Chet 685 Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 I have had this idea of building a small box, like something you would keep small items, maybe jewelry or other bobbles, and using smaller boxes as lids for some of the compartments. Woodworking is probably to the point where anything you think up has probably been done and I am sure this is one of them. This will be my spin on whoever had this idea first. The bottom box will be about about 7 inches deep 12 inches wide and 2 1/4 inches high and have five compartments. I am using a technique for cutting the wood that will create a grain match wrap around at all four corners of the box. This is being built as a prototype so I am using mostly shorts from the lumber rack, and by the time I decided to do a journal I had already milled and cut pieces to rough lengths. Here are the parts and they were when I decided to do the journal. Stacked back to front are - two pieces for dividers, two pieces to make the smaller boxes, four pieces (because I had already started to cut to size) for the main box, two panels for box bottoms and two pieces for tops. Next thing was to cut an 1/8 groove on all for side pieces to hold the bottom panel and an 1/8 inch rabbet around the top edges for the eventual tops. I did this with a single dado blade in the table saw, set at a hight of 1/8 inch. After this I cut the pieces to final length with the miter gauge. I set the stop to 12 inches and cut the long pieces first. Then adding a 5 inch block against the stop, I cut my 7 inch end pieces. Using the block makes it possible to leave the stop on the miter gauge in one spot until everything is done because depending on how things get laid out for the grain match you may ned to cut your pieces in an alternating fashion, long, short, long, short. Also when I go to cut my miters the block comes in to play again to keep things accurate. Thats all for today, more tomorrow. 4 Quote “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” John Wooden Link to post Share on other sites
Coop 627 Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 To get the grain match all the way around, did you resaw the boards for the sides? i like your idea about the spacer. Darn, you did get the nuts to fit in your miter gauge! I guess I’d better get back to the grinder! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chet 685 Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 19 minutes ago, Coop said: To get the grain match all the way around, did you resaw the boards for the sides? Yes. Maybe I can do a Photo demonstration of the process. Its pretty simple once you see it. Quote “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” John Wooden Link to post Share on other sites
Coop 627 Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Maybe for others but, yes please. That’s the way I do it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Woodenskye (Bryan) 462 Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Will follow along! Not 100% sure but I thought I saw Matt Kenny do something like this in his 52 boxes in 52 weeks book. Now I have a question, you cut the long sides at 11” then added a 5” block for cutting 7” pieces. Was this a typo or California math? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Coop 627 Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 (edited) Probably to allow for the miter cuts? Had second thoughts but could not delete this. Edited January 21 by Coop Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chet 685 Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 2 hours ago, Woodenskye (Bryan) said: Not 100% sure but I thought I saw Matt Kenny I took a class on box building taught by Matt, that is were I learned the techniques. 2 hours ago, Woodenskye (Bryan) said: Now I have a question, you cut the long sides at 11” My mistake it should have been 12". Quote “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” John Wooden Link to post Share on other sites
Jamie 535 Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Great tip with the spacer block, will be using that one Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chet 685 Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Next thing I did was layout where all the "V" grooves would be for the dividers. In the picture I had already cut the two side pieces. I line up the tip of my bit with the line on my work piece on he router table. Doing set ups like this is where I am real happy I have the Incra fence with the micro adjust, it makes this process a lot easier. Even though I use my miter gauge for this operation I add an extra solid fence (blue) so the piece doesn't accidentally get snagged on the gap in the stock fence. This was one of the dividers pieces cutting groove. When I do the box sides, two of them I have to do a drop to start the groove because I don't want to have the "V" showing on the bottom of the box. I drop it on, just inside the groove for the bottom panel. I make an X on the ends that I want against the fence, by doing this I make sure that even if my set up is a fuzz off the two "V" grooves will still be aligned when things get glued up. I also put the X's against the stop block for the first cut when making my miter cuts later in the project. This is done also to keep the grooves aligned. With the miter sled stop block set up I cut the miters on the long pieces first. Then using the 5 inch spacer block I cut the small pieces. Next I cut my bottom panel to size. Using my dado blade I cut a rabbet on all four sides of the panel. The rabbet is 1/8 inch and 3/16 deep this gives me a 1/8 inch tongue all the way around the panel. I align all my joints and put blue tape on them for the glue up. I use a straight edge while doing this, it make it a lot easier to keep the edges lined up. The panel fits in the groove like this. The panel is 5/16 of an inch thick, the groove is 1/8 of an inch up from the bottom of the box side pieces. So this give me 1/16 of an inch reveal on the bottom of the box so the box looks like it is floating when it is in its upright orientation. When everything is glued up the bottom panel looks like this. 5 Quote “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” John Wooden Link to post Share on other sites
