Testing a simple box design for the Men’s Shed

**homey** · 22nd February 2019, 07:06 PM

Our local Men’s Shed is a bit short on woodworking experience but there’s plenty of willingness to make something. I thought I’d make a simple box and see of there was any interest.

Key goals were: no complex joints, no difficult hinges, no sawing off the lid, no lock or catch to fit and an oversize lid to remove the need for a perfect fit.

This is what I ended up with - probably still too complicated but a start....

The lid is a simple mitred frame cut on a hand mitre saw. The inside edge of the frame has a groove routed in to hold a panel of veneered ply.

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The lid is hinged by drilling through the sides and inserting a brass rod sitting inside a brass tube - picked these up cheaply at a local hobby store. The rod does not go into the main panel of the lid as I wanted to keep the lid closing right over the box. Two reasons for this - first it allows for the lid not being exactly the right size (given the skill level of some of the potential makers) and second the small overhang makes it easy to lift the lid.

AF9CCF98-583C-483E-8A18-13D826201B29.jpeg

Front wall joints are simple rebates and the back wall is simply butt jointed. In both cases I drilled into the joints and inserted small dowels - in fact these are bamboo skewers.

A18769E3-9585-4EA5-BE9A-3E62B23F8609.jpeg

The lid is hinged on a small piece of timber glued and screwed to the rear underside of the lid. The lid overhangs the back a little so that when the lid is open it acts as a stop.

FC3F89FA-970F-4811-8FD3-ED6E2720C668.jpeg

Not sure this will work in the Shed environment but we’ll see what the members think.

Regards,

Brian

**Treecycle** · 22nd February 2019, 10:08 PM

Looks like a good project for the guys and if they can pull it off it should lift their self esteem. I'm sure you will find it very hard to accept their lesser skills when you are such a perfectionist, but at least they will feel good about their achievements.
Will you be preparing some components for them or will they be doing everything themselves under your guidance?

**homey** · 22nd February 2019, 10:58 PM

Hi Tc,

I’ll rout the grooves in the timber for the lid frame and the rebates for the front joints. I’ll also cut the ply lid panels to size before veneering starts.

The gluing of the veneered panel can be done by the guys, and we’ll press these in a hand-screw book press. We have a couple of decent hand mitre saws the guys can use and I’ll make some jigs so they can position the box for drilling holes. We have a jig that ensures the boxes are glued up square every time.

The plan is to have the routing done before we start so we can all work along together with just hand tools and the drill press. The finish will be oil of some sort - possibly Osmo.

I’ll report back on how we go

Brian

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