Thread: More little pieces of wood

Don't mind me... just passing through to find a nice corner and have a good sulk.

There is not much wrong with this box - well done!

So now we can add to the list,

(1) mistakes are not mistakes - they are just opportunities for innovation;

and now

(2) isolation - no problem, it becomes a driving force for innovation.

I've gotta admit, I just love that box. I've made a few wooden hinges , but you all have inspired me to make more. Thank you for posting this one.

ICN,

Bill

Originally Posted by Sculptured Box

....isolation - no problem, it becomes a driving force for innovation....

Spot on!

Jim, the boxes are great, as are the inlays.

A question on the hinges. They look similar to Roger Gifkins design. Are they inspired from there, or your own doing? If your own, can you please elaborate on method of creation?

Thanks for sharing, and keep your head down. It gets bloody windy on the tablelands :eek:

Cheers.

Gazaly, the hinges are similar to the Gifkin hinge, but no they weren't inspired by those. The penny dropped when assembling the box bodies. The bodies are finger jointed on a saw bench and during assembling the sides with a pivoting action, some one turned on the light!!!!!! I was boring the holes in the hinges in a jig on the bench drill with a standard twist drill and having a lot of failures because the drill was drifting with the grain. I now use 2.5mm brad point drills with about 95% success. I was using round tooth picks for pivots but found they were not consistant in diameter. Now I make my own dowels by driving small pieces of hardwood (cooktown ironwood) through a 2.5mm hole drilled through a piece of 5mm steel plate.
Jim

Originally Posted by powderpost

Gazaly, the hinges are similar to the Gifkin hinge, but no they weren't inspired by those. The penny dropped when assembling the box bodies. The bodies are finger jointed on a saw bench and during assembling the sides with a pivoting action, some one turned on the light!!!!!! I was boring the holes in the hinges in a jig on the bench drill with a standard twist drill and having a lot of failures because the drill was drifting with the grain. I now use 2.5mm brad point drills with about 95% success. I was using round tooth picks for pivots but found they were not consistant in diameter. Now I make my own dowels by driving small pieces of hardwood (cooktown ironwood) through a 2.5mm hole drilled through a piece of 5mm steel plate.
Jim

I find bamboo skewers excellent for wooden hinge pins. They fit snugly into the 2.5 drill hole. A nice box btw. Greenie for you.
Cheers

There's a nice wooden hinge making video by DPB available for downloading in our forum videos section if you are interested.

Thanks Gumby, I will have a look at it. There is always something to learn.
Jim

Bloody hell Jim! It's not enough that you put us to shame with your turnings but now you show us you do extraordinary square stuff too!:eek) Beautiful box mate!

I love this box! It has two features I dream of doing. Fist the hinges. I have played with wooden hinges a bit but not on a box yet. I like the way they are inset into the box. Well done.
And the inlay...wow. I have made my own simple inlay twice. Once I installed it and failed. The second attempt is sitting on my bench still. My biggest question to you is how do you cut those small pieces accurately? Second question is how do you press them together?

Gecko, the inlay bandings are cut with a 'Pax' razor saw, very fine 42 tpi in a shop made 'mitre box'. The recess for the bandings I now cut with a router, previously the recess was cut using a cutter gauge (similar to a marking gauge but fitted with a cutting edge) and a granny's tooth hand router. I find that powered routers more efficient. The banding is mitred and fitted into the recess using a veneer hammer. The hammer traditionally had a brass edge, mine has an aluminium edge and is used more like a pressing, rubbing action, not like you would expect a 'hammer' to be used. Hope this answers your questions satisfactorily.
Jim

powderpost,
Well, what I meant was the proccess of making the banding itself. That is the part I am trying to work out. If you wouldn't mind giving some details on that part I would appreciate it.

Sorry Gecko, I missunderstood your question. Next time I make some bandings I will do a "work in progress". The following photos are of some bits left over, but should give you the idea. First step after doing the design bit is to glue up the "plank". The plank can be cut square at about 4mm as required. In this case it was cut at 45 deg and 3mm thick. The pieces are then glued between sheets of veneer and pressed. The press is shop made. I also made up a "sled", "jig" thingy for the bandsaw to cut the pieces off the end of the plank. When the whole slab is dry, I cut off 1mm thick strips. Simple process really. Hope this is better.
Jim

Thanks. I would love to see a wip. I am really interested in making my own.
About your press, does that design work well? I started one here at the shop a few days ago but it seems to be overkill as far as how heavy it is made. And does it do a good job of pressing even though the screws are only in the middle? And the last question for now, what are the rough dimensions of the one you made? Thanks again for your help.