Box-making with lumberjocks

I like the looks of this box. The beveled edge on the lid and the different sized keys add nice details to the box. You chose a nice wood combination as well and made good use of the “free” butternut. I think that most of us would love to find a source of this kind of wood. :)

-- Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Joshua Marine

Nicely Done, my Friend!!

-- Mike in Concord, NH---Unpleasant tasks are simply worthy challenges to improve skills.

Very pretty box!

-- Rowdy in Kechi, Kansas

A very nice looking box and really like them grain

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

That’s a nice one. BZ

-- Dudley Young USN Retired. Sebastian, Fl.

A super box with great wood a nice design

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

That’s really nice. Thanks for sharing. If you don’t mind me asking, how do you go about gluing up the 4 mitered sides of the box. The joints look very nice.

I’m also hearing from other folks in regards to how you assemble boxes with mitered corners. That’s an area of my woodworking that needs some improvement!

Thanks!

-- Build for the joy of it!

I love butternut, and the figured bloodwood really adds a great touch. Very nicely done.

-- John @ http://www.thehuffordfurnituregroup.com

Thanks for all the kind comments. First, credit where credit is due. This design was shamelessly stolen from coloradoclimber. Here’s the link: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/19540

SEE, I battled with gluing mitered corners for a while. Those belt/strap clamp thingies are awful. So I built a jig with a base of plywood about 12×18. Then I attached two pieces of wood standing on edges to the base at exactly 90 degrees. The pieces are 90 degrees compared to the base and to each other. I use the corner created as something to clamp against using regular clamps, ensuring that the box is dead-on square.

Fantastic box. Great wood choices. The details in the slanted edge lid and keys is a very pleasing efect.

You might try tapeing your corners. Have had very good luck with that method. Just lay your board out in straight line, outside up, run masking tape down your corners (a couple of layers) flip, add glue and “roll” up. The tape will hold your corners square and pull them tightly together. There is a blog on this site but will have to look for it.

Again, Fantastic box. Keep it up.

Scrappy

-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!

Thanks, Scrappy. I’ll try that technique.

-- Build for the joy of it!

I did try the tape technique, and it’s good as long as you can ensure everything stays square. After a few that were a tad off, I built the jig to get rid of both the clamping and the squaring issues.