RogerBoyle Box WIP completed

[RogerBoyle]

Here is my WIP on the box for the competition
But I must confess to never having done a small box before and it is also my first WIP on a forum.
What I did do though is take this opportunity to use techniques that I had always fancied trying but had never got around to doing
Make my own inlay, Hinges, Handle, Dovetail splines and line the box

So on with the build
For my box I decided to use only what I had got lying around
And that included the hardware as you will see further on in the thread
So the first thing to decide on was the wood
I have a small stock pile of off cuts and decorative woods and had a bit of a rummage but couldn’t make my mind up what timber to use in the end I shut my eyes and grabbed two pieces of timber.
Oak and Meranti LOL even then I still wasn’t happy so decided to add some Mahogany

 

[RogerBoyle]

First job was to run the timber through the planer and clean up the face and edge then on to the bandsaw to cut them down to 15mm. after this they were put through the Planner/Thicknesser and brought down to 11mm as it looked about right to me.

Next up was cutting them to rough length and mitring the edges on all 4 of the sides these would later be fine-tuned at the disc sander to ensure they fit perfectly

Next on the list was to rebate the top and bottom for a lid and a base. The lid would be book matched oak and the base was 6mm ply Unfortunately I didn’t have any 3mm ply This I did with a quick pass through the spindle moulder rather than the router as it already had the block in it LOL.

After this it was a simple case of adding masking tape to back of the sides adding glue and then checking the diagonals for square.
In the photos you will see that I never used any clamps there really was no need as the masking tape was more than strong enough to hold things in place.
As this was drying I got to work on the top by partially edge jointing the two boards of oak after an hour in the clamps I started to sand it. I started with 240 and took it up to 600 then left it for another hour before taking it out of the clamps and cutting it to size. The two off cuts will later be used to make the two top trays.

 

[RogerBoyle]

The top was then fitted and the box was put to one side as I made myself a jig for the splines
I got the dimensions etc. From one of my books but TBH it isn’t really rocket science so I changed them to suit me as I decided to make it a bit bigger so it would handle chests etc. in the future as well.
An hour later and the jig is built and tested notice the use of masking tape as a third hand while I screwed the jig together.
20 minutes later and all 4 corners have been dovetailed for the splines.

 

[RogerBoyle]

For the splines I decided to use some of the mahogany so after a quick faff around with the router and testing I soon had a length of mahogany ready for fitting
I simply cut them down on the bandsaw to around ¾ inch long and fitted them place with just a bit of PVA to hold them
This was all left to go off and I concentrated on making a jig for doing the inlay

 

[RogerBoyle]

The inlay that I wanted to try was a simple diamond pattern that I had seen being done on U-Tube
So I first had to make two jigs
This was simply a case of screwing down a scrap straight edge to a piece of MDF or Ply at 22 ½ degrees Trouble was I didn’t know if It mattered which way I did it As it turns out it really doesn’t but to be safe I got back onto U Tube and copied the jig in there.

I found that to cut the Diamonds accurately regardless of the thickness of your wood, you line up a piece of your timber with the waste side of the Kerf cut on the jig and bring your stop block to it then clamp it .this then gives you accurate diamond shapes.

The next jig was to cut an elongated triangle shape to fit on top and under the Diamond pattern. This jig was bit more trial and error but easy enough all I did was got it at 22 ½ degrees and put two screws in it and did a test cut Removed one screw and pivoted the fence slightly put another screw in a different hole and re checked did this one more time and then it was good to go

 

[RogerBoyle]

After this it was simply a case of attaching a board with a straight edge on my bench I then covered this with a few strips of electrical tape and one of masking tape with the sticky side facing up
And then started to build up the inlay
I hand sanded each piece to fit and after about an hour I had it all dry fitted and ready for gluing
I then cut down several pieces of Mahogany and used two pieces of this for the inlay outer faces
After I glued it up I left it overnight to dry and then I had my first major set back LOL

 

[RogerBoyle]

I had planned to add some turned pieces to the 4 corners to add a bit of decoration and for legs
I tried to add a bit of decoration by adding a Celtic Knot as I am partial to them so this needed a jig making. Very simple to do but as I wanted a larger knot I added a wedge to the jig to give me a combined angle of around 60 degrees
Got everything cut out and glued up with no problems left them for a day to dry and the first two disintegrated when they were on the lathe LOL
What I should have done was drilled down through the middle and slid and glued in a dowel to add support
So this was abandoned LOL and instead I turned my attention to trimming the Splines back on the corners of the box

 

[RogerBoyle]

The splines were trimmed with the bandsaw and a coat of sanding sealer added to stop my hands dirtying the box and then finished off with a chisel flush with the sides
Unfortunately I had a close call as I trimmed one side a bit to close but fortunately it sanded out easily enough
I then sanded the box to 600 grit and put two coats of sanding sealer on to protect the box again

 

[RogerBoyle]

Next was to clean up and cut the inlay then route out a groove for it
But I'll be buggered if i could decide where to put it or how much to use
So following the KISS principle I decided two strips one on each edge front to back would do after these were glued in place it was on to handles and hinges

 

[RogerBoyle]

For a handle I had decided that i was going to turn a nice piece of alloy dowel
But after I had completed this and held it against the box I decided it didn’t look right so that was another idea out the window but it was simple and it did look good so I would do it another project
Instead I opted for a Mahogany Handle instead and after the fiasco with the turned legs I also opted for 4 simple squares of mahogany to act as feet

The hinges were very simple to do cut out on the band saw and sanded the simplest thing to do on the box to be honest, they were attached with two small dowels on each leaf from the rear and epoxied into a corresponding hole
This only left the lining and trays but unfortunately work got in the way of completing the top trays but I will finish these off at the weekend as the wood is already prepared But I did however manage to get the bottom dividers fitted but I don't have a clue as to the wood that was used

 

[RogerBoyle]

And finally the finished box
It was sanded back and then another coat of sanding sealer added knocked back with wet and dry and then waxed and buffed

I enjoyed this challenge as for me its not something I had done before but It will be something I will do again in the future

Good luck to every one else taking Part .

So Dodge whats the next one LOL

Roger

 

[carlb40]

Very nice Roger.

I considered making wooden hinges but couldn't decide on a style that would fit in and work on my box.

 

[RogerBoyle]

I know what you mean LOL To be honest I don't think that their something I'd do again
instead I'll go the traditional hardware route

 

[deserter]

Another awesome box, I really like the inlay, and for me at least, the hinges are great. I'd never of thought of making wooden ones.


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~

 

[devonwoody]

Congratulations on another good entry, and your participation.

 

[Roughcut]

The inlay looks great on the box.
Quality.

 

[andersonec]

Nice box and some unique hinges which must have taken some working out.

There's an Aussie woodwork forum which has a dedicated box making section, it includes a sticky which has a lot of information on wooden, and other, hinges. See Box bits 11.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f246/box- ... ost1079084

Andy

 

[RogerBoyle]

Cheers Guys

Andy I'm not really a fan of wooden hinges But it was something I had wanted to try since I saw an article in a wood mag back in the mid 90's LOL

Basically I used the comp to force me to actually try out the things that I had kept putting of for so long :mrgreen:

I was quite surprised with how quickly the inlay was made .For some reason I was expecting it to take days to make in the end it took less than 3 hours and that included making the jigs and working out the Angles and I still have a few bits left :twisted: it is one avenue I will explore and refine for the future

Roger