WIP - Redgum Bandsaw Box (Picture Heavy)
I was recently asked by another forum member if I was able to make a bandsaw box. Never one to pass up an opportunity I thought it was about time I got back into the bandsaw boxes as it would have been 2 years or so since the last.
As I enjoy work in progress posts I thought I may as well turn this into one. Warning it will be picture heavy, but I will keep the picture file size down.
Ok ..... step one. I had shown the client some images of some of my completed boxes and as all of my boxes so far are from the excellent book by Lois Keener Ventura we selected the cover box.
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Building-Beautiful-Boxes-Your-Band/dp/1558705228]Amazon.com: Building Beautiful Boxes with Your Band Saw (9781558705227): Lois Ventura: Books[/ame]
If you are looking at getting into bandsaw box making Building Beautiful Boxes With Your Bandsaw (BBBWYB) is a great start (and this post :q).
With the design chosen it was time for selection of timber. Normally I use a soft wood for the boxes, typically from a selection of old pallets I picked up from a bloke who collected them off Ford Motor Company in Geelong. Unfortunately my stock is all but turned into boxes already so I thought I would try something either completely stupid or brave ..... Redgum!
I have a collection of old redgum fence posts that I purchased off an old forum member Ozwinner most likely 5-6 years ago:
The posts look a bit rough on the surface however I was always confident that there was some good wood waiting to get out.
The swirl of the grain had me reserving this timber for the good project pile for years.
The first step with the bandsaw box is creating the blank. BBBWYB gives patterns that can be photocopied and provide the size required for the blank. Personally I work the other way and create the blank size and then adjust the plan to suit what timber I have available.
Being very careful to avoid any nails I put a cheap blade in the tablesaw and cut up the posts:
This started to show the hidden grain:
The timber was hard, heavy and difficult to work. It would breakout as soon as a hand plane looked at it and I was starting to think if this would fail before it got off the ground. With the jointer still not restored and the thicknesser needing new blades I finally got to the point of gluing up the blanks with the help of the tablesaw and a scraper: