Mini Japanese Tool-box

I apologize ahead of time for how long winded this post will be.

A friend of mine went to New Zealand for vacation and brought me back some small blocks of wood of varying species approximately 3”x3”x10”. In gratitude I decided to make him something and at the same time further hone my hand-tool skills. I decided on a miniature version of a traditional Japanese tool-box, with some modifications which I feel will add some strength and longevity to the piece. I chose to use the block of New Zealand Red Pine as it has a very nice grain and is not too hard, so it would not be too difficult to work with hand-tools.

I began by rough cutting 5/16” slabs off of the original block and then rough and finish planing them with a smoothing plane and bench-hook to a 1/4” thickness (this would have been much easier if I owned a thickness planer). I then squared up all of the edges on my shooting board and began dimensioning the pieces and laying out the joinery. As you can see I used double through M&T for attaching the ends to the sides which were cut with Japanese pull saw, and chisels. If the project were not so small I would have wedged the tenons, however it was not necessary for a project of this size. The bottom of the box is composed of three rabbeted panels riding in 1/8” dadoes I cut by auguring out most of the waste and then cleaning up the sides and bottom with chisels.

The 4 pieces on the top are secured with glue and dowels. The dowel are 3/16” and were cut by first making 3”x3/16”x3/16” stock and then clamping my jack plane in the vice upside down and shaping the pieces until they were as close to round as i could get them. I feel that this is the weakest part of the entire design. If any one has any suggestions on a better way I could attach them in the future please let me know. Keep in mind that all of the peices must be flush with the top of the sides of the box otherwise the lid would not be able to self-wedge and slide closed properly.

The finished dimensions are 8-1/2”x2-5/16”x2-1/4”, and the finish is 3 coats of hand-rubbed tung oil.

The best aspect of this box design is the self wedging action of the lid which keeps it tightly closed without the aid of any hardware. When I began this project I did not know this and had started to install some rare-earth magnets, until I found out that they were not necessary.

Tools used on the this project are:
Band saw (Initial rough cutting of slabs only)
Japanese pull saw
Jack plane
Shoulder plane
Smoothing plane
Mortising and paring chisels
Hand auger
Card scraper
Try square
Marking knife
Mortising gauge

Thanks for baring with with me during this long post.

-- -...(insert inspiring phrase /quote)