LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner
300K views 139 replies 60 participants last post by  Don 
#1 ·
Getting Started

I blogged a couple of weeks ago about what I should charge for a small box I was asked to make.

I thought that those of you who haven't delved into the wonderful world of box making might like to journey along with me as I make this commissioned box. I was given the outside dimension for the box, as the owner intends to place it in a chest of drawers, so it must fit the size constraints of the drawer. The box will be 95mm high x 360mm wide x 240mm deep (approximately 3.75" x 14" x 9.5").

I have selected a wood I've had in my stock for some time. I'm not absolutely certain, but I believe it to be Northern Queensland Lacy Oak.

The joinery will be miters with splines. The lid will be a frame and panel with a Burl veneered.

Below I've milled the box walls to approximately 1/2" thickness, cut the pieces to length and mitered the ends.


Here I'm clamping the Victoria Ash trim to the lid frames.


After the glue has dried, I plane with a small Stanley adjustable mouth block plane and finish with a scraper.



This shows that I've decided to add trim to the inside of the frame to highlight the veneered insert panel. I've also cut the rebate to hold the veneered panel using my router table.


Before cutting for the spline I glued up the lid frame. The box in the foreground is not yet glued up.


Then I used this miter spline jig to cut for the insertion of a spline.


Here you see the lid glued up with the splines inserted and glued. The box is only dry fitted at this point.


This final shot today shows the box being glued up. I use two picture frame clamps to apply even pressure to the miters. Note that I have stained and inserted the base of the box. The base is 'trapped' in a rebate, but not glued. I have found that installing the base this way when using mitered joinery helps to keep the corners square and stop the miter joint from creeping when the glue is drying.


This represents about eight hours of work thus far. More pictures in a few days when I progress.
 
See less See more
9
#4 ·
Don;

Absolutely beautiful ! The splines in the miters are larger then I'm used to seeing, and I love it.

It really stands out nicely. Also, as Bob pointed out, the trim added to the lid will make the burk really stand out.

You are going to end up making me build some small wooden boxes, I've had all I can stand, seeing how beautiful they can be!

I hope you're happy! One more hobby to use up my spare time! LOL

I hope you get this done quickly, so I can see the final project photo's.

Also, as Douglas mentioned the jig you used for the splines deserves some explaining.

Lee
 
#5 ·
Boy, Don, you not only love small wooden boxes, you do a darn good job of making them! That wood is going to be pretty outstanding when you get some finish on it. Outstanding design! I can't wait to see the finished product. Hurry up, will ya!!
Tom
 
#15 ·
This is one of the reasons that I joined Lj.com so that I could learn knew things and get ideas to try myself. Don your pictures say a lot and your box look great, the contrast in colors is cool and I would like to use your ideas to come up with something for myself. Great work.
 
#20 ·
Just wonderful Don! I'm so behind on everyone's blogs I have a lot of reading to do. This is great instruction, and would sure make a great Cyber Skill Share episode! hint hint
 
#22 ·
I'm starting my first small box, and about to start glue up. Any advice on aligning grain direction to make hand planing easier?

I am in the midst of making a wood whisperer cutting board (my 1st wood working project) and I try to generally keep the end grain directions the same. Any tips (outside of a sharp plane)?
 
#25 ·
Spline Jig

In my opinion, one of the most difficult joints to make is a miter joint. Although they are very attractive, they have almost no inherent strength, and require a high degree of accuracy to get all four corners of a box or frame to meet without gaps. To ensure that they remain closed, I use a spline of some design to strengthen the joint.

A number requested additional information on the Miter Spline Jig I use when making boxes. I can't take credit for the design of this jig, but for the life of me, I can't remember where I got the idea; perhaps a magazine or maybe a woodworking buddy.

It's very simple in concept; a carrier that allows me to pass the mitered corner of a box or box lid over the table saw blade at 45 degrees. I think the close-up pictures speak for themselves. The jig is crudely made, but the right-angle is dead accurate. I've been using this for about four years. Perhaps someday I will make one that looks like it belongs in Shop Notes; NOT. LOL







Here I have just cut two spline slots in the four corners of the previously glued up box body. The blade is tilted to ten degrees and the box was flipped so that the slots angled in opposite directions. The splines will be cut from American Maple and will be one saw curf wide. I will also use American Maple to make the trays that will fit into the box - but that's a few blogs away yet.



A close-up of the spline slots.

 
#51 ·
Lid and Trays

This past week has been less productive than I would have liked. I've been struggling with a flue, thus operating at less than full capacity.

I worked in the shop last Wednesday, and took some pictures showing the installation of the splines in the spline slots shown in my previous episode of Making a Small Wooden Box. Unfortunately, my photo card was corrupted, so I lost all of those pictures.

Today, I will show you the continuation of making the lid and a start on one of the trays.

David has done a great job of showing veneering, so I don't plan to go into any details on that here. This picture shows my lid panel 'sandwich' being glued up in my manual vacuum press. If you look very closely, you will see two cauls that make up the 'bread' of the sandwich, in between which is a layer of veneer, 3mm MDF and another layer of veneer. I left the sandwich in the press overnight.



Now I move on to the tray components. I plan to install fixed dividers in the bottom layer of the box interior. The dividers will serve as the shelf to hold two smaller trays in the top layer. I've chosen American Maple with a slight 'bird's eye' affect. The trays will be lined with velvet and one or two compartments will feature ring holders. (Pictures of these in a few more episodes.)

Below are the tray-sides cut ready for additional milling. The saw blade has left some burns, but these will be removed during sanding.



The next two close-ups show one of the ways I use the Grrr-Ripper. I commented in Dick's blog about this tool that I find invaluable for milling small box pieces. The first picture shows the tray side being passed by a round-over bit on my router table and the second shows me cutting a rebate for the tray bottom on the tablesaw. I can't think of a safer way to do this. You might note that the piece is 'trapped' between the fence of the router table and the bottom 'stabilizer plate' of the Gripper. It can't go anywhere. Also, the side of the gripper is registered against the Router Table Fence, not the work-piece. This prevents 'snipe' from occurring which is the bane of milling small pieces on the Router Table.





The picture below shows the veneered panel inserted into the lid frame and the tray being glued up. (Please excuse the focus.)



I tend to pre-finish my boxes with Pure Tung Oil as I progress. I find this much easier than trying to reach into awkward corners and contending with a flapping hinged lid. I need to take care that I don't apply any oil to surfaces that will be glued.

Below are two more pictures of the box. Hinges will not be applied until the last stage of making this box.





Add another 12 hours of shop time.

I know this is a fairly slow pace, but remember, each step is only performed once or a few times. This is not production run stuff, so one has to carefully think through each step, measure twice and cut once. The old adage, 'haste makes waste' is very applicable to woodworking, and sometimes a mistake means starting all over because of stock limitations, etc. For example, I have no more of the primary wood used in the box. Mess up now, and it would force me to start all over with a different wood.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top