Thread: Heads Up - Boxmaking Videos by Ian Hawthorne

Thanks for posting ... good stuff

Just watched No.7, hinge fitting last night and there was some very good information in there. As Ian says, this is the part that many people fear and I agree. After watching that I will go away and see what I can do to refine my setup to create better and more repeatable precision.

Does anyone know where to buy the very large sheets of sandpaper Ian uses to flatten the mating surfaces of the base and lid after separating them on the TS? He uses a piece of 120 grit that looks to be 450 wide. The Sandpaper Man only has up to 300mm wide unless I'm searching in the wrong place.

TSPM has them. One must email. He cuts them from the super wide sheets used in the massive multi-belt sanding machines.

I bought one that was 610mm wide @ 120 grit. They are sold by the metre.

What are they listed under or do you have to ask?

They're not on the site, at least they weren't when I asked.

I enquired about 1000mm wide in 120 and 180.

He came back and asked if 610mm in 120 grit by an arbitrary length was acceptable. Yes, yes it was!

The email was on his site. I was under the impression that this was cut from gigantic rolls he has for custom belts on industrial solutions.

What I received is very good paper. I've used it for maybe 80 or 90 boxes over the last 4 years.


Edit... Look! Wide Belt Sander Sizes

Edit 2 - 610mm and 1110mm wide... Paper Backed Sandpaper Rolls | The Sandpaper Man

Thanks for the link. After failing to find it through the menu I searched his website for "600mm" and found nothing. If only I'd searched for "610mm"
I'll order some tomorrow.

That's the 120 grit covered. Ian also has a sheet of 400 grit he lays over the 120 for finishing. Any idea who might stock that? Or is 180 fine enough?

If you are sticking it down onto a chunk of MDF, why not try some of the 300mm colour coded stuff, side-by-side? Colour Coded Cloth Backed Sandpaper Rolls

Its cleanly sliced, so the gap would be nominal. Join with some ultra-thin double sided tape: 5mm~100mm wide

If you are lining boxes, you'll need the tape anyway. I HIGHLY recommend it - there are a few posts where I've discussed it with pictures.

Colour Coded Sandpaper 400 grit.jpg

Thanks Woodpixel. Unfortunately the 400 is out of stock. I think 320 will be close enough.

I'm curious to hear other's thoughts on Ian's method for gluing up the mitre joints. For those who haven't seen the video, he uses white PVA diluted with 5% water. He rolls a very thin coat onto one side of the mitre only. He waits 1 minute then rolls a second thin coat onto the same side. That's it. No reinforcing splines. And this is on MDF. It seems like a recipe for a starved joint to me.

How do you guys glue your mitres?

Originally Posted by jack620

I'm curious to hear other's thoughts on Ian's method for gluing up the mitre joints. For those who haven't seen the video, he uses white PVA diluted with 5% water. He rolls a very thin coat onto one side of the mitre only. He waits 1 minute then rolls a second thin coat onto the same side. That's it. No reinforcing splines. And this is on MDF. It seems like a recipe for a starved joint to me.

How do you guys glue your mitres?

I think you somewhat answer the question when you say it's MDF.... there's no end-grain-to-end-grain joint involved there, so what you'd do in that scenario with non-MDF timber panels doesn't really apply to MDF.

Sure, but my experience with lots of MDF projects is that what Ian does still isn't adequate for MDF. Maybe I've been overdoing with the glue all these years.

Just finished video 6 tonight.

Have to admit this is a cracker of a series. I've learned new tricks. Wrote to Ian and thanked him, had a bit of a conversation. Good bloke.

Makes me miss my workshop terribly!

Originally Posted by jack620

I'm curious to hear other's thoughts on Ian's method for gluing up the mitre joints.

I, too, wonder about the strength but then I think Ian’s box sides are 15mm MRMDF so there is a substantial glue surface at the mitres, and this only a keepsake box. I do know that Ian has used internal L-shaped ply splines in some of his other boxes when the splines have been hidden by wall linings.

Coincidentally I’m currently restoring a Victorian writing slope made of veneer over 12mm cedar, and the mitres on that were originally glued with hide glue and no splines.

Regards,

Brian