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the box

6K views 36 replies 16 participants last post by  Tangle 
#1 ·
the box part 1

I have always wanted to do this and do that in the craft industry. Toying around with several mediums has always been somewhat challenging, but I want to bring these "experiments" into my woodworking ventures. Things like leather carving and stained glass are only a few of these mediums. In 2003 I broke out the leather tools and cut a square of leather off of a large hide I have. I applied temporary contact cement to the back of the leather and to a piece of cardboard then laminated them together. The cardboard provides a backing to the leather while being stamped. Carving leather requires a flat surface too, so I had a friend of mine that owns a company that supplies granite supply me with a square of granite big enough to support carving. At this point I was looking up to Lora S. Irish and her books on relief carving. Wildlife carving in Relief to be particular. In this book is a design of some foxes sitting what seems to be quietly together. This is the pattern I chose. I applied the water to the leather, taped my printed copy of the design to it and began to outline my project with a leather knife. After removing the design I began carving. I was thinking this project would go fairly quickly. It was a small pattern only the size of a piece of paper. How long could it take? Well, after working on this little beauty for several nights I finally had it. It was amazing that I shaped this leather to look like a picture, but with the depth of it made it so much more wonderful. Five years later that leather carving sat there in a box. No frame, no way to use it. I began thinking what a waist of time this must have been, and that I couldn't let it end up being just that. So, out came the pencil and a drawing pad. I started drawing simple lines, basically, I drew a box!! In all intent this project couldn't be just a box. Or just an ordinary box. So, more lines were drawn, shapes here, shapes there. Then it became a box with a base and the lid would "house" the carved leather. But, with all due respect to myself and my little project I had to keep going. I started drawing lines on the face of the box itself. These lines became branches, and leaves were formed in select areas. It was fall again. My favorite season. The leaves were falling off the branches and actually almost gone. Only a few remain, colorful, ready to be blown off with a small firm gust of wind. The drawing was complete. I liked it. I liked it a lot.
At the shop the next morning I wondered around working on clients projects, all the while thinking of my little project. I knew I had to keep working on other things. Money needed to be made, not a box that probably wouldn't sell. While sorting through my lumber to find good material for my client my eyes caught some 1/2" curly maple. That was it! I waited to what seemed like an eternity until 5 pm when I figured I could stop and do my own thing. I try to work in the shop with the guys as an employee with them, and always hate to "play" while they work. My 10 hours were over. At this point it didn't bother me if they kept going. I made my way to the maple as if it were going to get swiped by someone elses greedy little fingers before I got to it. It was there ready, waiting to become this specific project. Why else would it be there but for this…..............................................

leather carving

not the best sketch, but it works
 
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#5 ·
Ladies and Gentleman, calm down! LOL. I will post pictures as I write. Last night was kinda getting late and I didn't want to dissappoint my significant other by staying on the computer. The leather carving will be posted soon. The box itself is still in motion. After I post a picture of the leather I will post a picture of the drawing. This is the first time I tried to narrate a project. I hope everyone enjoys reading it and seeing it unfold.
 
#6 ·
Hello Kolwdwrkr;
....and if you're like me, the pictures are some-times hard to capture, when one is in the midst//heat of a 'feeding//building frenzy'.

Once I get to working and the inspiration is there, I'm hard pressed to have to stop and take photos. Some-times the steps of a process all blend to-gether and when it's over, I wonder why the camera is still sitting on the side-lines….LOL.

And then there are also other times when after the project and photos are in, I realize I have to go out and take more photos just to get some point across….and then what of the time I have to spend in my day just working to keep the other things in my life going forward….and then, have you tried burning the candle at both ends of wood-working just to make a living with wood and, then to have a life of 'wood art'....but then I also imagine that you know what I'm talking about.

And yes, I understand that line where you said….''It was there ready, waiting to become this specific project. Why else would it be there but for this……...........................................''

I'm reading and I can be patient, as long as I can hold my breath….LOL and a great blog//story you've started….;

Thank you.
GODSPEED,
Frank
 
#7 ·
I think your choice to add the pix later was really a ploy to keep us on our toes, waiting .. waiting.

leatherwork: fantastic!!!
and I love those branches. Looking forward to the next installment of this story!!
 
#9 ·
Hello Kolwdwrkr;
--thanks for the up-grade of the pictures and so for now, one as I will wait for more of the what you call….''in all intent this project couldn't be just a box'', so I will add….more than your 'ordinary box'.

I'm reading and so once again….;

Thank you.
GODSPEED,
Frank
 
#11 ·
next step

The maple was outstanding! It wasn't brilliant like a billet blank, but it was mine. And that made it near priceless. I pulled it out of the stack of lumber and scraped it a little. Took a damp rag and wiped it….brilliant! The figure stood out and begged me to make something with it. I took it to my miter saw, shortened it in length, and stacked it next to the jointer. Everyone knows as well as I do that when you look forward to making a project something happens that takes you away from it. By the time I was ready to proceed I had to leave. The lights went off and the door was locked. Hanging my head bummed I made my way to the truck, looked back once, and drove off. The project would wait. A few days later I finally found some free time. I hooked up the dust collector to the jointer and away I went. Pushing figured maple through the jointer is risky business. It checks here and checks there. Rotating the piece only helps a little. I just needed a straight edge on the pieces, and after that I would run them through the saw. I normally don't need to cut the jointed edge. In this case I did. The figure wouldn't cut good, and apparently my blades aren't sharp enough. It makes a guy grumpy when things don't go right, but I managed to move on without crying. LOL. Sanding out the saw marks isn't to bad anyhow, and as long as they were straight and square I was tickled. Now to cut them to length. I used a miter gauge and the table saw for this. I added a sacrificial fence to the gauge for added length, and so that I could clamp stops to it. It sure would have been nice to have an Incra miter gauge that has the stops. But, I'm broke and they won't give it to me. I guess that will have to wait for another time in my life. Cutting the parts was easy. The stops made sure the pieces were accurately cut to the same length. I was on my way. The next step was to run my grooves for the bottom. To be educational, and I'm sure this story is both educational and entertianing (at least I hope), grooves run with the grain of the material, dadoes run against. I prefer to run my grooves up from the bottom some 3/8 of an inch or so. I have never been to fond of rabbitted grooves. I guess that's because they never seem to be completely flush with the bottom for some reason, and when they are the bottom never sits in tight to the parts leaving gaps. It's the bottom of the box!! I realize this, but if I turn it over at some point to move it from here to there I will see that gap. I won't be happy.
After running my grooves I cut my bottom, dry fitted them all together and prepaired myself for the big glue up. I'd be using titebond ll for this project, as I do for all my projects. Some may wonder why I use titebond ll instead of the original. The box won't be subjected to the elements or anything. Well, the story is that we ran into a phase where we were doing a lot of bathrooms and I like to use it for them. Just incase the moisture from the shower causes problems or whatever. It became habit to buy that glue, and I can't afford titebond lll. I suppose none of that matters, I just thought I'd tell you anyway. Besides that, I'm writing a book here, not a story. Sheesh. LOL. I had purchased a few band clamps for gluing up frames and boxes, so this box would be assembled using them as well. I put glue on all the joints, wrapped the bands around the box and tightened them up. There it was. The basic box.
While the box dried I started making the jig for the joinery. I would be using dovetailed key miters for this particular project. I like slotted keyed miters and dovetailed key miters, but this box is pretty tall so I thought the dovetailed key miters would be more efficient. The jig I made would be able to slide in the track on my router table, as well as hold the box at a 45 degree angle to the table. I installed the dovetail bit I was using into the router table and adjusted it's height. To make my jig I just used mdf. I cut some 45 degree angles on the ends of a few of the pieces. These would hold my box. I attached them with pocket screws to an up right piece that would be running in the track. Once I had my jig assembled I ran it over the bit. I was now set up.


