Red Box - practice

Not the best of boxes by a long shot but it was fun and the practice always helps.

It started life as practice making finger (box) joints on the router table using Rockler jig. Those worked okay for the first try so I continued cutting and made four sides…

I had a left over “log” from my Wood Wisperer end grain cutting board. I sliced off eighth inch strips and glued to a piece of ply for a top. I used Rockler thin strip jig on table saw. That worked very nice. You’ve seen that pattern a hundred times… just another application… {sides are dyed poplar, top is maple and purpleheart with poly.}

Then, Woodsmith magazine came in the mail and it had an article for Keepsake box with a procedure for cutting off a lift off lid. So, I decided to try that method instead of hinged lid; not the best of ideas with finger joint corners but I got a nice fitting lid.

When assembled everything came out square in all planes… that always surprises me.

I had water-based dyes left over… you guess it… I poured all into a cup and it came out this red color… not the best, but since I was using up scrap wood and getting rid of liquids… I used it. The Mrs rather laughed at me… it was suppose to match the bedroom drapes…. which are in the picture background… duh…

In the meantime, Fernando posed his boxes with the link: StevinMarin´s youtube video I liked his procedure for cutting the top a bit better than the Woodsmith article since it was all router table based, not table saw.

Other notes: I experienced wood movement… when gluing the thin strips top, they bowed instantly when glue was applied to one side only due to the direction of grain. The previously glued edges in the “log” held up real well in thin strip cutting, dropping on floor, etc. The wood (especially the purpleheart) will break before the glue joint.

Overall, it was too hot to be outside and the A/C in basement worked fine.

-- Al H. - small shop, small projects...