Pushing Personal Boundaries

**DPB** · 7th January 2006, 06:42 PM

I know - I know, we've seen enough small boxes.

A friend invited me to his birthday bash and suggested, "How about one of those boxes you make?"

Why not use this opportunity to push some woodworking boundaries, me-thinks in response. So I answered, "Sure, easy!"

So here it is - nothing too special. But it's the first box I've made with totally hand cut dovetails - no jigs, no bandsaw, just chisel, mallet, and Lie Nielsen Dovetail saw. I'm pleased with the results.

The dimensions are: 230mm x 132mm x 82mm.

The primary timber is from a hunk of re-cycled River Gum benchtop. The tray frame is Blackwood, the contrasting mitred trim on the bottom side of the lid is Tassie Oak, and I'll be damned if I can remember what the burl veneer is. Any suggestions? Oh yes, the lid tab is Ebony.

The other real challenge was cutting the mortise for the Brusso Lid Support. The walls of the box are 10mm thick. The support is 8mm thick. Very delicate mortise. When cutting out the mortise with a chisel, I had to reinforce the sides of the timber by placing it deep in my bench vise to stop the 1mm sides from breaking through. (Next time I will know better and use timber that is at least 12mm thick.) Before I encountered this challenge, I reasoned that 10mm thick timber would reduce some of the weight of the River Gum.

The hardware is from Lee Valley; the box is lined with black velvet. The tray has a small turned knob to make removing it possible. The fit is so close that the air pressure forms a vacuum.

By the way - as my friend is male - my design is intentionally masculine.

**Auld Bassoon** · 7th January 2006, 07:14 PM

Hi DPB,

Excellent work!

That box looks to be a very nice one indeed.

I agree with on cutting the mortice for that type of lid support - care and accuracy are mandatory.

The D/T look very good too; it's and addictive sort of thing eh?

The Burl looks very like Amboyna - I've used it on a few projects, and it comes up beautifully.

Cheers!

**Peter36** · 7th January 2006, 07:57 PM

Now that's a good looking box DPB. Wish I could do dovetails like that and the ebony knob complements the redgum and suits the black velvet .Greenie from me

**oges** · 7th January 2006, 09:48 PM

Yes another box, but sure is a nice one. Love the grain in the river gum

**fxst** · 7th January 2006, 09:55 PM

Guess whos going to gt an invite to my birthday bash

Very Nice work mate
Pete

**Wongo** · 7th January 2006, 10:05 PM

Don, nice looking box. You did an excellent job.

**Driver** · 7th January 2006, 10:09 PM

Great work, Don. When you're game enough to show it in tight, focussed close-up, you know the workmanship is excellent. Have a greenie!

Col

**AlexS** · 7th January 2006, 10:24 PM

That's a top piece of work, DBP, and all darkside methods too. Agree with Driver about the close-ups - it's great workmanship. The little details like the shape of the tab set it off, and while the thin sides may have been a bit of a buggar, they do work well.

**Wood Borer** · 7th January 2006, 11:41 PM

A stunning effort with stunning results Don.

What's the next personal boundary you plan on hurdling?

A word of advice - these hand cut joints are addictive and very satisfying to make.

**zenwood** · 8th January 2006, 10:03 AM

I disagree: we haven't seen enough small boxes.

This box is superb. Beautiful design, and very high quality execution. The thin walls look very good. I've got a couple of those hinges that I keep meaning to put on a box, but so far they've been sitting in the shed for the last five years or so. To have done it with a hand made mortice with so little leeway each side is very impressive. Rather than supporting it in the vise, would it have been easier to suppport in on the benchtop with the workpiece between two clamped support pieces? I find that the workpiece invariably creeps down if chopping in a vice.

I like the shallow tray too. Only one suggestion: I think it would have looked better if the knob for the tray matched the design of the knob on the lid: would have unified the internal to the external.

Greeny from me.

**Ivan in Oz** · 8th January 2006, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by zenwood

I disagree: we haven't seen enough small boxes.

Neither have I

:eek:

I've pushed a few "Personal Boundries" of Late,
since SWMBO walked out 2 years ago.

Hmmm
Whoops,
wrong Forum

**zenwood** · 8th January 2006, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Ivan in Oz

Neither have I

:eek:

I've pushed a few "Personal Boundries" of Late,
since SWMBO walked out 2 years ago.

Hmmm
Whoops,
wrong Forum

Pics, man, pics!

Oh, yeah...wrong forum!

**DPB** · 8th January 2006, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by zenwood

I disagree: we haven't seen enough small boxes.

Only one suggestion: I think it would have looked better if the knob for the tray matched the design of the knob on the lid: would have unified the internal to the external.

I like your suggestion. Thanks!

Does this look better?

**redwood** · 8th January 2006, 12:21 PM

Originally Posted by zenwood

I disagree: we haven't seen enough small boxes.

The thin walls look very good. .

I agree we need more box pixs. even a thread devoted to them would be great. and on the thin wall look. my gripe with so many boxes that are so beautifully made is the thickness. to many use 19mm all wrong in mho. thats like a blanket box or general cabinet work with 40mm timber. 14 - 16mm is ideal for the delicate proprotions of little boxes and 8 - 9mm for internal trays

**Wood Borer** · 8th January 2006, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by redwood

many use 19mm all wrong in mho. thats like a blanket box or general cabinet work with 40mm timber. 14 - 16mm is ideal for the delicate proprotions of little boxes and 8 - 9mm for internal trays

I couldn't agree more. The other day I made a small box from Canadian Rock Maple and Red Cedar. I made the Rock Maple sides only about 3 mm thick. The box is sufficiently stiff and strong, less good timber is used and it looks 200% better with the thin sides.

I posted photos under Cliff Rogers birthday greetings as the Cliff kindly gave me the Red Cedar.

Thread: Pushing Personal Boundaries

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Pushing Personal Boundaries

Similar Threads

Personal responsibility....

Personal Protective Equipment

personal respirators?

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions