Small Miter Box

[Chet]

I am looking for a small miter box to us with my flush cut saw.  Any recommendations?  Yea, I know I could make one but...

[wtnhighlander]

Honestly, I think making one will give you the best result. 

[Coop]

I have been using an old simple maple one that I think I bought from Sears Hardware years ago and probably needs replacing. They are really handy for small pieces. 

[Mark J]

Cheapo plastic miter box from Sears.  It only sees use for cutting off the odd piece of metal angle.  Anything wood goes to the SCM.

[Chet]

On 10/21/2021 at 7:11 AM, Mark J said:

Anything wood goes to the SCM.

I don't think I would want to cut a short length of dowel on the miter saw.  I like my fingers.

[Mark J]

1 hour ago, Chet said:

I don't think I would want to cut a short length of dowel on the miter saw.  I like my fingers.

Good thinking .  

[RichardA]

Come on Chet.  It's three pieces of hardwood scrap and three saw cuts Easy peasy.

[gee-dub]

I've been using something like this for many years.  It does take a very narrow kerf saw.  Even at today's price it's not bad if you can go pick it up; even better with a coupon.  I mounted mine to a block of wood so I could clamp it in the vise. I also double-stick tape a scrap of wood to the bottom to saw into.  I use it for dowels, plugs, small trim work, really anything that is delicate.

I couldn't resist so I went looking.  Zona is the brand I have.

[wtnhighlander]

Many "hobby stores", especially those that sell model train / car / airplane supplies, carry a setup like @gee-dub linked. I believe my local Hobby Lobby has the X-acto brand.

[Chet]

On 10/21/2021 at 1:27 PM, gee-dub said:

I couldn't resist so I went looking.  Zona is the brand I have.

That is the one I have been looking at the most.

On 10/21/2021 at 1:06 PM, RichardA said:

Come on Chet.  It's three pieces of hardwood scrap and three saw cuts Easy peasy.

Sometimes I get to thinking about the next "fun" project and get lazy with things like this.  Then the next time I am in the middle of a project and in need of it the process starts all over.  

[Coop]

On 10/21/2021 at 3:27 PM, gee-dub said:

I've been using something like this for many years.  It does take a very narrow kerf saw.  Even at today's price it's not bad if you can go pick it up; even better with a coupon.  I mounted mine to a block of wood so I could clamp it in the vise. I also double-stick tape a scrap of wood to the bottom to saw into.  I use it for dowels, plugs, small trim work, really anything that is delicate.

I couldn't resist so I went looking.  Zona is the brand I have.

I only use a narrow kerf saw when cutting small pieces which made my old one a pita. I just ordered this one and they promise I will have it tomorrow! Love me some Amazon! How they do it, I’ll never know? “Oh heck, Coop is spending more $$ so let’s make him happy”

Thanks @gee-dub for the link and for the hint of the scrap wood on the bottom. 

[Tom King]

I made these out of scraps of Baltic Birch ply, and forget what the bottom wood is.  They're mainly used for putting down shoe molding, but come in handy for other small things too.  The saw is one of my old Stanleys.  I don't have a good reason why I made three of them, instead of just one, but they don't take up much room.

Slots cut with the Langdon-Acme, and a saw with about the same set width as this dovetail saw.

 

[Chet]

On 10/22/2021 at 5:33 PM, Coop said:

Coop is spending more $$ so let’s make him happy”

And you can't pin it on me this time.

[Coop]

It’s a lot tinier than I thought it would be.

[Chet]

On 10/23/2021 at 11:59 AM, Coop said:

It’s a lot tinier than I thought it would be.

 

But does it work?

[treeslayer]

4 hours ago, Coop said:

It’s a lot tinier than I thought it would be.

"Thats what she said" 

[Coop]

It does work and works well. And the kerf cuts match that of the saw so no slop. And when I ordered it, I didn’t notice that it came with the saw! 

[Coop]

@gee-dub, great idea on the sacrificial bottom plate and the mounting blocks. Thanks.

[Coop]

I just realized the hard way that this thing also makes 60* cuts, as well as 45* and 90*!

[treeslayer]

Live and learn Coop, nothing the rest of us haven’t done 

[Coop]

Hijacking someone else’s thread again but hopefully @Chet won’t mind.

The original shipping box for my miter box and saw was about 4”x12” x 2” high. I figured as small as it was, there was a possibility that in my shop, it could get damaged or greater still, lost. So I decided to build it a new home.

[treeslayer]

Well done @Coop !! I love small boxes to keep just such equipment, that grain wrapping around the mitered corners is a great touch, more detail please, what wood and finish did you use ?

[Coop]

Thanks Dave! The box was constructed from one of the last pieces I had from a cherry tree that I cut down in Louisiana about 5 years ago. The lid frame from the same tree, just more heart wood. The walnut lid panel, also the last of a walnut tree from the same trip to LA. Since the box side boards were not from a re-sawn piece, the grain skips a beat on the fourth corner, which I intentionally didn’t show.

The box’s mitered corners were secured with blind splines with their mortises cut with a jig in the router table.

Unfortunately, the finger grips for the lid did not turn out as I had hoped. With your advance advice, I used a router core box bit on my router table with stop blocks. I set the height of the bit against a scrap piece and adjusted the fence to nibble a small amount at a time. Yeah, it is time to buy a new quality bit. I ended up having to remove the burn marks with a chisel to the config shown. 

The finish was 2 coats of high gloss ARS and three coats of GF HP satin top coat, sanding the nibs with a 240 foamed backed paper between coats. After the last coat, I finished it to baby butt smooth with a small piece of brown paper bag. 

[Chet]

Cool box Coop, it has some real nice grain features.  Wasn't there originally plans to us some spalted lumber?  Did you decide to save that for something else?

[Coop]

A small piece of spalted elm was the intended piece. It was thick enough that I resawed it to hopefully get the continuous grain wrap. As my piece was not very wide, the box was not going to be as large as the eventual one. After using my small parts sled designed with the 90* cut on one end and a 45* on the other end, I used your idea of using the removable stop block that you showed in one of your post. The design was to be like a small pencil box with a sliding lid.After making all of the cuts and grooves, a dry fit revealed that I used my id dimensions as my od dimensions and the box was 1” too short and 1” too narrow, due to the 1/2” thickness of the board pieces. As it was too long to make a pencil box, I cut the sides down which left me with grain match on only two corners. Now I have a sliding lid pencil box!