Bushwacked 350 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 haha just found this one after I commented on the other 🙂 ... looking great!! Sweet looking sacrificial fence you got there. What all can it do? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chet 685 Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 1 hour ago, Bushwacked said: Sweet looking sacrificial fence you got there. What all can it do? It is a design that I got from Bob Van Dyke. It is generally referred to as a "L" fence. It has two other fences that you can attach for working with large panels on the table saw. He has some videos up on the Fine Woodworking website demonstrating some of its uses. Quote “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” John Wooden Link to post Share on other sites
pkinneb 131 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 2 hours ago, Chet said: It is a design that I got from Bob Van Dyke. It is generally referred to as a "L" fence. It has two other fences that you can attach for working with large panels on the table saw. He has some videos up on the Fine Woodworking website demonstrating some of its uses. I made the base and love it I need to add the L fence to the list 🙂 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chet 685 Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 After the glue dried on the box, I started the gluing in the dividers. First I had to cut them to the final height, and don't you know, I didn't double check my fence and cut the first one to short. A little glue and tape and all is good. After I got the goof out of the way, I got back to getting the dividers in. After that was finished up I started laying out the small box parts. On these the grain will line up across the front, the two outside sides and across the back of the three small boxes. I cut the box fronts and backs to size using relative dimensioning because the center box was about a fat 1/32 of an inch wider then the other two. But the process is the same as the big box. After those were glued up I cut the lids to size. Then chamfered the lids and boxes back at the router table. This is where we are right now. I need to come up with a design for the lid handles next. 6 Quote “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” John Wooden Link to post Share on other sites
Woodenskye (Bryan) 462 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 A half circle depression with a piece of ebony would look good. Otherwise great work Chet! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jamie 535 Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Very nice! Awesome fit! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chet 685 Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 I was away from this project for a while. Then I went to post these final pictures and was having a problem that required the web designer to come to the rescue. I made some handles for the lids out of cherry like the rest of the box but they seem to get lost because they were too similar to the rest of the wood. So I went with birds eye maple to add some contrast. I sanded everything to 400 because I was going to use several really thin coats of shellac as the finish. This is something I have been wanting to try for a while, it took 7 coats to get it to the luster I wanted. Even though the shellac drys supper fast I let it sit a day and then went over it real lightly with a gray Scotch Brite pad. This gives it a super smooth feel. A couple of final pictures. A couple of pictures of ht back side grain wrap. This was a project to try some ideas I had and that part of the project came out well. There were some things I wasn't happy with. - The grain of the wood I used wasn't great, but I was expecting this because I was using stuff that I had on hand and it wasn't ideal. Next time I will go with more straight grain. Something small like this project, I think, looks better with a grain choice that is simple and clean. The other way is to go with something that is pretty wild like Babinga or Curly Maple. Anything in between can be troublesome. The handles were a dud. I think they are too large, maybe to long too. I wish I had reacted to this before the glue dried so I could of still removed them and come up with something better. Also when I applied the shellac they took on the appearance of being dirty and blotchy. 5 Quote “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” John Wooden Link to post Share on other sites
Woodenskye (Bryan) 462 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 Nice work Chet! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pkinneb 131 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 Great job on the matches Chet!! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kev 1,125 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 Nice job! I wouldn't call the handles a "dud".. It's an interesting twist (no pun intended) and at least it's something different! Credit for trying something different! As you look at them over time, you'll find some refinements that you like and try it again. Nothing wrong with them is they are a part of any project that's a personal choice! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Coop 627 Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 Before your last posted pics, I still wasn’t featuring how this would look. But the back boxes being lids for the back section is a novel idea! Great looking project and execution! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jamie 535 Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 What a neat project! Great tips throughout the build. Thank you for sharing! Love the look of it! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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