Thread: How to start making boxes

Hi Jill,

It will depend on what sort of box you want to make, AlexS is brilliant at boxes so hopefully he'll answer you. I make boxes, but they are usually pretty simple. I have WIP files for a couple if you would like those. Nice Jarrah BTW

Regards,

Rob

Thanks Rob, you're making me blush. There are quite a number of good boxmakers on here, so there's no shortage of good ideas for design help.

I've attached a set of notes that I've used in courses, hope that gets you started. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, and I'm sure plenty of us will answer. Remember, there is nearly always more than one correct way to do things. Try a few and use the one you like.

Alex - that's a very useful set of notes, especially the stuff on fitting hinges

Cheers

Alex, many thanks for sharing these notes. Have just printed them out, and will settle down for a good read, before going to Dairy Farmers Stadium to watch the Cowboys play Broncos this evening

Originally Posted by JillB

Hi, I have acquired a beautifully figured piece of jarrah to make my first box . It is 900 L, 200W x 30 thick. ( see attached).

Can anyone please suggest the best way to go about making a box or 2 or 3 from this?

I have glued together and jointed some pine offcuts to the same cross sectional dimensions to practice with.

I have access to my son's bandsaw ( 1/2" x 3 tpi blade) , thicknesser and old Gifkins jig. Not sure about making the box lid and base.

Can anyone please point me in the right direction for making these? Any good tutorials or articles will be devoured first

Jill

Your 1st consideration should be -- will the Jarrah form the sides or top of the box? or both?

Your next sould be what size box?
for a document box big enough to hold A4 sized paper you need a piece of wood around 1100mm long -- your piece of Jarrah needs to be resawn to yield enough length for the sides of such a box


At the risk of imposing my taste on you I think I'd use that piece of Jarrah for box sides and a different wood for the box tops

Me again

Just for fun, I've taken your board, resawn it and created two book matched panels each of which would be about 900 x 380 and around 12mm thick

what do you think?

Very clever and very interesting, ian, how'd you do that?

What a beautiful piece of timber, and I don't want to ruin it. There is a split at one end, as you have noticed in your pics, so the board will probably end up as 800 long

My ideal box for me starting out is the silky oak Miscellany box ( below) by AlexS, something to really aspire to.

I intend making an all jarrah teabag holder that sits on my kitchen bench next to the electric jug, with a central divider for mine and my husband's different tea bags. It will get used many times each day Some nice legs of a different colour would be nice, like Alex has done, but I have no idea how they were done, very clever!

The external dimensions to suit the timber and the available bench space will be about 240W x 120D x 130H, with the hinged lid of jarrah too, with a small lip at the front of the lid to lift it. I would like to make sure the cockroaches etc can't get into it too, so needs to be a good tight fitting lid.

So, if I rip my 800 long board into two pieces 120 and 80 wide, say, and then re-saw them, the 120W pieces should be enough for the box sides, and for the 240 x 120 lid and base, will have to bookmatch and edge glue the 80W sections.

Does that sound an efficient use of this timber?

any suggestions on how to do those the legs, please? Also, any suggestions on timber for corner splines on jarrah boxes?

To make the legs, I first make a template of the shape from some thin flexible material - thin ply or even plastic. Then, before cutting the leg material into shorter lengths, I square it up and cut the rebate out for them to attach to the box. Then cut the legs a little over length, and using the template, mark the shape of the legs on one face, with the template at the foot. I roughly shape one side of each on the bandsaw, but if you don't feel confident doing this, you can do it with a patternmaker's rasp. Then use the template to mark the other face and shape it. You can then finally shape the legs using a paternmaker's rasp, file and sanding. Once the legs are shaped, you can cut them to length. On that box, I've used a compound cut done on the table saw to put an angle on the top.
For the slipfeathers, you can use pretty well any timber - it depends whether you want to make them stand out or be inconspicuous. The stess on them is along the grain, so pretty well anything will be strong enough, and they don't need to be very thick. Just be sure you make them so the grain runs perpendicular to the mitre.

Does that sound an efficient use of this timber?

Yes, although you could also use the jarrah for a couple of box sides and a different timber for the lids. In the notes it shows how to resaw the timber so you get continuous grain around the box.
Hope this helps.

Mods, if you wish, feel free to put those notes in Box Bits.

Many thanks for the details about the legs, Alex, I shall be giving it a go soon..

you could also use the jarrah for a couple of box sides and a different timber for the lids.

you have made me rethink my approach to the box I was going to make. Back to the drawing board. Will probably rip the 200mm board ( it is actually 196.5mm) in half, then resaw those 96mm boards for box sides.

When I was in WA last year I bought a short length 120mm wide marri timber and carted it back to NQ, so that should be a nice contrasting lid with the jarrah sides.

Originally Posted by JillB

Very clever and very interesting, ian, how'd you do that?

It's pretty neat, hey

I have an image editor that's as functional as Photoshop, but costs less than $100.

Using the editor, I
1) drew a box around the face of the board in your photo and used a tool to correct the perspective -- this gave me a rectangular image of the board
2) drew a second box around the now rectangular board to create a mask and copied what was inside the mask -- this gave me a copy of the board's face
3) pasted the copy on top of your image
4) flipped the copy so what was the top edge became the bottom edge
5) aligned the top edge of the copy with the bottom edge of the original to the get the first book match
6) repeated step 5 with the bottom edge of the copy and top edge of the original to get the second book match
7) cropped the composite images to just show the board faces

Originally Posted by JillB

I intend making an all jarrah teabag holder that sits on my kitchen bench next to the electric jug, with a central divider for mine and my husband's different tea bags.

The external dimensions to suit the timber and the available bench space will be about 240W x 120D x 130H, with the hinged lid of jarrah too, with a small lip at the front of the lid to lift it. I would like to make sure the cockroaches etc can't get into it too, so needs to be a good tight fitting lid.

Jill
Can I stop you right there

rather than design the box to fit the "available space" and match your piece of timber ...
can I suggest you design the box to fit the contents -- two rows of tea bags (maybe 20-30 bags in each row) plus a divider and then see how you might cut your timber to create such a box

I think you have enough wood to build a really interesting box.

Originally Posted by ian

Jill
Can I stop you right there

rather than design the box to fit the "available space" and match your piece of timber ...
can I suggest you design the box to fit the contents -- two rows of tea bags (maybe 20-30 bags in each row) plus a divider and then see how you might cut your timber to create such a box

I think you have enough wood to build a really interesting box.

Consider me stopped, Ian. Good thinking

Good thinking, have gone back to the drawing board, after looking at space required for 30 bags randomly packed!

Jill

PM me your address and I'll lend you my copy of Doug Stowe's Box Making (Taunton)
the detail inside will answer a lot of your questions

Thanks for this very kind offer , ian. I looked up the local library online catalogue, and found it, so will hare off there and grab it