So, I took three pieces of cherry and, after joining them, I applied a thin layer of (what I think is) birch plywood to, what will be, the inside layer of the box.

I know of two good reasons to put another type of wood on the inside layer of these boxes:

1) looks good
2) run the wood grain alternate to the outside layer and it adds cross-grain strength

Here’s two more things I NOW know

1) don’t use cheap plywood on projects where aesthetics count

Actually, I already knew this rule, but I ignored it. Why? Who knows. I usually have to ignore my own rules three times before I realize I made the rule for a reason. Arrrgh! It seems that the plywood I picked up is ash or something similar that fuzzes to the moon when you sand it!

2) The most important part of doing the alternating grain trick is to ALTERNATE THE GRAIN!

I was so focused on the glue up and resulting storm of clamps that I managed to glue up with the grains in the same direction! Doh!

imperfect storm of clamps

At this point, it looks like I am about to negate both points one and two.

So I ended up with this:

here’s the fuzzy side!

So I did the cuts per procedure and that went fairly well. The ash plywood did what it does best: fuzzed and got stringy as ever.

After a lot of cleanup (mostly unsuccessful), I went to the glue-up

This turned out okay, the box looks good on the outside.

the inside needs work, it’s not apparent here, but this is not going so hot.

This will be a hinged lid, here’s a look at those

I thought I would cheat and take a look at what this might look like finished. Using my favorite image processing software, I popped the grain a little:

I’ll post the finished box soon. Thanks for looking.

C

I cut a few rabbits with it and checked for square and things look good.

If you notice, I ended up with quite a few tightening knobs on the sled. Not by design, but by necessity for how I did this. I am going to rework the sled clamps.

Soon I’ll post a follow-up video of this rig in action.

mini-review
I also used Square Drive screws from Woodcraft. Why? Because I got a free sampler pack when I placed an order. 140 screws (various sizes), 2 drive heads, and a countersink bit. They pretty much work as promised. But I can’t see buying these for the long-term. If I lose the two square drive heads (likely at some point) and I want to take this apart later, I’m hosed.

I have made some more progress here. I got the adjustment knobs working and the vertical action of the router plate now works as it should. I also have the table working and adjustable from ~30 to 90 degree angle to the router bit.

I did manage to destroy the dust collection holder, so that will be rebuilt tomorrow.

I have a pretty small workshop. Since it is in the center of my basement, there is not outside access (windows, doors, etc.). To keep dust under control, I have a dust collection system for collecting dust from my tools. In addition to that, I have a JET JET AFS-1000B air filtration unit ceiling-mounted as well.

This AFS is much more than I need in this small space, but I may have more room later. I usually run it at it’s lowest speed setting.

I have access to some 24×24x4 Glasfloss MERV filters and it gave me an idea on making my AFS work better in my shop.

The idea is to effectively make the intake larger. The larger size would accommodate the bigger filter. With this, running the AFS at the higher speeds would have a better effect on cleaning the air.

In addition, angling the intake down would help pull the dust from the area where I generate the dust.

thanks for any input.

C

I have the mechanics working and have mounted the router base I’ll use. The knobs are not working as well as they should, so that will get more attention later.

I also go the ‘wings’ or panels installed. These are the side panels alongside of the sliding router base.

I have the dust collection hookup in place as well.

This is going as design and should since I am modifying the design the whole time.

more later. Thanks

This is a design-in-progress as well as a work in process. My design drawings are incomplete.

I started on the build this week. There are a lot of little things I am working out.

I am going to use this with my Freud router. It has a router table base that will mount onto this so I can switch the router from it’s primary use as a plunge router, to this and back easily.

I’ll update when there’s more progress.

C

There were about 30 pieces in this size range and this was not the biggest one they had either! This one is about 3 1/2 feet tall. $200 and well worth it (no, I didn’t get it).

I picked up two cherry boards for upcoming projects.

I have to thank (or blame) Martyn for getting me on the EZ Mitre box schtick I am on. I’ve looked at his website and, while I’ll never match that array of complex and wonderful designs, I may match the number of boxes. The addicting factor that’s unique is the great grain matching and flow of the final piece.

I have about a thousand ideas I want to try, but I’m sure I’ll stop short of that (maybe 998)!

Here’s what I am doing now. I took two pieces of padauk that have an outrageous amount of swirling grain and a piece of red cumala (which is actually yellow)

SIDE NOTE: I am kind of a padauk addict as well. My shop looks like a paprika processing plant explosion. If you ever want to see where all the dust goes in your shop, work with something like padauk for a while and it will show you all the little places dust goes.

I joined these three

and ran them through the drum sander (best tool in the world)

take a closer look at the grain on this padauk

I marked up the piece and taped both sides as suggested

after running through the router table and then the table saw. Nice design in itself.

and the finished box! Well, not exactly. But it came together nice

I’ll post the finished product when it’s complete.

Careful measurement is key, but it’s a very repeatable process.

I’ll post the finished products once completed.

I thought I’d also share what I use to plan out my woodworking. While I have used Sketchup for rough outs and such, for 15+ years I have used a program called Lightwave 3D for technical modeling/animation. While Lightwave is a little more detailed in a different direction than Sketchup, it does an awesome job of rendering.

Here is the same box as I planned it out, rendered in Lightwave.

I used my router table to cut 1/4” wide by 1/8” deep inlay slots on the top and bottom of the two pieces of cherry. I used my drum sander to get the inlay to the exact size I needed for this slot.

If you ever wondered if a drum sander is for you, just get one! I got a Jet 10-20 about 3 years ago and it was best addition at that time.

Anyway, I made a piece of padauk inlay that was 1/4” wide by about 3/4” thick. I took that and sandwiched it between the two boards where I wanted the inlay. This left a 1/2” gap between the two boards.

After the glue dried, I used the table saw to cut the two boards apart (see first picture)

I then took there to the drum sander and sanded them down to just below the surface of the boards (picture two)

(I repeated the whole process for a piece of walnut inlay.)

thanks for looking and I’ll post more later.

C

Anyway, here is what I ended up with. I like the idea of trimming the top with a darker wood and will try that next time.

There will be a next time as the wife has all ready placed an order for more like this.

I finished it in tung oil and it worked out pretty well.

As the lid, I think it looks too busy, then again I kind of like it. Here’s two pictures of how I may do it.

I just have things stacked together here, no glue or fasteners at this point.

Please let me know your thoughts.

thanks

C

To hone my skills and learn new ones, I make boxes as a means of experimentation.

I’ve made about 40 boxes so far (and other things) and I have not made the same box twice as of yet. My goal is always to try new things and techniques. This sometimes leads to having to change gears and make on-the-fly adjustments.

Here is one of my latest and the first time I’ve tried to have the hinge on the inside:

The biggest error I made was using two rare-earth magnets for the lid. This made for a lid that was VERY difficult to open, so I had to subsititute a washer for the top magnet. I’ll later replace this with a metal slug.

another item to share. I love picking up these black-walnut burl blocks. Here’s one I’ve cleaned up and I have already cut it up on a project (I’ll post that later).

This type of burl is so beautiful I am compelled to just put some tung oil on it and put it on a shelf!!

thanks for looking