Thread: A "Country" box

The Misses wanted me to build her "A Country Box." She wanted it to look rustic and old. Told me specifically, in no uncertain terms, that she did not want one of my "fancy looking boxes".

So I got hold of some ground-contact rated framing lumber and went about building it. I cut big grooves (dados? mortises?) in the legs to hold a 2x4 frame around top and bottom of the stand. Then I was trying to figure out how to put her flower box together so it would look "country" but not fall apart. You all know how I love my dovetails, but everyone "knows" you can't do dovetails with framing lumber. Being the stubborn guy that I am ("Not one of MY fancy boxes!" Hah! "Can't dovetail framing lumber." Hah!) halfway though the project I decided to give dovetailing it a try on some scrap. It came out well enough that I decided to go for it.

All-in-all it was a bit of compromise, but she's quite happy with it. It fits her idea of what a "country style" flower box should look like, and I got to try some much larger dovetailing that I ever had before. Now I just wished I had dovetailed the frame of the stand as well. Oh well. Next time.

Since it is out in out in the weather with her hitting it with a garden hose each day I'm not sure how the glue on the dovetails will stand up over time, so I'm going to drill holes from the sides though the center of the dovetail pin and peg it with bamboo. I'll use a single bamboo chopstick in each one. I used the pegging technique on another box of mine

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f87/teak-cup-dispenser-33164 (though no dovetails on that one)

I will drill a 6mm hole about 5cm deep and peg it through the pin of the side piece and into the bottom of the socket of the tail on the face. I'll size the chopstick pegs first by pounding them through a 6mm hole drilled in a steel plate first. I have never seen pegged dovetails before, but I'm sure it will hold it together over the years.