A Bunch O' Boxes


wtnhighlander

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Another small step this morning, and one giant face-plant. I cut the lid for the cherry box to size.Pretty soon I'm going to have to commit to glue on that one. The pine box was sawn apart, with just a little issue of trying to close up as I made the final pass. Door shims to the rescue! e3922193f44610eb0270abedbcd83c4c.jpg I had to run each side across the saw again, to clean up that little bobble. Still isn't perfect, but I think a touch or two with a plane will take care of it. So, moving on to the wooden hinges, I cut them to rough shape on my scroll saw, the finessed them on my Rigid belt/spindle sander. Now they have a nicely rounded profile. Can anyone spot what went wrong in this picture? abff54772a16fe1e0778c365d467da8d.jpg

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Ha! I bet you all are looking at that nick on the corner of the cut that separates the box halves! I'm actually referring to the fact that I shaped the wrong side of the hinges, so the won't open when installed as shown! I went back this evening and rounded the joint with sandpaper. The hinges work now, and I think I can live with the appearance. Forgot to snap a pic, will do so tomorrow.

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Back to the cherry box this morning. I finally overcame the most difficult hurdle so far, getting the tray to slide freely. Here is the box, fully clamped as for glue-up, with the tray in place.

[video attached ]

Well, I'll try posting that from my computer, later. Tapatalk doesn't like my video this morning. :(

Anyway, I'm almost ready for glue on this one. I want to pre-finish the inside, any recommendations for darkening the cherry?

boxVideo3.mpeg

Edited by wtnhighlander
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So much for being ready for glue ... I showed it to the "client", a.k.a. my wife, and more design evolution is in the works.

What started out to be a Rokowski-ish box, with a lift-off lid and pillowed finger joints, has morphed into a hinged lid, corners that are trimmed flush and rounded over, has a sliding tray added, and will probably have some sort of inlay or carving before its done.

Color and finish options are drying on the scraps as I type.

I think I'll go back to the pine box for a while.

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I've been pretty busy with work this week, little energy left for woodworking. I did spend a little time this morning, working on an addition to the pine box. It looks sort of plain in front, and the thin edges seem fragile, so I started making some walnut edge banding to go around it. c928bbf6c39de60bdf15a4a63afc9292.jpg I glued two sticks together, and cut the miters from it as one piece. Once I glue it to the box halves, I can saw it apart again, just like the box. 958a7d4457ab8866c143b88512d75eba.jpg Here I was marking where to cut away material for the walnut "straps" to fit into. Shortly after this photo, my "get your butt to work" alarm went off, so playtime is over for now.

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I haven't had time to make much visible progress this week, but I thought this shot was worth posting. f087df02e7880b9aa8b29edd28f395d7.jpg These tiny planes were perfect for leveling the intersections and chamfering the corners of the walnut trim. They came from Harbor Freight. I had purchased them a few years ago, so that my son (much smaller then) could have some tools in his kit "just like Dad". I think I paid about $10 for the set, a bench plane, bullnose plane, and a scraper plane. Surprisingly, they seem solidly made, and sharpen up nicely. Should be real handy for folks that do models & miniatures.

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Got a bit done on both boxes today. I started off by attempting to saw the pine box apart 78ad064b51159dce414db308daaa0c9f.jpg As you can see I didn't do a good job of keeping it flat against my ship built tenoning jig, and the cut came off center. Since this one is just meant to be a place for me to drop my keys and coins at day's end, I decided to cut my losses and just roll with it. I planed the rim more or less level, the chamfered the edges to help disguise the wonky cut. df589940b270249f322fc0d120d5845f.jpg There are times when the extra depth on my pipe clamp vice is handy. 67a296c02e237f20aae32c6c6e321e51.jpg At least the hinges work 1864bc958f35272231a594e2cdaff07e.jpg5aa6e84bcf829f938295a6e1cee2bbba.jpg I did some pre-finish on the cherry box, since it would be tough to do the inside after assembly. A coat of amber shellac adds a nice glow to the cherry. 80b59ce0b22c230d65f62c4e5e04d28c.jpgc4a480e09b9f1894705522c80a15ca34.jpg Then I started on the lid. This inlay will be visible on the inside when opened. Traced with a knife, then hollowed with a 1/8" bit in the router. Bottom cleaned up with a chisel. 3e99dc6934e61a48909f1e33265f30bd.jpge6cd6e58f1ee23a1f9430bde436fe870.jpg9bd65afde09d9a390f5d669b2096f83f.jpg That's all for now!

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Thanks, guys! Yes, Lisa is my wife, and she is a big Lucille Ball fan. I was going to try out my bit and collar inlay set, but figured by the time I made the template correctly sized for my pattern, and did a trial run to prove it, I could just freehand it and be done. I've done several projects this way, freehand routing through a paper teplate stuck to the wood. I did the lettering with a Dremel tool on a router base, and hollowed for the inlay with a standard fixed-base router. The letters took a lot of patience, but the hollowing was pretty easy, working from the center outward, and taking small bites.

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Ross,the cut cleaned up nicely. I've cut several of these boxes apart, using a thin kerf blade on the ts, set against my fence. I raise the blade to as close to the thickness of the wall of the box as possible, without cutting all of the way through. Then use something like a Dozuli saw to finish the cut.

Oh, and that's a great view you have there!

Edited by K COOPER
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