Thread: First bandsawn box - fiddleback Qld Maple

Beautiful!

That timber speaks loudly. I like your design.

Thank you. The beauty of timber continues to inspire us all.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I opened the thread and uttered an audible "WOW" on seeing the pictures.

It does not look like a bandsawn box; it looks like a mitred corner box of basic construction with a flat lid but the "WOW" factor comes in because the grain matches everywhere.

I love to match up grain on my projects and of course being a bandsawn box the grain will match all round, but because you maintained the square structure of a regular flatwork box it makes the startling grain of your chosen timber give a totally unexpected result, to my eyes anyway.

An excellent box!

Cheers

Doug

Looks great - love the corners, doesn't really look like it was made with a bandsaw.

Greg

It's nice...too nice for you!

I agree with Dough - the matching of the grain all around is very striking and beautiful. Congrats!

Two beautiful things about your box:

* The striking timber

* The beautiful simplicity of your design.

Love it!!!

Thanks for all the great comments. It is really encouraging.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sweeeet

Thinking outside the box there.
First impression is of a constructed box and then it dawns on you it is bandsawn. Really good and very nice timber too.
Regards
John

Wow!!! Thanks for sharing this; great design with continuity of grain. How did you scoop out the insides?

What was the size of the block of maple that you started with? Was there a special cut required for the lid to ensure it doesn't bend or warp in future?

Congratulations on a beautiful piece of work

Originally Posted by Dengue

Wow!!! Thanks for sharing this; great design with continuity of grain. How did you scoop out the insides?

What was the size of the block of maple that you started with? Was there a special cut required for the lid to ensure it doesn't bend or warp in future?

Congratulations on a beautiful piece of work

Thank-you. The box is 142 mm wide by 66 mm high by 120 mm front to back. The original block of Maple was a rough triangular shape with the three unequal curved sides about 300 mm, 330 mm and 400 mm by about 75 mm thick. It was a tight squeeze to get the rectangular shape that I wanted. The piece was cut off from a curved block so the sides were not vertical.

The insides were scooped out after the lid and sides were cut off. Then the block was turned on its side, the wall and floor thicknesses and the curved corners were marked out in pencil. The bandsaw has a 12 mm Lennox Trimaster tungsten carbide tipped blade that is triple chip sharpened so that it gives exceptionally smooth surfaces to the cuts. A straight cut to give the back element of the box was made first, then the timber was turned to cut the curve. There was a bit of backing out and going in again here as the curve is quite tight (about a 10 c piece radius). Once around the curve the floor of the box was cut with a straight run, then the curve for the front lower section was cut and a straight cut was made to exit the block at the top inner edge of the front element. It was done very slowly and carefully.

I then used rasps and sandpaper on a split piece of 1 inch dowel to rasp and sand to smooth out the corners and the few marks from the blade. Then I taped off the surfaces to be glued and sealed the insides of the U shaped section with sanding sealer. After that I removed the masking tape and used a crosslinked PVA to glue on the side pieces with clamps. I should have made up some guide pieces as the glue was slippery and I had a battle to keep the sides in their correct place.

The thinness of the top is the result of my lousy hand sanding. I just couldn't get the surfaces parallel and smooth. In the end I ran it through a drum sander. There was no special cut, just a thorough seal on both sides with shellac. It hasn't warped so far, but only time will tell.

Regards

David

Looks great. Kudos!