Tissue Boxes

**Lyle** · 31st October 2020, 05:58 PM

I've been playing around making some tissue boxes. I usually make a pair of boxes. I dress enough wood for two incase I stuff up!!!

I was trying something different this time and tried to put an elipse strip into the lid where the tissues come out. One came out so-so, the other was a complete mess.

The build was, produce an elipse using templates. One for the hole in the lid, then another for a "fill in piece" for the hole and another smaller elipse to cut out a hole leaving a 5mm ring.
I hope that makes sense.
Anyhow I stuffed up. Not only were the cuts not close enough, but I somehow managed to layout the templates incorrectly. Resulting in them not being centered. A big mess.

So a bit of lateral thinking and many curses at my inept skills.
I tried to make a diamond to fit over the cutout. Even though it had to be off center.
It kinda worked but I couldn't cut/chisel the hole well enough for the diamond to fit.
Is there a process to do this correctly??
Eg I made the diamond and cut out the lid, then tried to chisel it to fit the diamond.
Or should I cut the diamond shape and build the diamond to fit the hole???
Any advice, or suggestions greatly appreciated.
The wood is Jacaranda with Aust red cedar.
Lyle.

**mature one** · 1st November 2020, 07:20 AM

for cuts like this a scroll saw is very handy.

**Lyle** · 1st November 2020, 10:10 AM

Thanks.
I did use a scrollsaw. But left a bit outside the line to allow for cleanup.
So would you cut the hole and build the insert strip to it, or build the insert strip anf fit/fettle it to the hole?
Lyle

**mature one** · 2nd November 2020, 07:27 AM

What I do is stack cut, that is cut all the different pieces in one go that way you get a near perfect fit, just make sure you are using the thinnest blade possible. If you don't understand what I am saying you are more than welcome to private message me or call my mobile.

**ciscokid** · 3rd November 2020, 01:57 AM

Originally Posted by Lyle

Thanks.
I did use a scrollsaw. But left a bit outside the line to allow for cleanup.
So would you cut the hole and build the insert strip to it, or build the insert strip anf fit/fettle it to the hole?
Lyle

Whenever I have tried to do inlays, I found it easiest to make the insert first. Then hold the piece you wish to insert firmly on your work surface and scribe a line around it with a marking knife. Run the knife around a couple of times to get a good, deep scribe line. Make the scribed line stand out well by running around it with a sharp pencil.

Now, outfit a pony router with a narrow upturned spiral router bit and carefully remove as much waste as you can. Get close to your line without actually touching it. Once you've got all the waste removed that you can with the router it should be a simple task to chisel away the remaining waste using the scribed line with your chisel much as you would when paring dovetails.

I once did this with three overlapping diamond figures and the fit was perfect. Hope this helps.

**Lyle** · 3rd November 2020, 08:10 AM

Thanks, the replies help.
Seems I need to practice my chisel skills more to do this in future.
Sharp tools. They were sharp, but I need to get better at using them.
Thanks again for your replies.
Lyle

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