I ventured back into the shop today to continue prepping my box stock. I planed it down to roughly 1/2” and used my tablesaw to size all the pieces the same.

I then went to my router table and mitered the ends of the end pieces lying flat on the table. So far so good.

But when I went to route the front and back, I had signifigant breakage & tearout. Even slowing down the bit didn’t help, so I’m going to cut off the bad bits (I had actually somewhat anticipated this and chose to route the longer pieces against the fence so that if I had to lose a bit of length, it would be less noticeable along that dimension).

I’m now going to build a fence just for this purpose and make a special-purpose insert for this bit to ensure a closer fit so I don’t get any “dippage” of the piece as it traverses the bit. I think that’s been my major problem. A photo of the table setup as it sits today follows.

The worst case of tear-out:

I’ll re-trim the long sides and reattempt routing either later today or tomorrow. I might replace the long sides and just mill new ones after using these to verify that the new setup works.

Cheers!

So far so good. I picked up a new piece of curly maple (with plenty to spare!) and after cutting it down to roughly the size I’d need for the project and after removing the knots which spoiled the ends of the board (but which saved me 10% at Woodcraft!) I proceeded to joint an edge and cut it down to rough size for the box.

Now I need to decide how to dress the opposite edge—stack the pieces up and plane them as a group or try to sand them down. I don’t have a hand plane capable of handling this task so it’s likely going to be my planer, after a good cleaning of the rollers and table.

I’m definitely try to work more slowly this time (though I have to confess, I didn’t think through my cutting order and cut both long sides first, then the short sides, so the grain ain’t a-gonna match up at 3 of the corners no matter what I do. With the curly … ness being the big attraction, though, and with the walnut keys I’m planning to use, I hope to mask that error somewhat.

So once the boards are planed to thickness and all edges are dressed (and the extra bit on the final short side is removed), I’ll cut the channels for the bottom, the ledge for the trays, and for the large chunk of walnut that will form the box top, frame-and-panel style.

Three cheers for long weekends!

First, I (a mathematician by training) miscalculated the size of the box I could make from the stock I had. Came up almost one side short. Figured I could make up the difference by finding another piece of curly maple and cutting it down to match. The grain wouldn’t match up, but I was willing to live with that.

Then, I discovered that my )(*&^@)%^ cheap table saw (A 10” Craftsman portable that Wood magazine recommended but for which I wouldn’t give you $.02 but that’s a story for another day) couldn’t cut a straight line while the blade was tilted, so I ended up with some of my mitered corners curved.

No problem, I decided. I can cut them square again and use a miter lock bit to create the corners. No problem. Got the bit set up and turned my attention back to the stock I had.

Realized I had cut the miters before planing to thickness. Took each piece to the jointer then the planer.

My planer decided that it doesn’t want to reliably move stock through itself any more, which likely means that I need to clean the rollers. Not sure how to do that but will give it a try this weekend. Anyway, a piece got stuck and so I fed in another piece behind it to kind of push it out. Used a piece that had been planed all the way down in the hope it would be below the knives. No such luck. Sniped the heck out of the leading edge of the board (which was planed just a shade thin anyway, so it’s now unusable). I’m almost certain as well that this was a bad idea from a safety standpoint and normally will just power the planer down in this situation, lift the knives up and away, and remove the board by hand with the unit unplugged. Got lazy and impatient this time.

So I now have one side and one end of a curly maple box. Ends squared off and ready to be routed. After I go find another piece of curly maple and try again to cut the right size pieces so they’ll match.

I love learning, I just wish the lessons weren’t so painful!

I expect it to be around 12” x 7.5” x 5”, though the stock I have would allow it to be up to 6” tall less whatever board width I lose to milling. The sides will be 1/2” thick.

What’s still to be planned & figured? How to best get the insert created and placed within the frame, since the lid will likely be cut free from the box after the box is assembled so that I get as much grain matching as possible. Also, I know that I want 1 or 2 removable trays within the box when it’s done, so I need to plan those. I figure I’ll route the sides of the box to put two 1/8” dadoes, one near the bottom for the box’s bottom which I intend to leave unglued and on about halfway up what will be sides of the box proper (minus the lid) on the front and rear to accept a small rail upon which the trays can rest and/or slide side to side. I’m thinking of putting some kind of padded bottom within the finished box as well.

The lid will be hinged and, if I’m feeling brave, have a mortised lock as well.

So I think I know basically how to start construction. In the interest of not screwing up the maple, I’m going to do a mock-up tonight using oak while my wife is off with the neighbor ladies for a girls’ night of Pampered Chef, Tupperware, and God only knows what all else. At least I get some uninterrupted shop time after the kids go to bed! I’ve never built “models” before, but I think this will help me get a feel for what the finished box will look like, dimensionally at least. I’ve drawn it up on paper but this seems so simple a project that I haven’t bothered with a Sketchup model. Yet.

Have a happy weekend everyone. The Denver Woodworking show is also this weekend. I’m taking my almost-4-year-old son, who’s just excited that he gets to wear his tool belt to the show and have a hot dog with Dad for lunch.

I’m at the planning stage, trying to figure out how to best use the lumber available to me for this project. I’ve got some walnut, a good piece (36” x 6” – 3/4) of curly maple and another (48” x 3 7/8” – 3/4) of Tigre Caspi. Plus a ton of walnut and oak. I’d like to feature the Tigre Caspi as it has a neat bit of dark grain along one edge but, never having worked with this wood before, I’m not sure exactly how to proceed.

I’m thinking of a box, probably around 10.5×6.5×4.25 inches, 1/2” thick all around. Lacking a bandsaw, it’ll be my planer’s job to bring the wood down to the right thickness.

I expect to build the box itself using mitered corners with contrasting splines. The lid, though, is giving me fits trying to decide on a style. Mitered with splines? Frame with a central feature? Or of the lift-off variety cut from a single piece of wood and rabbetted to fit?

So it’s my sincere hope that my next post will be a sketchup model of what I’ve decided to attempt. Maybe with some photos of the raw wood I’d like to use….

I decided to make the pegs or keys out of wenge to add a bit of contrast and (I hope) compliment the inlay. I’m also going over the pegs tonight with wood filler before finish sanding them tomorrow. Then it’s two coats a day of wiping varnish until I leave for Iowa Wednesday morning to deliver the finished product to my mother for her (belated) birthday.

These pictures predate the sanding, so some of the tear out you can see near the top has been lessened or, at least, softened a bit.

How many coats of wiping varnish would you all suggest as a goal?

I’m planning to give the whole thing a once-over with my RO sander when I’m done and then use wiping varnish to finish it. Today I’m also planning to work up a board with several different stain/varnish combinations to see what looks good.

Thanks for all the help and support!

As of today, I’ve got a bunch of 3/4 thick white oak sitting in my lumber rack and wishing I had a jointer and planer to work with it. Fortunately, I have a friend who’s a much more experienced woodworker who’s going to come over, look at the wood with me, and I hope give me some guidance over what to do next—cut to rough sizes then mill or mill, then cut to rough size.

This will also mark the first project with my new Craftsman 21806 table saw, as recommended by Wood magazine in their most recent issue. I wish I had the garage space for a cabinet saw, but until I do this portable will have to do.

My in-laws are visiting for a week starting Wednesday, so it may be some time before I have anything worth reporting to share.

Thanks again to all the LJ folks for the warm reception, and for all the advice (mostly from reading other, older postings!) that I’ve gotten. This is just my way to give something back this holiday season.

Cheers!

Bret