my first blog ever/ how I made the round box.

Due to popular demand I’m attempting my very first blog for those who wanted to see how I put together my round box. I’ve had a couple of 30” sections of a column left over from a remodeling job I did over 10 yrs. ago. I always knew I’d find a use for them. First step is to rip them in half. I’d recommend a sled or an extra rail on the table saw to ensure straight cuts. They’re too thick and need to be thinned down. The best way I’ve found to do this is to use your table saw as a planer. I didn’t figure this out until after I had used a hand held circular saw on the first one. Had to remove the base to get enough depth and make about 50 plunge cuts every ¼ inch then remove what’s left with a gouge. But that’s dangerous so don’t even think about it.

I missed some photo ops during the marking and cutting the veneers. When I’m using multiple pieces of the same shape I always like to make a template of heavy gauge sheet metal for marking. Heavy duty scissors worked great for cutting the red wood but with the maple it chipped and tore the edges even with it taped. Speaking of tape, if your veneer is not paper backed, you have to tape it. On the finished side. Just use plain yellow masking tape. 2 reasons for this. It holds the wood together especially when cutting smaller pieces and it protects the surface from glue smears and scratches during the build. I even tape the paper backed stuff for this reason.
If you decide to build one of these, since it gets wrapped in veneer, be creative and choose your own design or pattern. I’m already thinking of something different for the next one. It’s time consuming gluing so many pieces. Aprox 15 min. set time per piece. But there’s always other pieces to cut while you wait. Notice the band and wedge I used for clamping. If you do this be sure to use a piece of plastic or wax paper in between to keep from gluing the band to the box.

For the knob, I cut a sheet metal template and bent it the basic shape I wanted. Take a cut piece (not taped), wet it down good, clamp it to the bent metal and dry it with a heat gun. (or a blow dryer.) I think a curling iron might work for this. I don’t own a curling iron for obvious reasons. Curl a few more of the proper size changing the grain directions to glue to the underside of the flap. So basically you’re making a small piece of plywood under the flap about 1/8”. I was amazed at how strong this was. No bending or flexing whatsoever.

I think this covers most everything of relevance. If anyone has questions I’ll try to answer them

-- J.C.Sellers