I am trying different methods and techniques on box making.  I'm on my third or fourth round of making boxes for Children's Hospital patients.  I've probably made 30 or so different boxes in the past and I'm approaching 75 for the hospital.   I have been experimenting with different styles -- separate lids, nesting lids, sliding lids, blind pivot lids (didn't work well).  Also box joints, miter joints, keyed miter joints.  Not fond of rabbeted or rabbet and dado joints.  Haven't tried dovetails.  Plywood panels, solid wood panels, etc.  

 

I try to work with the wood that I have (some from cutoffs, some from leftovers, some from reclaimed flooring boards, etc.)  The current batch is using some wood that's somewhere just shy of 3/8" thick x 3" wide.   I decided to do quarter-inch box joints on the table saw.  Prior box joints used my shop made template jig.  Despite fussing with the tuning, I got them a bit tight.  I see people on YouTube set up a jig, start cutting and everything fits together fine.  I call BS.   If you are off a 0.002" and do 15 cuts, then what, you are off 0.030" or about 1/32" so they don't fit.  Mine went together but required some umph.  And checking for square on these small boxes full of clamps was tough.  I don't think I'll be doing this again. I have made a number of box-joined boxes, but usually one at a time.  Doing 15 at once is requiring a lot of sanding -- disk sander, belt sander, hand sander, and ROS. And still nowhere near done.   I think I'll go back to miters, maybe with a spline or a biscuit.

 

 

I have not done 1/4 box joints but have done 3/8 and always some tear out but no squaring problems . It is the Mitre joints that get to me . Always off just a  little. 

Didn't you say you had the Incra box joint jig? I've made quite a few boxes over the past 12 months using 1/4" fingers with mine. I left the jig set up when i put it away and still make test cuts (that usually requires a minor tweak) and then start on the next batch...or one, whatever I'm doing. One thing about the Incra is it requires more time, I guess. I remember seeing Norm make a box joint jig and then cut 2 work pieces at the same time, usually one end and one side. You cut them one at a time with the Incra.....or at least I do. Still, if I was making as many as you are I'd probably do miters with a spline.

Edited April 4, 20242 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

26 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Didn't you say you had the Incra box joint jig? I've made quite a few boxes over the past 12 months using 1/4" fingers with mine. I left the jig set up when i put it away and still make test cuts (that usually requires a minor tweak) and then start on the next batch...or one, whatever I'm doing. One thing about the Incra is it requires more time, I guess. I remember seeing Norm make a box joint jig and then cut 2 work pieces at the same time, usually one end and one side. You cut them one at a time with the Incra.....or at least I do. Still, if I was making as many as you are I'd probably do miters with a spline.

No, not the Incra.  I've made a couple of jigs of my own invention by stacking up pieces on top of a 2x4.  Put a stop on one end and do side A on one side and side B on the other with a flush cut router bit.

 

This round I did with a dado blade and shop-made jig on a table saw.   I debated about using a router table, but didn't.   I had really good luck one time using a Incra-jig to offset the cuts.  But that depends on your cutter to be exactly the same as the amount that you are offsetting with the cut.

 

 

Popped into my mind a vision of nesting boxes.   Open one to pull out another one, which when opened you can pull out another one, etc..   Then in the very smallest inner box put a reward.   Maybe a wrapped chocolate kiss. 

 

I've got a slew of scraps that are probably good for nothing more than some random boxes.  Might kill some boredom.   Thanks for the inspiration. 

4D

The last round, I made lids that overlapped joint (essentially a rabbet on both top and bottom pieces).  The normal way I see this done is to cut a dado on the inside before assembly, then cut the top off and cut another rabbet.   I saved myself a step by careful alignment and cut the top off with a router table cut and thus made the rabbet and the separating cut in one pass.