Thread: How to avoid no mistake

Wow that's quite an epic journey. Well done on the completed box, as I know the feeling you have would be very high indeed.


So what's the next project? Yeah I am being mischievous.

Wow, that's a long journey, but the result was worth it. Think of the things you have learned along the way. I like the way you have included other material aside from the wood. The aluminium looks good. Well done.
That box on the cover has also inspired several of my boxes.

Thanks for taking us on the journey! There is a lot going on with that box so it would have been tricky. Well done.

Originally Posted by mic-d

Thanks for taking us on the journey! There is a lot going on with that box so it would have been tricky. Well done.

excellent work.....

Well done, Detlef. Thanks for your post. You have made a great looking box. I like the use of the aluminium in the legs.

I was also drawn to that style of box, although my inspiration came from a photo of an antique tea caddy. I built a couple of boxes: the first couple with mitre joints, the second batch with dovetails, changing my construction approach as my knowledge of the style increased (I thought!). Like you, I also had to think hard about clamping the box components together.

Finally, I resorted to buying a couple of antiques and taking them apart to see how they were made. The construction was much more simple. Four isosceles trapezoids, butt jointed, glued and nailed, with the top and bottom edges of the trapezoids angled so the box sat flat (as you discovered and did). The top and bottom panels of the box were glued on. Once the lid was shaped, the box was covered in veneer and split into box and lid. Veneer was then attached to the box and lid lips (the surfaces exposed from cutting off the lid).

Since your box is covered in wood and metal veneers, the simpler approach to construction used by our woodworking fore-father's could be employed. No tricky clamping. No compound mitre joints. However, you would have to veneer the lip of the box to hide the butt joint. Making the carcass from plywood (as you did) should minimise telegraphing of the butt joint through the veneer. Just some thoughts.


Looking forward to your next box!

Sheesh mate!! Such persistence!!

The box is brilliant and would work almost as well the other way up!!


Have a cousin in Hamburg named Detlef. Good bloke too!

Originally Posted by crowie

Finally, I resorted to buying a couple of antiques and taking them apart to see how they were made. The construction was much more simple. Four isosceles trapezoids, butt jointed, glued and nailed, with the top and bottom edges of the trapezoids angled so the box sat flat (as you discovered and did). The top and bottom panels of the box were glued on. Once the lid was shaped, the box was covered in veneer and split into box and lid. Veneer was then attached to the box and lid lips (the surfaces exposed from cutting off the lid).

Nice idea! But when I build a new box I always try to use some techniques I never used before. Well, I made a lot of mistakes but at least I can say I learned something new
Of course you are quite correct to say: nobody will ever see if I used an ambitious timber joint, because it is all hidden under ther veneer. The problem is: I know it! And I would be unsatisfied with the piece I've created.

So I will go on to produce failures in my pieces but at least feel good with it.

Thanks for your nice comment.
Detlef

Originally Posted by detfall

Nice idea! But when I build a new box I always try to use some techniques I never used before. Well, I made a lot of mistakes but at least I can say I learned something new
Of course you are quite correct to say: nobody will ever see if I used an ambitious timber joint, because it is all hidden under ther veneer. The problem is: I know it! And I would be unsatisfied with the piece I've created.

So I will go on to produce failures in my pieces but at least feel good with it.

Thanks for your nice comment.
Detlef

I quite understand, Detlef. Trial and error - it is how we learn.

When I looked at the picture of the box that inspired me to build it, I did not know how it could possibly be made. After some thought, I started with compound mitre joints, as that seemed to me the only way to construct it. I emailed a dealer and restorer of antique boxes in London, UK and asked him how the boxes were constructed. He replied that they were dovetailed and then veneered. So, I made a couple with dovetails. I noticed that the dovetail joints were telegraphed through the veneer, so finally resorted to dismantling a few "originals" I bought through eBay. I was surprised and shocked to see nailed butt joints.

Today I started a box made of MDF (I didn't have any plywood at hand). It will be made with nailed and glued butt joints and veneered.

Reading between the lines of your post, I can see you gained as much satisfaction, if not more, from working out how to make your box as you gained from seeing the finished product. It is why we spend so much time in the workshop/shed.

Your journey was a no joke. You're very persistent and buff man . As what they say. do not stop until your last attempt is "the success" already.
Nice job !

Many thanks for all your words of encouragement.

Hopefully my next project will not last two years again. There have been times when I thought: No woodworking at all in the future. But suddenly I detect myself surfing the internet for new ideas for a brand new box. If you have seen unusual boxes on the net, please give me a hint.



Greetings
from Germany
Detlef

Hi Detlef, have a look here. Happy to help if necessary.

Hi Alex,

of course I have already been several times on your website. It has been always a source of inspiration to me. You built beautiful boxes but I am afraid that my craftsmanship is by far to low to build such nice boxes like you do. Especially the "Surprise Gift Box" is an outstanding piece. Beautiful! If I see such nice boxes on the web I first store the link or the picture itself on my computer. Weeks ore sometimes month later I browse through this collection and ask myself: Would I be able to build a similar box? And in case looking on your boxes I must confess: this pieces are at least three levels higher of what I can build. I am a hobbyist or an apprentice boy, you are a master.

If I found a box I like and the idea to build it maturated in my head, I must first have a clear imagination how I could do it. And then (sometimes) I try to build it.

In most cases I try to vary the the item I found! Only a replica doesn't bring fun But in nearly all cases I built a box, the ideas and plans how to make it have circulated for weeks in my head.

One more question I still have: how do you bend the wood in your surprise box? I have no imagination how this can be done. Please enlighten me

Detlef

Hi Detlef, it's made from laminated veneers. The sides are formed around a male mould, then cut to size & mitred on the side and bottom corners.

Regarding inspiration, I often see a piece that I like, and try to analyse why I like it, and then try to make something that incorporates the same elements. In the case of the gift box, the inspiration was a couple of boxes in '400 wooden boxes' where the sides are extended upwards by coopering. The shape appealed, but I didn't want to copy it, so thought about how the idea could be developed. This is how new things develop.
NAV gift box 007.jpg

Hi Alex,

thank you very much for your detailed description on how you built your master piece. When I saw your box the first time I could not imagine how you bended the plywood. In a youtube film I once saw a woodworker who gave an introduction into steam bending and so I thought that you used this technique too. But laminating seems to be much a easier process than steam bending .

I never heard before about this strange veneer you used in your box. But with googles help I found a German supplier of this new kind of veneer too. I think about it to order a few test pieces and experiment with it.

During surfing the net looking for veneer I found another unusual box made by a German female cabinet maker named Katharina Hahn. She used carbon fiber and mixed it with pear wood to produce an unusual sewing box. Look here: Holzwerkstatt Hahn

I have never seen this material before in a box makers blog or forum. What do you think about it?

Greetings from the cold (3 - 5°C) Germany
Detlef