Thread: A box for Elsa

A back-of-a-beer-coaster tally showed that there are more than 80 parts to this box, most of them in the drawers, compartments (public and secret), slides etc so I thought I'd better get cracking.
I dressed the rosewood and started on the sides and 2 important structural dividers.
By the end of the day I had the box together enough to get an idea of its size

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the 6 main parts are largely finished

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the placement, depth and length of all of the rebates and grooves are critical

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and some of the grooves are differentiated only by their depth

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the last job of the day was to cut the rebates and fix and dress the huon pine stitches

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but all of the mental gymnastics to work out which fingers to cut and which to miss was beyond me by the end of the day ... so off to a glass of red!

fletty

Watching with interest Fletty and I like what I see!!!

Might have to have a play with your stitching idea, too!

Looking good.

Originally Posted by fletty

... so off to a glass of red!

fletty

Quite so. The breakfast of champions.

I got home from work still fairly fresh, sharpened the brain by completing 3 'fiendish' sudokus, took a berocca and headed to the shed. I had already cut the sides into lids and box because the width of the saw kerf would upset the spacing if I made the cut after finger jointing. I clamped the whole disaster together, compared it to the map I had drawn on 5mm square graph paper and started cutting finger joints.....

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I then enjoyed the zen moment of the handtool work to cut the mitres and the pic below. which is admittedly the worst example, should have shown me the disater that was about to happen. BTW the joint looks VERY furry because it IS VERY small!

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I dry fitted 1 joint and discovered that the fingers are so tight that all of the little huon blocks got torn off and were stuck in their mating part! I had only one choice and that was to quickly turn the 'dry fit' into a fully glued joint while the huon blocks were jammed in almost the right place.....

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So, with one corner glued, the others eased with a file and safely pushed together, I was able to see IF I had cut or missed the right fingers and was relieved to see that I had. A quick swipe over the one glued corner with my LN smoother resulted in a return a zen like state

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Another disaster recovered.

fletty

... make a bigger drawer and cut it up!

The design of this box means that virtually all of the pieces have to be made and installed before the box itself can be glued up .... so, on to the internals.
There are 2 blocks of drawers and I wanted each block to look like they are from one piece so I made a single drawer box the same size as all of the drawers put together...

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and then I set up my 'little parts cutting centre" which consists of a false base double sided taped to the saw bench, an extra fence which is clamped to the 'real' fence and a zero clearance slot cut in the new base ...

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and cut the drawer box into segments...

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I had precut the rosewood drawer bases 4 of which include a tongue to slide in the grooves in the box sides and when they are all assembled and temporarily located in the box I got the grain effect I was hoping for

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I temporarily replaced the 4th side of the box showing the drawers in place

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... and how the top and bottom drawers will be free to slide

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I'm almost at the point where I can glue the box together but need to find a way to grow a third arm and hand from the middle of my chest first.
There will be a 'well' that slides down between the blocks of drawers but this can be added after the glue up. Keen eyes might already be able to see the first SECRET COMPARTMENT but its catch is well concealed. For the lid I need to relearn scroll sawing ... in fact I'd better find my scroll saw first!

fletty

Looking good mate, that Rosewood is very nice.

I'm planning to drive to Canberra tomorrow so I can drop by and give you a hand gluing up if you need it?

Thanks for the offer Andy but I wont be ready in time for tomorrow AND I am expecting to be at work anyway.
It was good to see you on Saturday.

fletty

I'd better watch the rest of this - looking very impressive!

Originally Posted by fletty

I dry fitted 1 joint and discovered that the fingers are so tight that all of the little huon blocks got torn off and were stuck in their mating part! I had only one choice and that was to quickly turn the 'dry fit' into a fully glued joint while the huon blocks were jammed in almost the right place........

And here I was thinking I'm the only mug that has these sort of dry-fit/glue-up disasters!!! Just finished a mini-cabinet in Rosewood and half the drawer dividers are not glued in - was too scared to try pulling them out after they dry-fitted so tightly

1 greatly underused attribute of finger joints ......

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is to conceal the opening for a false bottom....

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that hides (yet) another SECRET COMPARTMENT!

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This is the prototype for the 'well' that fits between the 2 banks of drawers. I might be able to clean it up and use it though.

fletty

How do you plan to tell the recipient about the secret compartments and how to operate?

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

How do you plan to tell the recipient about the secret compartments and how to operate?

... that's the problem ... she's only 8 months old and I can't tell her parents because they are are the ones she'll be hiding things from ?

fletty

Originally Posted by fletty

I've started a new project, a special box for a little girl to take with her through her life. It will have drawers, hidden compartments and all the special things that a special girl needs. By the time she is old enough to appreciate it, she will be back in Sweden with her family and probably no memory of her first 2 years in Australia.

So, it will be made of Australian timbers and contain, somewhere, the story of the box and its maker, a set of Australian 2012 coins, bracelet charms of Australian animals AND a set of classic Australian childrens' books .... of which I have now found 3 exactly the same size ..., which is bliss for a box maker.

hi Fletty

that box you are making is striking

may I suggest that the coins you include are either uncirculated or mint -- (naturally) you can such things from the mMint them from the mint. my person preference for birth year coins are the Silver kangaroos, like this one https://eshop.ramint.gov.au/2012-Mar...of/210050.aspx

Originally Posted by ian

..... may I suggest that the coins you include are either uncirculated or mint -- (naturally) you can such things from the mMint them from the mint. my person preference for birth year coins are the Silver kangaroos, like this one https://eshop.ramint.gov.au/2012-Mar...of/210050.aspx

Thanks Ian, I've just had a look and ...... WOW!

I had no idea such things were even available. I've read that Christian Beksvoort (?), the US fine furniture maker, conceals a 'gold dollar' (valued at about $200) in each piece he makes but I guess he's also being paid thousands for each one! I assure you that if I put something SO valuable in my work it will be where everyone CAN see it! I particularly liked the 'baby set' on the link as well.

fletty