A wee little box

[Gene Howe]

Just finished this ring box for my son's wedding.

3/1/2 high and 4" square.

Walnut and Maple. Finish is Watco, Poly and wax.

Tried something new for the lid locators. I cut a shallow dado in the blank of walnut before cutting the pieces for the box. After the bottom and top were glued on, the cut separating the lid was made leaving a bit of the dado in the walls of the lid and a larger part of the dado in the box. The maple lid locators were glued in the box dadoes, leaving a smooth interior.

 

 

[Charles Nicholls]

Very cool. Beautiful box.

[Harry Brink]

Nice looking box!

 

I like your idea on doing the lid. I may have to try that next time.

 

[John Moody]

That is a great looking box Gene. The Walnut and Maple just pop together.

[Ron Dudelston]

Very cute Gene. Is this one up for sale?

[Gene Howe]

Thanks guys, for your kind words.

Ron, You'd have to talk to my son and future DIL.

I don't sell anything.

 

[lew]

Gorgeous, Gene!

[Cliff]

lovely little box~!!

[Bill Quayle]

Very nice work. I like the way the grain wraps at the corners, very nice touch.

[Don Johnson]

Gene,

Good looking box and nice wood selection. Your SAC patch caught my eye, as I sit here in some ole blue missile fatigues with the same patch.

[John Morris]

Nice contrast Gene, love it.

What is the white material at the bottom?

 

[Gene Howe]

Thanks guys! Your generous comments are appreciated.

John, the white material is labeled "Minky". Out of my wife's quilt making stash.

Under that is a section of a pool noodle.

 

[Ron Dudelston]

Pool noodle? How innovative is that!

 

[Gene Howe]

Ron, Innovation born of necessity. No other foam in the shop.

[Jim Harvey]

That's the box lid technique Roy uses in my favorite episode:

http://video.unctv.org/video/2263884494/

[John Morris]

You know what is so cool about Roy, he does not care about perfection, a true woodworker!!!!

[Gene Howe]

Jim, thanks for that link to Roy's box.

 

I'm coming a bit late to the un-plugged party. But, so far, the journey has been fun.

 

 

I'll probably continue to pile up deceased electrons, though. Maybe the shop will at least become a hybrid.

 

[Jim Harvey]

Roy is my hero.

 

You could use the 11 groove method with a table saw. Make the grooves first, press fit the strip into the groove so it gets cut along with the side piece. You get nice fitting mitered corners on the strip as well as on the box sides. I always end up sanding or planing the sides of the strips a bit after gluing them in or the box lid fits too tight. Extra credit for accuracy if the lid still goes on when you rotate it 180 degrees.

 

[Gene Howe]

Hah! No extra credit here! Ended up putting a dimple on the underside of the lid and on the top of the opened box so that the ring bearer wouldn't have to fumble with it during the ceremony.

 

And, yep, planing and sanding was necessary. I thought about putting in the locator strip as one piece before mitering the sides. Wasn't sure if I could pull it off, though. I was a little worried about the lid separation cut. I'll do it next time when time to re-do it is more adequate.

 

 

 

 

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

[Jim Harvey]

Know what you mean.

 

Big advantage: If the strip fits tight you can dry fit the whole thing as a unit if you have to tune the miter angle. Roy's method removes the strips (mark them first so you can put them back in same place DAMHIKT) then glue them back in after the box is cut open. You do have to reduce the height of the strips to account for the box opening kerf width. Which is easy to do with (Ahem) a hand plane. I posted a photo of some boxes in the Hand Tool Forum. These two made from leftovers would make good ring boxes https://secure.flickr.com/photos/wb8nbs/9372224458/

 

 

About half the boxes I made last year I could get the lid to fit both ways. Initially I did not realize how critical it is to have the opposite side pieces EXACTLY the same length or the box comes out skewed and big lid problems. I cut the opposite side a hair or two long then tune to length on a crude shooting board. Those guys making boxes with hinged lids don't have to worry about this.