Thread: making my first box

Originally Posted by Rhys Cooper

the other day i finished my major work for yr 12 at school. it is a wrokbench.

it is now in our garage at home ready for me to use.

i am keen to make a box for a formal date as a kind of going away gift as she is going to the uk next year.

anyway what are basic tools i will require for making a box?

it will be made out of some jarrah i have.

i just plan on making a rectangle box, bout 150mm long x 75mm wide. something along those lines.

do people mainly hand make boxes?
or can i cut the jarrah to the thickness i want and then run it through the thicknesser to get it perfeect and sand it....or do people plane the timber perfect?

i am new to this kind of construction.

i bought AWR #59 to give me some ideas for the box....
just after a basic box, jarrah construciton, 'maybe' a different timber for the top or something.


the tools i have at home:
tenon saw
planes (unsure what size, but both are stanley and one is very smallbout 100mm in length the other i would guess bout 200mm in length)
steel rule

tools at school:
thicknesser
table saw
drop saw
orbital sander
the usual stuff schools have

so i will probably make it between home and school during lunch times/after school at home

thanks for the help to come

Rhys

Rhys,

You've come to the right place for help. There are some very talented box makers available here, and you may want to go through some old posts. Some of the members have posted lots of step-by-step photos of the various operations in making a box, and many members have posted great photos of the boxes they have made. I suggest you take a look around, find some boxes you like, and then ask questions specific to those boxes. For instance, what kinds of corners do you like? Should the lid be hinged or lift off? What are the complications and advantages of each? There are lots of ways to do everything, and it sounds like you have access to most if not all the tools you need. With some skill and practice, you can make fine boxes with hand tools alone. Even the Egyptians did that.

Post of picture of your new bench. I would like to see what you've made. Then post pictures of your box as you make it. You may be the one to inspire others. Also, there is a box making competition happening here and there will be lots of new boxes revealed in the forum soon. So stay tuned.

Doug

Rhys, firstly, good luck with your bench in the HSC. Lets see some pics.
Jarrah comes up well in boxes, and goes well with most other timbers if you want to use a contrasting lid panel.
Some of the things to consider are: type of corner joints - through or half blind dovetails, splined mitres, finger joints; lid - lift off or hinged (wooden or brass); lock, latch or magnet closure; legs or not; trays or not; lined or not.
I'd thickness to a little thicker than the final wall thickness, then plane & scrape or sand. I usually sand to 800 grit, then a sealer coat of thinned shellac, lightly sand again, then 3 coats of Kunos oil. Remember, how it feels is as important as how it looks. What's the first thing people do with a wooden box?
Remember, because it's a small piece, it will be looked at closely and touched, so detail & finish is everything. The joints need to be accurate - wood filler is not an option.
A simple design well executed is better than something fancy with faults.

thanks for that DougStowe

herre is a link to my workbench thread:
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=63617

i will continue looking at others boxes.

thanks aga in
Rhys

Rhys, you can find some of my boxes on my website http://dougstowe.com Or talk to your school librarian. He or she may be able to locate my books for you. Here in the US, libraries can borrow books for their patrons from other libraries, and I suspect it may be the same in Australia.

Doug

PS, I found your bench photos on the forum. Nice work!

Hi Rhys

a box aye? I wonder why you thought of that

Basic tools for box making (with many options)

1. an idea, a design, a style, maybe even a plan
2. some timber, board pieces are always great to start with, keep your eyes open, you'd be surprised where you find some
3. a ruler or tape measure or even a story board/stick,
4. pencil, eraser, pencil sharpener
5. something to cut the timber to length eg handsaw, jigsaw, table saw, bandsaw, cut off saw
6. something to join the timber - depends on your joint choice eg chisel, router, drill glue & screws or nails
7. something to prepare the boards, eg handplanes, sandpaper, a power sander, scraper even
8. fnish eg shellac, wipe on poly, oil and wax
9. hardware eg hinges,a latch/catch, handle
10. a camera to take photos for us and for your records

Not everything in the list is essential, pick and choose what suits you the best. don't worry about making mistakes, they only enhance your learning.

most of all, have fun!

cheers
Wendy

an idea i have is to...

laminate some jarrah and tassie oak together. so that the side of the box go: tassie oak -->jarrah--->tassie oak.

the box is to store a pen i am going to turn for her at school.

so i the box dimensions will be kinda small about:
150mm (L) x 50mm (W) x 40mm (H)

so if i have 25mm of tassie oak then 100mm of jarrah, then another 25mm of tassie oak.
the end peices will be tassie oak, and the top will be the same pattern as the sides.

joints:
mitre

lid:
lift, but no handle, and i dont want it to thick, about 5mm.

thoughts on this

I reckond that sounds pretty nice... go for it!

Originally Posted by Rhys Cooper

an idea i have is to...

laminate some jarrah and tassie oak together. so that the sides of the box go: tassie oak -->jarrah--->tassie oak.
thoughts on this

Rhys, are you going end grain to end grain on the glue up? Any connections where they join? Or long grain overlap? The best thing about woodworking is that you can learn so much just by doing, and while some of old guys are scratching our heads, you young ones will learn and maybe teach us a thing or two. Keep us in updates.

One of the great things about small boxes is that you can get away with things that won't work on big ones. And what a nice idea, both the box AND the gift inside.

Doug

Sounds like you got the right idea Rhys. look forward to seeing some of your progress.

Originally Posted by DougStowe

Rhys, are you going end grain to end grain on the glue up? Any connections where they join? Or long grain overlap? The best thing about woodworking is that you can learn so much just by doing, and while some of old guys are scratching our heads, you young ones will learn and maybe teach us a thing or two. Keep us in updates.

One of the great things about small boxes is that you can get away with things that won't work on big ones. And what a nice idea, both the box AND the gift inside.

Doug

the aim is to just glue them end grian to end grain.....would there be any major problems with that?

yeah so the sides would be tassie oak----> jarrah---->tassie oak.
then ends will be tassie oak.
the top will be the same pattern as the sides
and the bottom will be what ever....unsure yet.

mitre joins all round, recessed bottom peice, to make it flush

the inside will have a tiny little bracket for the pen to sit in.... probably a peice of timber with e semi circle drilled a little bit bigger then the diametere of the pen.

the pen will be made last, because if i run out of time, i can just give her the box.

Rhys

End grain to end grain is the weakest joint there is. You can do it if you have some way to strengthen it, such as splines, but it all adds work.

Originally Posted by AlexS

End grain to end grain is the weakest joint there is. You can do it if you have some way to strengthen it, such as splines, but it all adds work.

hmmmm

well i will look into it.

thanks

Originally Posted by Rhys Cooper

hmmmm

well i will look into it.

thanks

There are lots of ways to make the idea work. For instance, finger joint the pieces of oak and jarra to each other so they can be glued into strong sides, or glue them to a continuous piece beneath. As we all know, the way we learn best is by experimenting for ourselves, not by being told the right answer by others. So try stuff, see if it works.

You could try gluing timber to top and bottom of your end grain joined bits, this provides long grain to long grain joins and strengthens the weaker joins.

A little like this