Project Information
When the kids come home for a visit and notice the abundance of boxes throughout the house they can't help but want to make one themselves. I am always happy to take them out to the shop and walk them through the process.
Since many parts of the process are dangerous, I may do most of the cutting, but they always do part of each step. They are eager to learn however, and this most recent time, my oldest son and his wife did most of the work with my direction.
In both cases they selected the wood for the box from a batch I already had planed to thickness, and we cut a dado for the floor and jumped right in. The process takes many steps, and we broke it down in segments that needed to be glued up. The cutting and glue up took about two hours spread across a day. Then we cut grooves for splines and did lots of sanding. Next we cut off the tops, sanded some more and installed hinges. More sanding, and then some more sanding, and we were ready for a mineral spirits wipe and tung oil. My wife instructed them as they rubbed with a little steel wool between coats of minwax wipe on poly, and it all came together.
Felt pads on the corners, a suede floor, and a brass chain finished it up.
My daughter in law made this one… Sapele with a spalted maple top made for a very pretty little box ( 9"x6"x5")
My son the Marine Captain made this bigger box. Ambrosia maple with a walnut top, 14" x 8×6") A man's box for sure. The box came out great, but a little pecky section of the top makes it less than perfect. Still, it is a great box, and the experience of doing it with my boy makes it priceless to me.
Making boxes is fun, but doing it with the ones you love makes it even better!
Since many parts of the process are dangerous, I may do most of the cutting, but they always do part of each step. They are eager to learn however, and this most recent time, my oldest son and his wife did most of the work with my direction.
In both cases they selected the wood for the box from a batch I already had planed to thickness, and we cut a dado for the floor and jumped right in. The process takes many steps, and we broke it down in segments that needed to be glued up. The cutting and glue up took about two hours spread across a day. Then we cut grooves for splines and did lots of sanding. Next we cut off the tops, sanded some more and installed hinges. More sanding, and then some more sanding, and we were ready for a mineral spirits wipe and tung oil. My wife instructed them as they rubbed with a little steel wool between coats of minwax wipe on poly, and it all came together.
Felt pads on the corners, a suede floor, and a brass chain finished it up.
My daughter in law made this one… Sapele with a spalted maple top made for a very pretty little box ( 9"x6"x5")
My son the Marine Captain made this bigger box. Ambrosia maple with a walnut top, 14" x 8×6") A man's box for sure. The box came out great, but a little pecky section of the top makes it less than perfect. Still, it is a great box, and the experience of doing it with my boy makes it priceless to me.
Making boxes is fun, but doing it with the ones you love makes it even better!