Third Phase of Hatch Build

     On Monday evening, the day after I had glued up the frame components, Glenn and I worked the edges of the hatch frame.  First thing to do was unclamp the frame rails and inspect the results.  All appeared to be in good condition with joints now likely stronger than the wood itself.   Off to the router table!

     Glenn worked on a great looking coffee table - one of his personal projects - while I eased the edges of the hatch frame rails over the router table.  I ran all edges over the 1/4" round-over bit.  Taking off the hard edge created a much more pleasing design to the hatch frame.  After I ran the rails over the router, I sanded first with 150 grit and then a 220 grit pad.  The teak was really beginning to look pretty.  In the picture below, you can see the spline that I had epoxied into the channels cut in the frame components.  Glenn's design was to eliminate use of screws on the hatch construction; the splines would create additional glue surface and promote maximum 'with grain' glue strength.

     While I had the router fired up, I ran the slats across the table as well.  Using the same 1/4" round-over bit, I eased the edges of the slats in the same way I had worked the hatch frame rails.  The slats would extend across the hatch adding some additional stability, as well as serving to break up the intensity of the sun.

     After I had completed the router work on the various hatch components, I turned over the hatch frame rails to Glenn to cut them to proper length with 45s.  Results on three of four below...

     Once we had completed the cuts on all four pieces, we laid out the rails giving an idea of the how the finished product will appear.