Thread: Cedar Blanket Box

Originally Posted by jack620

I've thicknessed the cedar and joined the boards into 480 wide panels. I hope to cut the dovetails on the weekend.

so it's possibly not too late.

If you block off one of the slots in your DT jig, you will end up with the wider pin suggested by Alex. This will give you the width to cut the lid off and then trim the top and bottom to get the join almost seamless.

No too late Ian. I'm planning to get stuck in tomorrow. I'm not home at the moment to look at my DT jig, so I'm trying to visualise this in my head. If I block out one slot in my jig I will end up with one extra-wide pin as you say. I then remove the fat to get a seamless joint. But won't the effect be exactly the same as if I cut all pins normally and cut out one whole pin (22mm worth of timber)? That is, I don't think blocking a slot saves any timber.

Originally Posted by jack620

No too late Ian. I'm planning to get stuck in tomorrow. I'm not home at the moment to look at my DT jig, so I'm trying to visualise this in my head. If I block out one slot in my jig I will end up with one extra-wide pin as you say. I then remove the fat to get a seamless joint. But won't the effect be exactly the same as if I cut all pins normally and cut out one whole pin (22mm worth of timber)? That is, I don't think blocking a slot saves any timber.

I think so.
I'm also trying to visualise this in my head.

A couple of progress shots. I've applied 2 coats of Danish oil to the inside faces of all pieces (only one coat in the photo). I reckon that's enough. My plan is to finish and polish the top piece before assembly, as polishing it later would be a pain. The blue masking tape is keep those areas free of finish to allow gluing of the centre of the top panel into the sides. The top piece has one coat on it in the photo.

Did you apply the DO before or after cutting the dovetails?

And following on from your comments above, did you make any of the pins a bit wider to allow for the kerf when cutting the lid off?

Timber looks really nice, good choice. You must have a wide dovetail jig to handle these boards

I applied the oil after cutting the dovetails. I masked the pins and the tails to prevent to oil getting on them.

There's no way to widen the pins on my jig. Blocking off one slot in the jig would result in a "super pin" but I would still have to remove one pin width of timber to maintain the pattern, so there's no point as far as I can see. I'm planning to make two cuts and remove the equivalent of one pin (22mm). I will probably use my Festool track saw to make the cuts, as the cedar is very soft and I can see myself denting it while manhandling the box onto the table saw. Can anyone see anything wrong with this plan?

My jig is 500mm wide.

Yes, it's lovely timber. It's actually redder than it appears in the photos above. I'm lucky enough to have a stack of 250x25x5.2m boards. Dead straight and flat. A friend had them milled in 1988 and he sold me some of his stash.

A couple of progress shots. I decided to glue the two long sides and one short side together first. This allowed me to slide in the top and bottom pieces at my leisure, rather that rushing to get it all clamped up in one hit.

The second photo is a still-wet coat of Danish oil.

Beautiful looking blanket box The colours really glow.

What dovetail jig do you use?

Thanks Lappa. It's an old Festo jig. There's a picture of it post #5.

Hi jack220, I have always wanted to do a lid profile like that. Can you give us a sketch of what the edges look like please? how did you cut the bevel edges so far in from the outer edges of the lid panel?
great looking finish, really looking forward to seeing the finished article

Thanks Dengue. I used a raised-panel cutter on my spindle moulder. I hope the pics give you enough detail. Let me know if you need any more info, measurements, closeups, etc.

Originally Posted by jack620

I used a raised-panel cutter on my spindle moulder.

spindle moulder !!

what other up spec machines do you have hiding in your shed?


I too like the profile you achieved on the lid panel.

Have you cut the top off the box yet?
I'm interested in seeing how the process of removing a whole pin goes.

Hi Ian,
The spindle moulder is part of an old Luna W69 combo machine. The spindle moulder part gets used very rarely because it scares the daylights out of me! I prefer to use the router table, but some jobs need a larger cutter.

I haven't cut the top off yet. I'm going to use my Festool TS55 to do it. Because I'm petrified of the track slipping while I make the cuts, I've started making a pair of poor man's parallel guides. Should have those finished this morning and I hope to make the cuts today.

I think Alex posted above about not cutting all the way through the sides and using a hand saw (or Stanley knife) to finish the cut.

good luck -- not that I think you need it.