I had my distance set up on the jig for the top joinery only, so I ran those first. For the bottom joinery I had to shim it out from the jig. This is because my base moulding would be rabitted onto the box itself 1/4" and I wanted the top and bottom joinery details to be equal distance. So I made some 1/4" shims and set back up. While running it the box moved!!! I was only holding it by hand in order to speed things up a bit. I should have clamped it. It didn't move a lot, but one of the dovetails had to be widened a smidge. Gosh darn it, now I would have to make 2 different sized dovetail keys. Now, this isn't noticeable to anyone mind you, but I know it happened, and I learned my lesson. I guess that is one of the wonderful things about working wood. There will be mistakes, and if you can fix it without starting over then you're okay and you will have learned for the next project. I've seen, however, mistakes made that caused the creator to react by throwing or smashing the piece. I may have actually done this a time or two myself in the past, but have learned that it doesn't solve anything. To get over that anxiety I actually put a punching bag in my shop. If anyone feels aggressive just hit the bag. I do have a little sport though. We make cabinetry and if there's a mistake that will be harder to fix then replace I see how many times it takes to break completely when thrown up into the air and allowed to hit the floor. I won't say that my cabinets always last longer, but for the most part it takes a few tries to make the piece dumpster size. LOL. (it's done for fun and to enjoy the mistake, not be bummed the rest of the day) That's a different topic, and I'm sorry for straying. To make the dovetailed key miter inserts I just set up the table saw at the angle of the dovetail bit and make one cut all the way through. I then rotate the piece, adjust the fence and make a cut about an inch. I cut the fall off piece off with a handsaw and see if the piece fits. I trim accordingly. After it fits I only cut the piec far enough to make all the pieces. To push it all the way through could prove to be dangerous, and I'm never in the mood to eat a piece of wood. I of course had to reset up for the piece I made a mistake on. But I still had stock left over and simply moved the fence a tad. I was now ready to insert my pieces. To do this I put the piece in (glued) left long, then trim it off on the band saw. This speeds it up pretty quickly. After the glue dried I trimmed it even closer on the bandsaw and then sanded them the rest of the way off.
There was the box. Complete with joinery. Now was the time for the base. This part was relatively straight forward. I ripped my stock to width then ran the rabbit along one edge. Then, staying at the table saw, I chanfered the top edge to add detail. I wanted to be pretty simple on the detail to make the marquetry a little easier. The marquetry was to run from the bottom of the foot all the way up the box. Once that was done I set back up my miter guage with a sacrificial fence and the stops and cut my pieces. At this point came the detail. My girlfriend was there with me at the shop and I decided to let her help. She sanded the box while I made a template for the base detail. I let her draw the design on the cut pieces of base and then let her cut one on the bandsaw. I was going to let her do them all, but she got called away to do something else. I finished cutting the parts and sanded them on the oscilating sander. To get into the corners were the detail hits the straight part I used a file, then sanded the rest by hand. They were ready to put todether. I again used band clamps to put this together, but I made sure to put the box in the groove to help square things up and make sure it was tight to the box. I did not glue the base to the box at this point. After that dried I glued it to the box and clamped it all tight.

The next step would be the top…............................
 
#12 ·
kolwdwrkr;

This box is looking great!

Nice job of matching the grain, and the base details are very well designed.

The dovetailed keys look good.

I'm anxious to see the top

Good job;

Lee
 
#17 ·
the top

Now that the box was complete it was time to make the top. This part is fairly easy so I won't go on into a spill about it. My first step was to cut the pieces to width. After that I installed the dado set on the saw so I can cut my groove in the edge to house the panel. After running my groove I set up the miter gauge again with the sacrificial fence and cut my pieces to fit the leather. I decided that I needed to put an inlay in the top too. So, I ran a shallow groove on the inside of my pieces to allow for the inlayed border. After the parts were made I dry fitted them together and then proceeded with the final assembly. I glued the parts together and used the band clamp. After it dried I sanded it. I only want to sand it flat at this point so I used 120 grit sandpaper.
Now came the fun part. I decided to put some "bow ties" in for the joinery. I figured it would be a good compliment to the dovetailed keyed miters in the box. To make these I set up the router table with the dovetail bit. I raised the bit to a satisfactory height and pulled the fence forward. I ripped some stock on the table saw and started the set up. After centering the bit on the stock I ran it for the 4 passes it took to make the piece. I then cut them down to 3/8" thickness's. I set up the bosch colt palm router with a 1/8" bit. I set it's depth to 5/16". This way I could sand the pieces flush. I marked all of my corners using one of the pieces of inlay, then routed close to the line. Taking a Japanese chisel, I cut out the remaining material to my line. I glued and tapped the inlays into place and let them dry. Again I sanded everything flush first using 100 then went through the courses to 150. The top was almost complete. I just had to do the inlays….............

I am hiding one side of the top for a reason. We're not that far folks. LOL
 
#23 ·
the end

So the inlays are in, and the box is finished. I won't get into detail about anything. I don't think there was a huge interest in the narative so I won't continue the story. I thought it would be cool to drag it along, describe the step by step and take the reader through the same journey I went through. In the end it's just a box. Thanks for looking.







I hope everyone enjoyed. Have a happy day ;-)
 
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