Charity boxes

[kmealy]

With the club's long time charity deciding they don't want wooden toys any more, we needed to find a new place.  One current place is the local children's hospital taking 30 small boxes a month for the patients to decorate while there and take home.  So I started making some.

 

The first batch (6 of them) was mitered corners with a sliding lid, used keys on the corners.  Second batch (5) finger-jointed and solid top rabbeted.   Looking for something a little more efficient in production.

 

Third was a prototype with an inset lid held with a brass rod as pivot hinge.  Ok, but finicky.

 

Forth was today.  Mitered corners and inset plywood top and bottom panel.  Biscuits to reinforce the miter joints.   I did another groove on the inside near the top.  Then once the box was assembled and glue dried, did another pass with the 1/4" bit on the router table.  This made a double rabbet to hold the lid in place.   Saves having to do an inner layer insert.  I'll do a run of these when I get some more lumber and plywood.

 

I talked to a local furniture shop last week and they told me the set out their scraps on Monday afternoon for the trash man.  I was there and picked some of their cutoffs from the scrap bin;.  Most of it was 1/2" poplar, probably drawer sides.  A bit of maple and some cherry. 

 

In another adventure, I got a bunch of leftovers from red oak flooring (one time find) .   Well, started today to rip off the tongue and groove edges so I could do glue-up. Then I thought, hey, the ends are going to be hidden by miter joints, just use them to align the glue up and rip off only the top and bottom edges. Lesson learned. It appears that the groove side is slightly wider on the top than on the bottom. I'm thinking that's so the top joint is tight and the bottom does not matter so much. I got a lot of "cup" in the top that I needed to get out with cauls and now I looks like there's a gap on the bottom of that joint. Well, nice try. Wait for the glue to dry and rip them apart. On the other ones, I will try just trimming off a bit on the groove side to align it up.

[lew]

Regardless of how they are made, I'll bet the kids will love them.

[Grandpadave52]

Missed this. Kudos Keith to you for the initiative and time making these as gifts. Great cause and craftsman to match.

[kmealy]

Making progress on a "production run".   It will probably be 25 or so, with about 2/3 poplar and 1/3 red oak.

 à la  Newman log:

 

I got some cutoffs from the woodworking and cabinetry shop nearby and Nextdoor donation was a bunch of flooring cutoffs.

 

Last week's batch was mostly 8/4 poplar.  I resawed it down to two passes of about 5/8 that was then planed to 1/2".   What was left was planed to 1/4" to fit in grooves for top and bottom panels.   

 

 

About 3 days of planing yielded 30 gal of chips and probably will fill up another one before they're all done.

 

 

 

 

S

 

A few of the boxes with sides cut, mitered, and grooved and top and bottom panels.  Awaiting glue-up

 

 

I only have two band clamps, so it's one box at a time.

 

The glued up boxes will go another pass thru the router table to separate off the top with a rabbet.

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the boxes are a "double cube", either 4x8 or 5x10, depending on what the lumber yielded.

 

 

 

 

 

The red oak boxes are a bit behind the poplar ones.  They are made from three flooring boards with the tongue and grooves ripped off, edge glued, then planed down.

[kmealy]

Wrapped up the series today by cutting off the tops and sanding, sanding, sanding.   Ready for delivery on the next trip.

 

I used a router table with a 1/4" spiral bit to do the grooves and the separation.  I thought it would be safer than a dado blade.  But I might explore that on the next batch.

 

[Gene Howe]

Why not just use a crosscut blade on the TS? 

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

13 hours ago, kmealy said:

Wrapped up the series today by cutting off the tops and sanding, sanding, sanding.   Ready for delivery on the next trip.

 

I used a router table with a 1/4" spiral bit to do the grooves and the separation.  I thought it would be safer than a dado blade.  But I might explore that on the next batch.

 

 Not sure about the safety angle, but the router sure leaves a cleaner cut (flat bottom), I'm guessing there's a lip between the box and the lid.

[kmealy]

3 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

Why not just use a crosscut blade on the TS? 

Some of the pieces were long (~30") and would not be a problem, but some were about 4" long.  I needed the grooves to be 1/4" to hold the top and bottom panels.

 

There were 3 grooves cut in each piece, 1/4" from the top and bottom for the top and bottom panels and a third 3/4" from the top for the inside rabbet.   Once assembled, a fourth pass on the completed box to separate the lid and make the matching rabbet.   (see above photo)

[Gene Howe]

2 minutes ago, kmealy said:

Some of the pieces were long (~30") and would not be a problem, but some were about 4" long.  I needed the grooves to be 1/4" to hold the top and bottom panels.

 

There were 3 grooves cut in each piece, 1/4" from the top and bottom for the top and bottom panels and a third 3/4" from the top for the inside rabbet.   Once assembled, a fourth pass on the completed box to separate the lid and make the matching rabbet.   (see above photo)

I gotcha! Thanks.