Aha! Box

This little box was my first recent attempt at hand cut dovetails. The design came from the book “Puzzle Projects for Woodworkers” by Allan J. Boardman.

It is made from Ebony, which is very hard to work due to it’s brittleness and hardness, so probably not the best wood to practice hand work on. The inner side panels are Brazillian Cherry because I had some that was 1/8” thick. Outside measurements are 2 3/4 X 1 7/8 X 1 1/2 inches.

Note the knot on the top. The knot is not the secret to the box, though it is close to it. The secret is in the book!

I sawed the parts and dovetails with the new set of small Japanese saws that my wife gave me for Christmas. Then squared them up with hand planes and a shooting board. The inside of the dovetails were too small for my smallest chisel, so I ground an old 1/4” chisel down to 1/8 inch. The dovetails on the first corner are a sloppy fit. Each set got a little better and the fourth set fit much better than the first.

I glued the corners with epoxy to fill some of the gap. Then fitted the bottom and glued it in with CYA. Then sanded the outside on my oscillating belt sander, filling the remaining dovetail gaps by applying CYA and sanding while it was still wet. Several passes at this on each side filled in all the dovetail gaps. Of course, had I done a better job cutting the dovetails this wouldn’t be necessary.

-- Always do the Right Thing the Right Way the First Time - if you can figure out what that is! Ken, Spring Branch, TX