Walnut and burr walnut box. Trays and finishing

[Hornbeam]

I couldnt update the title so have written this as a second article
Next stage was to make the internal trays. These are ash with birch ply bases
The sides are 7mm thick

The corners are mitered on the table saw and the a 4mm groove cut for the ply base
The trays are divided into 2 or 3 compartments
I normally do this with stopped housings, which are rough cut on the router table using a 1/4inch bit and then trimmed so the divider is a tight fit

An alternative to this approach is to ude a simple butt joint with 4mm through dowels. This is easier but is is critical to line up the dowels otherwise it looks a bit messy

I dont use clamps to glue up. I se parcel tape on the corners and then a very tight wrap of fibre reinforced tape.
Once dry the trays are planed up and then the veneer keys are fitted
I have made a sled for the router table to use with a groover for this

This is very new and there is effectively a zero clearance for the 1.5mm groover. The depth of the groove is adjusted with thin strip inserted obetween the box and the internal angle

The splines are 1.5mm thick walnut to contrast with the ash and go with the box. After gluing these are cut flush with a handsaw and then planed flush always working away from the corner to prevent breakout (this image is from another box

Sometimes when making trays I like to undercut the tray sides either by cutting a full depth rebate or gluing a cap on. This means that when the tray is lined with a suede or cloth, it only just sticks out ( I havent done this on these trays as it is a bit more work

Everything is now ready for finishing. I sanded everything to 320 grit and then used danish oil

 

[Hornbeam]

A little bit more on boxes hinges and general
I made this box as part of a run of 4 boxes
I made an identical twin but tried a couple of different approaches, mainly to split the lid and base panels before glue up. This did not work and was no t any easier than cutting the lid off as normal. In fact there was a very slight shape difference between the lid and base which I just managed to correct
The second box used smart rail hinges which are a doddle to fit.

You can also see that the vertical divider on 1 box is full depth. This is because I forgot to cut the grooves before assemble and had to cut it bu hand after the box lid was cut off but before the lipping was applied around the openings
I also made a more simple box in plain walnut veneer and ash edging. On this I used some old brusso stop hinges

These have horrible square knuckles and need to be fitted sticking out a long way. They are not a patch on the stop hinges from Andrew Crawford or Ian Hawthorne. One positive is the brusso screws. I dont normally like the look of brass phillips screws but these were excellent and the phillips head make them very easy to fit
As part of this make I also made a fairly simple box with solid cherry sides and burr maple top.

A short rest from box making is now due. I have some larger projects, but they will include burr and laminating
Ian

 

[Blackswanwood]

Beautiful boxes Hornbeam. Thanks again for sharing.