Thread: Does Mum need another dovetail box?

Hi all

It's Mum's birthday so what every mother needs is another dovetail box.

This box is 250 mm x 125 mm x 100 mm (from memory) and is entirely made with hand tools.


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This is the final product. A dovetail box and matching tray.

The box is made with Silky Oak and the lid panel is Queensland Maple. The tray is Queensland Maple for the base and Australian Coastal Rosewood sides. There is also a Queensland Maple "step" for the tray to sit on, so it sits a few mm proud of the box side and becomes a dust seal.

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The brass strap hinges come from the ever-reliable McJings (who is very close to where I live). The 5 mm hinges were tricky to conceal with the 7 mm sides but the carefully cut hinge mortise did the job.






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This is the detail of the box side, highlighting the dovetails. I am in love with the Silky Oak, which was the inspiration for this box. Unfortunately the grain does not flow around the box (nor did I aim for this).








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This is the detail on the lid. The board was 20mm and resawn in half, and bookmatched.

One of many errors was that I cut the lid off in the middle of a tail and expected the glue to hold the top together. (Narrator's voice) ...it did not. In hindsight I should have went with a smaller tail close to the top and tiny half-pin. Lesson learnt.


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This is the interior detail of the tray. I just loved how the bookmatched Queensland Maple panel looks. The tray itself has rebates all around the panel and the Rosewood sides just butt jointed in there. I have learnt that dovetails in such thin sides is trouble.

I cursed and swore at my Stanley 45 during cutting the 3mm groove for the box bottom (I used MDF) but it turns out I hadn't tightened the sliding section sufficiently (so user error). So for the rebate on the tray I used my Stanley 50 and it was a gem to use, easy set up and use.

The finish is OrganOil Danish Oil (again another local product) after sanding to 400 grit (I forgot to go to 600 grit but I don't think it's an issue) and a 0000 steel wool brushing between coats. There was a final buff with lambswool.

Well I hope Mum likes it. But regardless it's always fun to leave the power tools turned off, the irons, cutters and chisels freshly sharpened, and the heady mix of sweat, blood and tears with wood shavings.