Wrap-around Box - My First Veneering Torture

The original name: POINT TO POINT as in my blog series on how I designed and up to final work. Take a time to back track on it if you have not followed it. Quite interesting because the posts were fresh from the time I made it till I finished.

This is made of veneers that are leftovers and I dont have any idea what wood are they. The base board is a Malaysian brown specie of tropical Lauan (not sure because it is also recycled). The lips are medium hard… the Balitadtad – a local wood that I ask from a junkshop confirming the wood came from a hundred year old house.
Therefore, nothing I spent on the wood materials. What a saving ha!!!

Veneering – The veneers I use were so thin, comes into roll with width 2 inches is the most and some were coated with contact cement. As you can see, it was also good that I manage to allign the grain just like a rising sun extending the grain from center to outward portion. The process is quite tiring because I have to cut one at a time.

Miter Jointing – At first I thought Martyn’s (Britboxmaker) way of miter joint was easy. It was difficult because I don’t have the proper jig. I manage to do it by using the portable router and place a guide board to cut a 45 degree bevel. It is good that I was able to have a perfect edge or tip of the router bit. I just realize now that the bit was just incidental ... IT WAS NOT A ROUTER BIT BUT A COUNTERSUNK BIT I BOUGHT … I also followed how Martyn made preparation for the lid lips undercut prior assembly.. Well, I am glad that Martyn told me that I had marked it outside face…

Rabetting – I called this method as David’s (Patron) dadoo. He had blog some of his boxes making the side in a dadoo form… actually, rabetting the all of the end side of the box that were still open should have been done prior assembly however, I was expecting some errors. I used straght bits and rout the edges… I had been doing this method quite often so I can ride the router base in just one hand to a 1/4 thick of rail. All you need is to maintain the perpendicular push of the router and maintain the closeness of the router guide to the sidewall. The front and rear (or left and right) side was done by rabetting thereafter the veneering was done. Of course prior assembly, I have to route the lid undercut.

Cutting the LID – Called SOS in doing so. I almost give up because it was hard to cut the wood. I left a .5 mm thick but it was still tight.. Manage to cut it using a knife with slight hammering just like using a chisel.

Lipping – Ripped oversized lip using the router 45 degree and saw it. Glued and then route to shape. Planing by hand was useful on the lid lips. I have my smallest plane I bought in London… a 2 inch rabbetting plane. The blade is just 1 inch. Easier to control. The Balitadtad wood is really nice to work with.

Sanding – The effort of manual sanding is worth on veneers. Though, I mad a run of portable oscilating sander only on the last pass of 400 grade.

Finishing – I go with pure POLYURETHANE gloss finish. I apply so thick in it that I cannot recall how many coats I applied. As you can see on the photos the finish is not so good… you can see bubbles. I have to admit that this was the intention. Coat it plenty because I need to protect the veneer on its first 7 days to cure the glue and poly. This will prevent excessive movement of the wood. By Saturday, I have to sand it again and apply the lasting finish.

So that was it. Just look at the photo.#1 and #2 – Agnes was very artistic to take the final photo with a mirror background. You can see the bottom of it.

Size of the box: 3-1/2×7 x 7 inches..

LASTLY, I want to thank those LJs who had inspired me to do this. Special thanks to: Martyn, David, Rand (for giving a gift that help me a lot—straight spiral router bits… without those, this will be impossible) and furthermore Sheila who inspired me on her nice words and Paul who is the one who let me try veneering for the first time …

I hope you enjoy looking at this as I am enjoying the success of doing this torturing effort.

God bless.

Bert

- There is a big difference between words and action… but the one who say the word and do the action will always be the same.

-- Bert