Bandsaw Boxes

These are bandsaw boxes made using the patterns in Lois Keener Ventura’s book “Beautiful Bandsaw Boxes”. The first one is called “Lotus”, the second “Cetacean Migration” and the third “Airborne”. All the boxes are made from solid cherry with maple handles.

While these boxes are an eye catcher (all my friends are impressed), they are also a very good way to improve your bandsawing skills. “Lotus” is a little hard to execute but the other boxes in the book are reasonably accessible. You do need an 14” bandsaw and a small blade mounted (3/16” preferably). There is a lot of sanding involved but the final result makes it worthwhile.

The “Lotus” box was a gift for my wife (10th wedding anniversary). Since then I cannot give her any wood gift since it would pale in comparison to this box.

Most of the surface of the boxes can be sanded using a oscillating sander (I use the Ridgid oscillating sander that oscillates a full belt not only a spindle). For the twisted curves of “Lotus” you have to send by hand though.

It took me a long time to figure out how to efficiently sand such thick wood. What I found to work reasonably is wetting the surface with paint thinner and sanding until all thiner is removed. This way you make sure you touched the entire surface. If care is not taken, you will discover when you apply finish that you have scratch marks all over the place.

After cutting the curves on these boxes with the bandsaw, any other curves you have to cut will seem simple. One thing to keep in mind when you make the cut is that it is more important not to have jiggling in the curve rather than follow the pattern precisely (nobody will know where the pattern lines were anyway and the boxes will be unique if you make small variations). You have to resist the temptation to make sharp corrections to the curve. You also have to learn to read the tangent to the curve and to push the wood directly into the blade. I noticed that I have a tendency to push sideways the blade which results in burned wood and uncontrollable cutting. You have to avoid stopping as much as possible (cut as much of the curve in a single breath) in order to avoid a lot of sanding or marks that are hard to remove (for the inside drawers).

You can use scrap wood to make the block for the box but, if you want a good result, use a single board that is carefully folded upon itself. “Eye” patterns will form on the side that make the box look more interesting.

These boxes require a lot of wood and a lot of glue (not to mention endless sanding) but I think the result is worth it.

There are some tutorials on the web that give more details about how to build these boxes:
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/buildsawbox
http://www.shopsmithhandson.com/archives/jan_feb_05/html/money_maker.htm

You can buy Lois Keener Ventura’s book from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Building-Beautiful-Boxes-Your-Band/dp/1558705228

I hope you will try to build some of these boxes.

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida