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Project Information

You may have seen Kiefers first Harvest box he made.

I was so inspired by the work and presentation I decided to do one myself.
The timber I used was off cuts from a friends house he was building and I had been asked to do some electrical work.

As I was leaving I spotted some Blackbutt flooring offcuts in a pile of rubbish he said I could have as much as I liked so I gathered up about eight pieces.



Four pieces I used in the lid and,


The other four in the box base.



Construction Process:
First up I sawed off the edge sections of the tongue and groove for the lid parts and both sides of the T&G for the box sections.

Dimensions:

Once I had the lid complete I determined the box size using the Fibanachi method and trimed the lid to suit the box frame.

The lid retains the original T&G in the center sections and was thicknessd to remove dings and defects only, so the thickness was determined by surface finish being defect free.

The box frame unfortnately doesnt have the 7 deg signature dimension as per Klaus's, which was a pitty as I was keen to try this construction method out.
The final thicknessing prevented this, so the sides are just parallel.
The lid stand off is a frame simply made from remaining off cut pieces

I studied Klaus's pictures and rebated the top and rabbeted the bottom, I used an additional piece of Ply for the base.
Cut 45 deg angles on the frames and glued everything together.

The handle:

The handle I laminated using the bandsaw and glued it back together using the caul I had.

The construction of the handle was quite a dielemma as I didn't know at the time how it was done, later via a message I found out, (quite an interesting process by the way, well worth checking out) anyway continuing on, I wanted to retain the original stress relief grooves in the timber of the handle for authenticity but it looked ugly when I finally finished it so sanded it all off again with a linisher.

The handle is attached via stand offs and secured carefully with 2×40mm screws from the underside of the lid

The Mortice trims

The mortice trim are simply off cuts sanded at 45 deg all round then cut off with the band saw, a very fiddly job for somebody with poor eyesight I tell you, I lost quite a few in the process, never found where they went to!
Then simply a matter of them being glued in position using awl marks to key them in.

The Feet

Simply four offcuts tapered to suit, (an opps was done here… try not to notice I mis oriented one foot on each side)

Timber finish:

First up sanding then sanding then even more sanding, I started at 80 grit finished with 320 grit
This is what it looked like after I was finished the sanding work.



I then used a scraper to prep the surface and remove any glue residue.
Then it was onto the polishing wheel, where here I used white compound and set to work

Everything polished up well and I even managed not to loose any parts this time.

Final finish.

The Internals
I used black flocking.

The External surfaces.
After the polishing I used a cotton wheel and Shellawax to produce the final sheen.

Photographic positioning:

As with Kiefers Post I needed to maintain every attempt of his professionalism so took lots of photos around the house to produce the effect shown in the 6 feature shots.

The rest are raw as construction shots.

Closure:
It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge Kiefers inspiring work which prompted my project
Its greatly appreciated Kiefer… and Thank you for your work and guidance during this KKO Box!!

We have been invited back for the house warming so the box will become a gift for Michael and Maxine's new home.

Gallery

Comments

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Beautiful Box!

Very COOL design…

Your Fake Mortice/tenon trims had me going… anyone, after looking at it, would realize that it would be impossible to have those Through Tenons as shown (after your glue-up)... :)

Nice touch though… COOL Touch!

I like you box very much… Very COOL…

Do you think Splines in the corners would have made it stronger (out of the same wood to not distract from the fake mortice trims)? :)

Nice!!

Thank you!
 

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Turned out beautiful. Thanks for sharing the process and details.
 

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Hello Guys, and thanks for the very kind comments.

Joe:
As the design was a direct "pirate" of kiefers original Harvest Box I tried to keep it as accurate as his (minus the 7 deg slopes) I agree with you the splines would provide more strength but trying to match the timber would be most difficult so I would opt for contrasting splines.

Larry, Drew and David:
I only hope Klaus spots it and picks up on the comments as they are mostly his craftsmanship and original design well deserved to be directed to the original designer!
 

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Beautiful Rob, Kiefer will be very proud of your effort.

Bob
 

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Turned out pretty close in looks to my box color and all and I am sure your friends will enjoy your effort of turning the floor boards into a nice little house warming gift .
To strengthen the mitred corners I used 1/4" dowels which are hidden by the square caps .
Great job on the photography also and thanks for the mention .

Take care

Klaus
 

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Turned out great. It's going to be a nice gift. Thanks for sharing and the detailed post.
 

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well done. good post.
 

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Siegs and Dan

Again thanks for your input, The post was framed with the intent of being able to share.

I guess Kiefer could make his harvest boxes and no doubt get to enjoy the fruits of his work, however to post it and encourage others to do the same is a different matter.

I am a bit of a dummy design wise at times so if I manage to "pull off a winner" its time to share and provide the appropiate acknowlegment of the original craftsman.

I also enjoy my wood working, so see my "Grass between the Pyramids" for example, again another Kiefer inspired skill builder.
 

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Robert, I knew money grew on trees, but I didn't know boxes grew there as well. Nice work and fun pictures.
 

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Yeah Al
They are specially nurtured box trees
Dont you have a couple in your place, The boxes in the phosos are actually two of I got one from each plant if you cross pollinate them each box will be an exact clone.

I have also got some fantastic Burl boxes from cracking open the Burls, although they are a bit rarer and usually only produce one offs !!

I am betting that is where you got the two you are holding, dont let on though as most people think its made in a shop…Wrong you just pick it off the tree!! too easy no mess and perfect every time!!

tee hee
 

· In Loving Memory
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Nice work on this beauty Rob. It is wonderful when the LJ members can inspire each other.
 

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Lookin good Rob. Nice build
 
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