Although, I have built 2 of these before...

A Keepsake Box Design by Paul Sellers...

Not just the ends were curved...

Front and back were too...lid was sawn off....top and bottom panels are Tongue & Grooved into place..and appear to just float...

 

If I get that Maple Box Project finished up....I MIGHT try this box, again..we'll see...need to resaw some stock down to size...

Stay tuned...

Gonna follow this one for sure!!

Looks to be an interesting project

I'm short on beer money, but have plenty of popcorn!!

Count me in for the journey. We gonna have donuts to kick it off?

Edited November 3, 2025Nov 3 by Grandpadave52

I still need to get that Maple Box finished up..

I have the lid cleaned up and fitted..need to install the hardware, next..

Will have a bunch of resaw work to do...

 

We'll see..

Need to print these out..sometime..

 

23 minutes ago, steven newman said:

Need to print these out..sometime..

WOW! Looks like your sketchup brain cells are working overtime!

Plans are from Paul Sellers Masterclasses video program...down load for free..

Just when I was going to say your drawings have improved since the pencil and napkin days. 🤣

Just a bit of "Tinkering" around with the Single Brain Cell Sketch Up.....Maybe re-size things upwards...as I have a couple 3/4" x 7-1/2" x 72"  Ash Planks...and double each dimension ?  We'll see...

Parts list is calling for 5/8" thick stock...we'll see...

Ends are a bit tricky to cut..

And, have a stopped dado for the center divider...

Also involves this..

As I have to saw the lid off the box..

Hinge it back on..without the cut line showing..

Might take a week or two to get this done...

 

The only way I can down load new plans..is to join as a Member on Paul Sellers' Masterclasses site....$16 / month?    ah...NOPE!

Ok..Will be sorting through a pair of 1 x 8 x 6' Ash Planks.....and see what I can rough cut to start up with..

 

Stay tuned...

Keepsake Box Lumber supplies...

Have a 6' slab like this, and it's 4' look alike..

from one 10' plank....may rip the bad stuff off, and do a couple glue up with what is left...

A 1 x 6 has other issues...

Lay it down flat?   Low-HIGH-Low.....no, it is not from a Buckeye tree...

 

Ok..have 2 pieces from a 12' plank...of 1 x 8  ( 7-3/4")  that MIGHT yield enough for the box...

If I can work around the Live edges...

We'll see how it all turns out....top and bottom panels may get a glue up.and a resaw...

 

Stay tuned..

If anyone can get what's needed from those boards, it is you Steven!!

Spent a wee bit of time today...hauled the 2 bad planks to the shop...Plan being to remove the nasty sections, and still have enough to glue up 2 panels, one for the top and one for the bottom of the box...AND..resaw them down to 5/8"Strong...

1st cut..on the longer plank..

Got rid of this FUBAR...

Then a couple more cuts...

And set them aside, for now..length is around 15", or so..

So that plank #2 can be cut down...

A couple more cuts...2 plus that nasty looking end..headed over to join a few others...

 

Next up? rip off the curves..

Run the flat part down onto the tablesaw, and against the fence....and let the curve just flop down to the side..

#5 had a bit of a twist going on...

One beside it, wasn't a whole lot better...

 

Reset the fence, the 4 best ones needed to be a bit thinner, like down to 5/8" thick..

Which left these behind..about 1/8" thick...so...

Will need to plane these flat, and straighten out the twist in the back one...

trying to get to about 7" wide.   and be trimmed down to 14" long...

 

Was a busy morning..

Ya think?    

 

have since hauled the "good" pair of planks to the shop...we'll see what all I can mill up out of those 2..Later

 

Stay tuned..

I am exhausted!

About 90 minutes+ in the shop, this morning....working way too hard for a Friday...

Anyway..That twisted plank..

Was planed as flat as I could get it..

Almost there...it still needed resawn to 5/8" thick, and then I ripped 2 pieces to 1" wide, because...

The panel needed to get a little wider...from 6-1/2" to 7-1/2" in width...all parts were also cut to about 7" long...more or less..

Panel #1 needed cauls...

But, Panel #2 did not...

( doing the editing of these photos..had to get things down to something less than the 28 photos I had...whew)

 

So...these 2 planks..

Yes, there is a shorter one underneath this one...at 3/4" x 7-3/4" x 72" Ash...Shorty is "only" 68" long..

Laid things out to get the 4 sides of the box...

And, I needed to move the tablesaw a bit..

Mainly pull the saw back abit..and wind up with..

2 ends, and 2 sides...and..

This "Leftover"...might be able to cut down to a 1 x 6?

set that aside.   Rip fence back on...rip down one edge of the 4 sides...mainly to remove the Barky stuff...then reset to run that edge along the fence and skim off the other edge...shooting for 7-1/8 " panel width...

 

Problem.....they are still 3/4" thick...and I need them to be 5/8" thick....so, reset the fence one more time..

Cutting a kerf all the way around..

To make things easier for this saw to work...

Problem?   I can't see inside well enough to know..

When the cut is about finished...so...I going along with full 2 handed strokes..when "SNAP!"...and the left pinky finger cracked the off cut...

 

So, why use this 110 yr old saw when I have a bandsaw?

 

THAT is as high as the guides can go....saw has a bad habit...

Bottom of cut does not follow the top of the cut....

So..will have to plane this flat, tomorrow..along with the long side

This was left by the handsaw...saw does not have the same kerf as the tablesaw's blade...

Will just handsaw the other 2 boards, and plane all 4 flat....

 

Stay tuned...

 

A busy morning, today...resaw the last 2 panels...short one first..

and then the long side one..

Then went to work leveling out the panels..on the sawn side first..

Then smoothing that side out a bit..

Flip the panel over..

Level and smooth this face, too..

got both of the long Sides done..then the ends were next..

Follow the Cathedrals..

Both faces on both end pieces were planed level and smooth,....

Smaller panel = Smaller Smoother...and even...

Stanley No. 80...as I also had both of the lid panels to do..from this..

To this...

Only power tools used today, was a beltsander ( for the dried glue lines) and a ROS ....rest was all hand tools..

These 6 items will need cut to final length and squared up on the ends...

needed to sweep up the mess...

 

and..

Call it ...

QUITTING TIME!

 

Stay tuned..

Back is now sore...toes want to cramp up....May have worked a little too hard..for a Saturday Morning?

 

 

In order to make these 2 parts...I need to plough a groove along both edges...AND add a dado at each end about the same width as the thickness of the sides..BEFORE doing the dovetails...or the dado for the divider...and a LOT of lay out work, to boot..

( one on the right is how these are supposed to look....

 

Might set up the tablesaw...

And see if I can run this long enough for 4 dados?  Somewhere around 5/8" wide?  

Stay tuned..

Never tried dovetails on a curved edge!  Can’t wait to see how it is done!