Thread: Teak keepsake/document box.

Ruddy your a talented man the whole box is amazing.

There is now a new standard for me to aspire to . Love the repeated theme in the hinges, mitres and decoration. Absolutely brilliant.

Very impressive.
Regards

Something she will treasure forever. A beautiful gift

Outstanding box, I very much like the hinges and mitre keys they are a great feature Well done I'm envious.

Nice work, I'm sure Granddaughter will treasure it forever.

Originally Posted by OtakiriLad

. Love the repeated theme in the hinges, mitres and decoration.

My sentiments exactly.

A stunning piece of work, superb.

Thanks all...I forgot to mention, I got the teak board from Greg Ward. Love going to Cremorne

Absolutely stunning

If I could make something as half as good as that I would be so happy...

Something for her to keep and treasure and think of you for years to come !

Outstanding piece of work Ruddy Love it!

As there's been no questions about how you made the hinges I'm guessing it's common knowledge amongst boxmakers or has been covered on the forum before - any pointers for one who would like to tackle something similar one day

Very Impressive.
Could say you thought outside the box on that one..

Hello TTIT...
Vern, the hinge technique is something I have developed in the past 18 months and this in fact is the third box I have made using it. It came about because I like wooden hinges on boxes but was not a lover of the usual big rustic wooden hinges you see stuck on the outside of many boxes.
I have a few pictures I have taken making prototypes and in the next few days I will try and post them showing how these are made. It takes a degree of patience but I am finding , like all things, the more you do it the easier they become.
I will post it here as a continuation of this post.

Nuther beaut job Ruddy

I had made a box with a complete wooden hinge that was made separately and then inserted in a routed out pocket in the rear of a box carcass. In doing this I found out that if you have the hinge pivot point correctly positioned above the lid/ base split line you can have a completly flush hinge provided you put a groove in the base for the lid corner to pivot over when opening.
This was the first box I made using this principle.
Attachment 217827
Attachment 217828

After this box I had a light bulb moment and thought about inlaying individual leaves and this opens up the design freedom to have different lengths, different widths and of course different materials in the construction of the hinge.
I made a prototype using some Bunnings pine and this is the result. You can see how the hinge works with the open view.
Attachment 217829
Attachment 217830
Attachment 217831
Prototype
Step1.
This is a piece of 18 mm pine and I have marked out where the hinges will be and where the saw kerf will be when the box is finally separated into lid and base. The hinge on the left will be using 4.5mm wide hinge leaves and the one on the right will have 8 mm leaves. This was done just to experiment the idea.The left hand side will have 9 mm centres between adjacent leaves and the RHS will have 16 mm centres.I varied it so I could see what the different sizes may look like. The red line is where the saw kerf will be for the split.
Attachment 217836


Step 2.
This step refers only to how I did the left hand side hinge. The holes at the end of each leaf were drilled with a 6 mm cutter and are 9 mm apart.
Attachment 217837
Step 3
Left side only. This step pockets the hinge layout. I have used a 4.5 mm dia cutter and the trenches are exactly 10 mm deep. This depth is important as it becomes the reference surface for later assembly.The pocket area where the upper and lower leaves will overlap will finish up about 9 mm at this stage which includes the allowance for the table saw kerf.

Attachment 217821

I will add more later. Please ask any questions .