A Bunch O' Boxes


wtnhighlander

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Well, I had some time available to make noise today, so I finished running all those bookmatched slices through the planer. Fortunately, I had flipped the blades before going to work this morning, so things came out nice and smooth.

I did discover that the chip fan is sn absolute necessity on the DW735. Mine looked like this when a knot broke out and blocked the duct:

e765ab232bd68bda3012f9c74dc0490e.jpg

Kudos to the engineer that designed the 735 - being able to break it down with just the included T wrench is really handy.

I was able to get the little bit of cherry smooth at 7/16" thickness, but the rest had to go down to 9/32" to get clean. The boxes I plan are fairly small, so the thickness should be ok. Wound up with a decent stack of wood to work with.

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About an hour and a half of work. Today is the coolest day all week (85* F), but at the end, I still looked like this:

b109df6d209f45ba1fdc29b0b5eb22e7.jpg

Come on, October!

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Well, I had some time available to make noise today, so I finished running all those bookmatched slices through the planer. Fortunately, I had flipped the blades before going to work this morning, so things came out nice and smooth.

I did discover that the chip fan is sn absolute necessity on the DW735. Mine looked like this when a knot broke out and blocked the duct:

e765ab232bd68bda3012f9c74dc0490e.jpg

Kudos to the engineer that designed the 735 - being able to break it down with just the included T wrench is really handy.

I was able to get the little bit of cherry smooth at 7/16" thickness, but the rest had to go down to 9/32" to get clean. The boxes I plan are fairly small, so the thickness should be ok. Wound up with a decent stack of wood to work with.

389d5b61d3d9bf14370eb2feb347dc70.jpg

a1b24d7663ce86f6cffcf04792116ca9.jpg

About an hour and a half of work. Today is the coolest day all week (85* F), but at the end, I still looked like this:

b109df6d209f45ba1fdc29b0b5eb22e7.jpg

Come on, October!

It appears Ross, that you have the makings of a MDC and you didn't take advantage of it.  Pick up truck, 735 and the keys in your pocket..  Oh MDC?  Why Mobile Dust Collector of course!   And to think, I was willing to loan you mine and you had one and didn't use it!

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Ha! Richard, don't think I haven't considered it, but my current "truck" is actually a Chevy Avalanche. Cleaning loose material like sawdust, sand, or gravel out of the bed is almost impossible, because the bed has a ton of nooks & crannies. Not to mention the aerodynamics prevent almost all of the air flow from going down into the bed.

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Well, I took a few moments before work to edge joint and glue one of the pine panels. This clamping method worked much better that F clamps for such thin stock.

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Maybe hard to see, but that is a set of battens and wedges. Nice, even pressure.

Pretty hot this evening, I may spend it procrastinating.

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Its been a few days, but at last, I had a little time in the garage to make some dust.

I made the cuts for my first box, all mitered, white pine.

I discovered that it is impossible to make all the opposing miter cuts with one tablesaw without repeating a fence setup at least once.

First time this blade has been off 90* in over a year:

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I like to use a small acrylic drafting triangle to check the blade angle.

So, I ripped one edge and crosscut one end of all my 'raw' boards.

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Then I adjusted the fence for 3", and ripped the opposite edge of the two boards that form the sides & ends. One side and one end come from each board to provide grain continuity. Ideally, these two boards would be resawn from one thicker board, for grain that wraps uninterrupted around all 4 corners. I didn't use a resawn pair for this box, choosing an unmatched pair with very light grain instead.

For the next cuts, I had planned / hoped to cut the two short ends, then use the same fence setting to rip the top & bottom to width. Nope, didn't happen. Same plan for cutting the long sides and top / bottom length. Nope, again. It seems that my initial 1 end + 1 edge miters were all on the wrong side for that to happen. Not having a miter gague or sled set up for 45* didn't help. This is how I made crosscuts:

a30f87d782599f3e510213e362457e1b.jpg

Worked fine for making square cuts, though. White pine can be very forgiving.

I did get it a hurry, as sunlight was beginning to fail, and miscut one piece. You'll see it in the dry fit photo below. Fortunately, I plan a decorative overlay feature that will cover the cut I have to patch. The fubar just defined exactly where the overlay needs to go!

Dry fit:

8ed83b2c42399bf7bc3fff4ac69c1ea6.jpg

Patch the mis-cut, and glue the edges tomorrow, I hope!

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This morning, before work, I planed a piece of scrap and glued it into the cut. Yeah, the grain isn't oriented correctly, but I don't care. Some of it will get removed anyway, and all of it will be covered. Its just there to hold the rest together.

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After work, I pared the patch flat, and glued the box together.

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Thank goodness for blue tape!

No splined corners here. I figure all these miters glued with opposing angles will be plenty strong.

Along the way, I applied a bit of old #7, and glued up some cherry for another box. I'm not thrilled with the quality of the Z-fold bookmatch, but we'll see how it goes. Wedges and weights are great for these panel glue ups.

