It was quite an honor to actually have something published, especially by such a great magazine.

With any type hinge, the layout is critical. These hinges are simple to install, but you must get your holes in the right place. If you don’t, I can assure you , you will not like the results, and you will not be able to go back and fix it—at least not pratically.

This is how to do a box that has the lid flush with the back on the back side.I find it easier to clamp the base to the lid and mark them at the same time. Make sure the pieces line up perfectly at each end. The lid was cut from the base, so everything is the exact size. If you are doing a different style box, you will have to adjust this step.

After deciding the placement of your hinges, mark top and base with a square. A making knife will give a much cleaner line. This will help with the drill press set-up.


On a drill press with a fence, set the position of the fence to the desired distance from the back of the box.
My box has a beveled edge so the hole has to fall in front of that. You will have to figure out what works for you. Centered is a good starting place, but may not always work. I use a brad point bit which makes it easier to line the bit up with my knife mark. The bit naturally falls into the knife mark.

Most drill press have a depth stop. After measuring the length I use that measurment to set the stop on the drill press. Bring the bit down to the box and press the point into the surface. Lock the quill down, the set your stop. I set it a little shallow, check the depth with a depth gauge, and sneak up on it. The depth can be a liitle too deep on these hinges if you like, but will create problems if the are not deep enough. Carfully line up the bit to the mark and drill. You will obviously have to reset after doing either the top or the bottom. It really doesn’t matter which you do first.




Insert the hinges. I find they tend to be tight. I notched the end of a dowel to go over the arms of the hinge. Then you can use a small mallet to tap them in. Make the hinge flush with the box side. If you want a bit of clearance between the top and bottom, you can leave the hinge a little proud.

When you are satisfied with the depth of your hinges, tighten the set screws and you are done.


If you have any questions—Ask Charlies Neil! (Just kidding—I would be happy to confuse you further)

The Kerfmaker references off a stop on a fence, which works very well for a fence on a radial arm saw or table saw sled. But using the table saw fence to cut slots for my box bottoms and lids, I discovered there was not reference point for the Kerfmaker. I made a simple block using magnets to secure it. There is a lip on the bottom to keep it straight on the table saw rail. I started with 2 magnets, but it didn’t hold as well as I wanted, so I added 2 more. Stronger magnets would work as well, but these were what I had. I tried it with a c-clamp, but if you have checked out my jigs, you know I don’t like messing with c-clamps on my jigs.

Set the fence for the first cut and place the kermaker on the rail and place the stop next to it, carefully keeping it free from chips and squared with the rail. The lip on my block is made to fit between the rail and the saw to help do this. Make the first cut, flip the kerfmaker as usual, move the fence, and make the second cut. Then saw out the waste between as usual. I am not going into detail of using your kerfmaker. If you have one you should know the basics already. That has been covered here on Ljs and on Bridge Ciy’s website.

I think the pictures are self-explanatory, but ask if you have questions.

Thanks for looking.

Enjoy the tour!

I think it is self explanatory, but ask if you have questions.

I ended up with a Stanley- Baily #6
Stanley #78
Stanley #4
Small plane ?
Miller Falls #10
Millers Falls Breast Drill
Spokeshave #51—no brand on it
Hand drill—no brand.
Veritas Sharpening System
Stanley Yankee Drill

The box is pretty simple. I used 3/4” plywood for the bottom, 1/4” ply for the back, and scrap poplar for the side frames. anything you have will work. I have even seen them out of cardboard boxes with the sides cut out.

I forgot to measure mine, but the size is determined my what you plan on photographing. I will primarily do boxes. I painted mine black because—-well just because. If you know me, you know I don’t do simple. And of course I apologize—there is no exotic hardwood on this.

The white fabric is to diffuse the light so there is not a harsh glare. Notice I have mounted the first layer and folded it so the second layer remains loose. I am able to control the light this way by folding out the top layer over the first when needed. I happen to find these lights at Lowes, but you may use what is available. Small wattage seems better, but you could also use a dimmer, which I may add later. There are obviously different ways to control the light. With different brackets, you can set the lights where you need them for the different projects you might have. You have to experiment with each project. I like the power strip mounted on the back of the box. I can turn all the lights on and off at once, or use individual switches on the lights themselves. I used blck felt to line the inside. It is mounted with vecro. I have other colors that can easily be changed as needed.

If you have questions, feel free to ask. I probably won’t know, but I can make something up.

I just opened my website throuh Volusion. http://www.volusion.com/

After checking out several companies like them, I thought they fit my needs the best. You can set up to take credit cards through them, so it is pretty much one stop shopping. The template I chose is free, but they offer upgrades if you want. Then they charge a monthly fee. That varies according to the plan you choose.

