The Creation of a Turret Clock

Bad work, good info.

  Well, after some serious examination, I have decided to scrap part of the hinges.  Part of the hinge, the way I made it, could suffer easily from metal fatigue.  This is were a piece of metal is flexed back and forth until it finally breaks.  Springs don't suffer from this as much as other metal.  In the case of the chest, the hinges may have held out for years or they may have broken the first time it was opened.  So, I've lost a lot of the past few days.
  However, I did learn something valuable from this experience.  When I first made some of my chisels, I tended to make them much more thicker than say a normal woodworking chisel.  Think of something in the shape of traffic cone.  Well, I decided to thin one of my chisels to be more in the shape of some of the ones I've seen other smiths using.  I was worried about taking the blade too thin because of the heat.  I was worried the thin metal would get too hot, too fast.  Well, I was surprised as hell when I used the thin chisel for the first time.  I was able to cut through almost 1/4" steel with one hit.  This compares to 5 or 6 hits using a thicker chisel.  Also, it tends to push less metal out of the way so cleanup is easier.  I guess all that experience of other smiths should be a lesson to me...  :)
  The second bit of good news, and this was a biggie, is that my recent contact sent me a detailed line drawing of the type of lock I need to make.  This came from the museum which houses the chest.  The line drawing answered all of my questions.  I am very happy to say that all my theories on the operation were correct.  The line drawing did show me a few features that will make the lock more reliable.  The line drawing is below.  The key is inserted, turned until teeth on the key push some springs up(top of the drawing), then the key is used to slide the lock to the left in this drawing.  The key cannot be removed until the bolt is back in the locked position.  Modern keyholes are the exact shape of the key.  The keyhole on this lock is actually used to slide the key to move the bolt.