100% Hand Tool Candle Box

This small candle box is my first project using all hand tools. I made this project mainly to increase my accuracy and skills with hand tools. And since I have only cut dovetails one other time, I figured this would be a quick little project to practice cutting them. The box sides and ends are made of alder that was resawn from 4/4 stock then planed smooth to just a bit over 3/8”. The top and bottom are 1/4” reclaimed southern yellow pine both of which are fit into 1/4” grooves. The grooves were made by defining the edges with my cutting gauge and then plowed out with a 1/4” chisel until I reached the desired depth. Dovetails were all cut with the $14 gents dovetail saw from woodcraft. The saw originally had something like 23 tpi, so I filed it down to a 12 tpi and removed all the set from the teeth. The saw leaves an incredibly small kerf so it works really well with small dovetails such as these. Then the majority of the waste between tails and pins was removed with a coping saw then finished off with a chisel. I have left the box unfinished for now but in the future I may decide to put a couple of coats of Danish oil on it. Dimensions: 10 5/8” long x 4” wide x 4” tall. Thanks for looking everyone!

-- Cody - Salt Lake City, UT