First Attempt At Building Boxes

I decided to make use of short pieces of figured maple and walnut I had around the shop by turning them into boxes (made 4 of them for my wife, daughters, and myself).
Turned out to be a challenge (but fun) for a number of reasons-

1) Had to build a 45 degree crosscut sled for the mitered sides and zero clearance inserts for my table saw to keep the small pieces from falling into the “black hole” in the factory supplied insert.
2) Followed the instructions in several articles in Fine Woodworking and milled the side pieces to 3/8 inch (Doug Stowe’s articles were the inspiration). Then found out all my sources of box hinges were 1/2 inch, so had to redesign the tops to eliminate the hinges. (Thank you to the LJ’s that suggested new sources of hinge supplies with 3/8 inch ones-in response to my recent post.)
3) Unlike larger cabinets and furniture pieces I’ve built, working with small pieces of wood near table saw blades and router bits is really scary! My next boxes will be fabricated using more jigs/fixtures with safety features that keep my fingers away from things that can eat them.
4) Sides are walnut, tops figured maple, and handles are leopardwood.
5) Finish is several coats of shellac (starting with a 1lb cut, and moving up to a 2lb cut), rubbed out with steel wool and then waxed.

I’m already planning my next series of boxes, hopefully more decorative. The Caver’s (FL) recent box projects posterd are very beautiful-and a great inspiration.

Don’t know about the rest of you, but when I begin a project my wife always asks me what I’m building a piece for. In the case of the boxes, I told her I was designing them for “stuff”-LOL!

-- Gerry