Check it out if you get a chance

http://www.kreationsbykent.com/

EDIT: I have closed this website. There were some ongoing fees for the credit card processing that I just could not handle. I am selling my boxes on Etsy for now.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/kreationsbykent

I spent the rest of the morning in the ER. Not only did I lay my hand open, I severed a tendon to my index finger. The hand specialist got it repaired OK, I think. To bad I don’t have a video of that! I never thought about what happens to a tendon when it is cut in half. I’m in a splint for a couple of weeks, and then probably therapy. Obviously no woodworking for me for a while. (No yard work either—oh shucks!) Life one-handed is not all that much fun, but you learn quickly how to get by.

As far as the lawsuit, since it was a Bridge City saw, shouldn’t I sue them. After all shouldn’t they make their saws idiot proof. Maybe our government needs to step in and protect me—-from me. Ironically, as I laid there in the ER, a customer of mine showed up in the room next to mine. He cut his finger on a router. Funny, he claimed responsibility too, but again, can’t we blame the router manufacturer for this.

I really post this as a warning—don’t get complacent with your hand tools. This is probably my worst accident in all my years in woodworking, and I have used power tools all my life.

I have a floor model Jet spindle sander, so I built a simple jig that bolts to the top.
It is simply a fence with a pivot hole at one end, and a slot at the other to adjust the thickness.
I feed the piece from one end—be sure to hang on—it will shoot out the back side. After getting the piece fed far enough, I reach over with my left hand and pull it through. It is important to maintain a steady feed speed, as it will dip if you slow down or stop. It is usually better to set it a little thick and make several passes.
Doing both sides will clean up your saw marks.

I drilled and tapped two 5/16” 18 hole in the top to accept the bolts

The jig can easily adapt to a bench top spindle sander, or even a sander on a drill press.

Thanks for looking

Thanks for looking,
Kent

This is my first attempt at a video. I discovered what a huge learning curve is involved and hopefully I’ll get better. —Gee I love computers!

With a lot of help from my lovely wife, here it is—Enjoy!

Thanks for watching.
Kent

Here I’m slotting pieces for wooden clamps like these I posted recently as a project.


This is the set up for the flip stops to create the starting and stopping place for the slots.




The plywood you see is to keep from routing into my table. With my T-track table, this is a breeze!

I did all this (Including the set-up) in a few minutes before I came to work this morning.

Thanks for looking,
Kent

Thanks for the interest.
For more on this check out mt blog on wordress
http://kentshepherd.wordpress.com/

I planed down a scrap of Mahogany I had laying around. (Sorry—no Bubinga) The Mahogany matched my sled
——if you’re into that sort of anal irrelavant stuff. Obviously I am!

Then I drilled a starter hole for the slots. If you have a router lift in you table, you could also plunge up from the bottom to start the cut.


The router sled is perfect for this. It is really safe, and not difficult to set up since I designed it to be versatile.

Next, measure the fence to place the cut where it’s needed.

Place the work piece in the sled. Note the way I clamped this. My aluminum clamps are not long enough to reach the work piece. I will make some wooden clamps just like what I’m making now to fix that problem. Using a scrap works for now. I have the bit already at the proper height, coming up through the starter hole. Here I used a 1/4” bit. The slot is wider, so I made three passes. One down the middle, moved the fence a little and made two more passes to widen the slot.


I finished with a file to clean up the ends. If you use the right size bit, you don’t need to do this. The way I did it, the end of the slots are not totally rounded if that matters to you.

Thanks for looking

ENJOY!

I didn’t show much detail in sharpening the iron. I used basic methods for any plane iron. I could have shown that, but you can find that anywhere.

I made a template to make the curves with. After bandsawing close to my line, I used the same template to route the final shape. For the most part I was good at taking pictures of each step, but I missed some here. You will have to use your imagination.


I made another template to do the inside routing. It is simpy set in from the outside edge. Then, using a round nose router bit with a template guide on a plunge router, I routed the decorative reccess.

It was a bit tricky to route in the center of the pieces. The router got too far from the edges, so I placed scraps to give support to the router base in the wider parts. This is not shown in the pictures. Now, after all the difficulty doing this, I realized after getting my Torque Work Centre how easy this step could have been.
(I know—-Now a word from our sponsor)

The top rail for the back piece is pretty simple. I laid out the shape—freehand. A little jig-sawing and sanding on my Jet spindle sander, and it’s ready to go.


I guess that’s it for now. Hopefully I didn’t loose you. Any questions? Don’t hesitate to ask.

Next time, I’ll show the work on the iron—-Thanks for looking!