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Tomorrow, on to the details on box #1!

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I did a little more work this morning, although it was near 90* f in the garage at 4:30 am ...

The pine box glue up went well, all the miters are nice and tight.

Here it is, along with the parts cut for the next box, all cherry.

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The next step was to make some walnut "straps" to wrap around it:

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The "straps" will be inlet on the pine, that's why the patch didn't worry me. I use my TS sled and a stop block to cut these grooves, nibbling away the middle, Norm-style. I'll clean up the grooves with a chisel, later:

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That's all I had time for this morning. Those grooves have me wishing for a router plane, guess I know what to put on my Christmas list!

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Looking great, man.

Yeah, it took me about 7 mitred boxes with accidentally flipped side grain until I figured out how to get it to wrap around.

My method wastes about half inch (more or less depending on thickness) of material on each cut, as I flip the board each time and cut the next miter from the inside edge of the previous miter (hope that made sense). No tablesaw or fence movement required.

Matt Kenney has an article on FWW about using bookmatched wood to keep grain consistent, but I never tried.

You going to make miter keys? Carriage jig?

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Ross the boxes are looking great! I love the walnut straps on the pine idea. You were out in the shop at 4:30 am? You're a beast!

Shane, I wanted to use charred oak, but couldn't figure out how to touch up the scorching on the corners after installation & roundover. Didn't want to scorch the pine.

O, and 4:30 is when I get up every workday. I just skipped my morning workout in favor of sawdust.

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Your hardcore bro, I'm up at 5 every morning, but getting from the coffee pot to the recliner is about all I can muster for a little bit...

I'm an 'Early to bed, early to rise' kind of guy .... if you consider 11:00 pm or so 'early'.

I subsist on various energy drinks until the weekend. Coffee, unfortunately, makes me gag.

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Vinny, do you have any pics to illustrate your method? Can't wrap my brain around your description.

I don't know if it's an actual method, and doubt it's the best, but it works for me.

1. Use a longer board than what you need for your box. 6"

to 8". You'll lose waste between each miter, and you need to leave enough room for the last cut to keep your hand safe (unless you have a jig to support the last piece)

2. Set up your stop block against the fence. Cut the first mitre inside ('back') side up. Not against stop block. Remove as little waste as possible. Discard offcut

3. Flip the board (show side up) and make the second cut against the stop block. side one.

4. Flip to back side and eyeball the next cut to remove as little waste as possible. Discard offcut. Offcut here is labeled a 'waste' for reference

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5. Flip to show side, use stop block to cut piece number two.

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6. Flip to back, not against stop block, minimum waste.

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The waste

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6.. Later rinse and repeat.

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Remember that part about leaving an extra 6". Yep..that's where I f'ed up here...umm...on purpose...to illustrate...yeahhhhh.

https://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/30/6d5cd1ff524a1d8b5f4d531380122541.jpg

Not a safe cut...sorry WTN, not losing a finger tonight.

Here's the mitre and the 'grain' I drew on. On 3/4 stock, it's about 1/8" off...with thinner stock and busy grain, it's not noticeable.

https://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/30/2d6cba5d1658fb239e846ed4ec8b7e40.jpg

Obviously, one mitre won't match...just make sure it's the back (if the box has a 'front')

Here are a few I made with this method.

https://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/30/a3f34a7d33344d5da86fd72f0bfb2300.jpg

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Did a little more work this morning, fitting the grooves (cross-grain, so I guess dadoes, technically) to the "strap" material.

Started just a bit too narrow.

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It took 6 playing card shims to nail the width:

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Then I had to clean up the bottom. I tried making a Paul Sellers-esque "poor man's router plane", but without success. Need to go back and review that video. In any case, a sharp chisel worked just fine.

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Look, Ma! No glue!

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I'm happy with the fit, next I have to deal with the miters on the strap stock!

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I use the same technique that Vinnie does EXCEPT that I have a "right tilt" saw and I start with the "show face" of the board up.

I can get a better grain match, less waste, and the off cut is below the blade so it is somewhat safer as far as the off cut triangle kicking back is concerned.

That is not to say that a "right tilt" saw is any better than a "left tilt" but, in this case, I think it works a bit better.

As he said, all of the miters are a perfect fit but, the grain match will be off on one corner.

Rog

PS, I just realized that both of you can get the same results as I do. If you move your fence to the left of the blade and the miter gauge to the right hand miter slot and cut the board from the other direction, you would get the same advantages as I have! COOL!?

Rog

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I'm an 'Early to bed, early to rise' kind of guy .... if you consider 11:00 pm or so 'early'.



I subsist on various energy drinks until the weekend. Coffee, unfortunately, makes me gag.

I'm the same way during the week, usually out around 9, the weekend is a different story, late to bed, early to rise ? I don't do the energy drinks anymore, except coffee, but I used to be a devoted redbull drinker...

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