Grandpa's Box #1: Halfway

Bill
We lost Kristin’s Grandpa Bill on June 13th. I have more to say about him when I post the final project. For now, I will say we miss him very much.

I volunteered to make an urn for his ashes. The memorial is on Saturday, so I am on a timetable.

Take One
I read Gary Rogowski’s great Fine Woodworking article on mitered boxes and then SketchedUp a basic plan based on the size of box that the memorial home requested.

I originally intended to make the box from a pine board I got at Grandpa’s house.

I chewed it up with my initial attempts to make the mitered box.

So I invested some time making two jigs. A miter sled and a cradle for cutting miter keys based on the article.
Take Two
I picked out a board from the stash. Quartersawn white oak.

The box dry fit. 6” x 10” x 5.5” inches tall. 1/4” bottom.

I sanded and pre-finished the inside and bottom of the box with shellac.

Once it was taped on three corners I opened the box and applied the glue.

Taped and Clamped up.

Keys
After the box dried overnight, I planned out the miter key pattern. They are placed an inch from top and bottom and directly in the middle. Time to run the cradle.

I planed walnut down to 1/8”, ripped it, and busted out the dozuki.

Dry fitting the keys

I applied glue with a toothpick.

You can see my favorite knot here. Gnarly.

A little persuasion to get the keys to sit.

The keys are set and drying here.

A couple hours later I sawed the keys down.

I planed down the keys with a block plane. After two corners I decided to call it quits till tomorrow.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne