/4" glass would be strong enough, or maybe 1/4" Lexan with regular glass on top. Placed together would be scratch resistant and strong.
You could even have Lexan, a decal in center, then glass.

 

[j13smiley]

I'd use glass that prevents sun damage - like used for art works, not plain glass.

 

[Topzide]

I like this! Make the glass top box and use the drawer pull out on the front to access the Bible. I'd have the pull out flat without any lip on the sides, just the front panel to seal box and a back lip to help hold when pulling out.
I'd go and talk with a glass shop. They'll know what can be gotten and who knows, they might ask a supplier and get a good price do to what you're building. Some of the modern plastics have come a long way also.
Wish you were closer as I've got some 10" - 13" wide walnut that's been air drying for 2 years now. Chainsaw milled them from tree that fell in a storm.
Best of luck with project and look forward to the finished project!

 

[3Ts]

As for the glass lid, to make it removable, I'd do it like an upside down drawer. On 3 sides I'd have a dado it can slide in and on the back side I'd have the side cut down so the glass can slide into the dado. Then I'd put a strip of wood on that 4th side to hold the glass in place and use Flat Head brass screws to hold the strip in place. You can also use the rubber space balls to hold the glass firmly in place so it doesn't rattle and is still easily removable. And that strip can be routed or not depending on the thickness of the box and your design.

If you want to get really fancy you could put tabs on the sides and wooden pegs to hold the strip.

 

[Richard]

Update with a bit of a twist to the plot.

Dad passed away on June 26. Let me remind... ultimately this is about a family bible. It's been in the family for, I don't know how long.... the 65 years I've been alive.... dad (95) grew up with it.... so is it 100 years old? 150 years old?

Suffice to say it's very old. Been handed down to the male in the family (that would be me).

Dad's wife (who was the third wife in his life.... two prior, including my mother ending in divorce)

She's seemed to decree that she's not yet willing to part with it. At funeral, I asked if she was ok with me (who drove 9 hours to get there), anyway, would she be ok if I went to get it. She was an accounting girl, she left that business and got to be an ordained minister..... In near 40 years, I have N.E.V.E.R. seen her as much as show any sadness, much less, tears, even hat her own mothers funeral (nor did she show any tears at Dad's memorial)

"Are you ok if I go get the Bible now?"

Bursts into tears... "Richard..... I PROMISE you are going to get the bible..... (snif sniff.... inhale)....I'm just not ready to deal with that yet"

Given she was a widow of a number of days, ok. (besides, there are other family heirlooms that frankly, need to stay in the family. She's got zero kids, she's estranged from her sister, so it's "just her" now in life)

Happens that my sister talked to her about it. I don't know if Sister brought it up or she did. None the less.... tears come flowing again and she tells sister "I'm not ready to do anything yet..... "I'm still processing""

What the dickens does a 71 year old need to process when her husband at 95 years old dies?

Without getting into too many other details

*recall the Cannon I have? She was going to dump it
* She's (evidently) told one of my sisters she was going to DONATE this very bible, to her church (wtf?)
*Grandmother kept a diary. In it, my Grandfather read to myself and my father, were some of her last words, as she was leaving to go to the hospital (cancer) and her saying she knew this was her last time leaving the house, she'd never be back..... Grandpa burst into tears and it was a very emotional event for the three of us.

I ask her about the diary..... she knows nothing about it. Dad would NOT have thrown it away but with the evident proclivity she's has on tossing his things out......one has to wonder what her thoughts are of her mother in laws (who died in 1972 when she would have been maybe 15) diary....

Today, you glance around the house..... you see dozens of pictures of her niece & nephew. There isn't a single picture, momento, memory of anything that would relate back to dad.....she's essentially erased his presence in the house.

I can understand some of this.... but some of it reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy hits me in a bad way.

So, we'll know much more in a week or so. Sister is going there for unrelated reasons. I told sister I'd meet her. Dad's wife had reminded sister "I'm not talking about ANYTHING related to any furniture nor the bible" (the furniture is my grandfathers desk that I "used" when I was 6,7,8 years old, pretending to be him "doing business".....It's being used as a computer desk by her)

I'm going down. Basically it's do or die for me. Going to bring these subjects up, there's likely going to be a clash about it. My guess is she'll again, 'I'm not ready to talk about it (with tears)"..... so I have to be prepared to say that's fine. You don't have to talk about it (as I pick up bible and carry it to car)

The real fear I have is.....she's expecting this and moves/hides the bible. Given how she's been acting, it's terribly sad that I even think this is possible, but I do. If this happens, you have a bible that's been in the family for 100+ years.... and Dad's third wife, with no family of her own, arbitrarily deciding that something different is going to happen to it, after acknowledging that she "promises" I'll be getting it? When? When she dies?

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to this visit (not)

How does one deal with what might just be a simple gold digger (dad did ok over life..... and we kids are 100% fine that "she gets everything".....BUT FOR, the items that came from our grandparents as herilooms. I emailed her asking "What happens if you die in "X" years.... is your executor of your estate going to know these are family things?" Interestingly, she has not responded to that at all.

what really shocks me is the ordained minister in her....I would have expected to come out and say "here kids.....these family things, rightfully belongs to you, let's get this taken care of" (as she drives away looking at her bank account(s) laughing...) but she wants it all it seems.

We're already well past that stage.

We'll see what happens.

 

[bigtiller]

I hope she sees the light and makes a good moral decision to hand over the family heirlooms. With her near 40 years of marriage, she has some baggage to deal with.
I wish you good luck.