Bandsawn Boxes

Hi Jeff.

I’m surprised by the lack of response you’ve gotten so far, so I’ll add my $0.02 worth.

I’m nearing the end of building my first and last bandsaw boxes. I started two of them on a bit of a whim before Valentines Day (you guessed it, they’re heart-shaped.) I made two of them in different woods, one for each of my kids to give to their mom (lucky her, she gets two!).

They were roughed out by Valentines Day. But are not yet finished though I have done a decent job of sticking to the project the best I can as a hobbiest woodworker. It seems to me that to make these with any efficiency, you have to do a lot of power sanding. I’m using hand planes, spokeshaves, and scrapers as much as I can. But my work-holding for planing the faces of small pieces is poor, so I’m having to sand more than I’d like. I’ve glued a piece under the cover so that the cover seats in the correct position on top of the box. Along with gluing the bottom onto the box that makes for a lot of saw marks to remove, and flattening up of faces of boards before they can be glued.

As to your question about end grain, I think we’re just supposed to ignore that.

I like to use hand tools where sensible, and sand as little as possible. And bandsaw boxes don’t seem to fit with my methods of work. Perhaps a wiser LJ will tell me a smarter to build these.

-- johnjoiner

Thanks John. Yeah, I thought the replies would flood in on this topic. With all of the Holiday and Valentine Boxes posted, it’s been a hot project. Where you at Bob?!? Can’t believe you’d miss a “little box” thread! haha! I think he’s mentioned he like making boxes once or twice! :)

Anyways, I’m debating cutting a thin veneer to hide the end grain. Maybe not. I think I’ll leave it this time and see how the results turn out. I decided to go pretty basic on the shaping this go around for the experience. There is a more complex design I want to copy for the next project. I had to get a finer blade as well today. Can’t get too small a radius with a 3/4”. Decided to use a 1/4” as it is fairly versatile. I might need an 1/8” but we’ll see.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

The answer is machine sanding – particularily on the end grain. There are others on the list who know a lot more than I do about bandsaw boxes. I’ve built a few, and they all turned out well but I spent a lot of time at the spindle, belt and palm sanders. I also have a couple of kids that I’m teaching and they made boxes for Christmas presents as well. If you’re using open grained wood – like Oak – you may want to use some sort of filler befor sanding. You can make some beautiful boxes on the bandsaw.

-- Bruce from Central New York

I’m a dummy. I’ll start by saying I’m happy I made a cheap white oak blank as a trial before cutting into the exotic blank I’ve prepped. The process is very simple, yet I managed to be “simpler”. For some reason that I can’t fathom, I decided to cut the sides prior to the top and bottom. Not the best way for a glue-up. Oh well, live and learn. Since I’m going to use dye and galze eventually, I’m hoping it will blend to those that are unaware. These are fun, gotta try some more.

-- Jeff, South Carolina