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I must confess these small boxes are not of my design. They are infact a direct translation from Doug Stowes book, Making basic boxes.
They measure 3" x 3" the lid being 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" with box walls 3/8" thick while the lids are 3/4" thick. The lids have a rebate creating a small 1/8" deep lip which fits snugly into the aperture of the box opening to ensure a friction fit as can be seen in photo 6.
The woods used include, Splated Beech, English oak, Birch, Walnut, Yew some sort of Mahogany and Acacia.

This Christmas we are having Christmas dinner at my parents house with my parents and my sister and her family. My wife likes to orchestrates after dinner party trivia games. I thought I would include my own game this year with the boxes handed out as prizes. I thought I would individually bag up some of the planes shavings from the boxes and a little Stick of the wood and ask the family to name the wood from the shavings and the little piece of wood. Each correct answer will win a box.

Of course everyone will win a box, I have them lined up for each individual, of course they don't know that. E.g. The box with the marble effect lid (spalted beech) is for my wife. The white lid (Birch) is a little bland so I introduced some Acacia in the form of a cross the represent the Cross of St George flag (English fnational flag) for my English brother in Law.

It was the first time I got to use my relatively new table saw spline slitting jig as listed here in projects some time ago. It worked very well, I must say.



I also made up a small jig for cutting the mitred splines, again taken from Doug Stowes book.



A fairly straight forward build process all in all except for a small mishap when routing the rebate on the bottom of the lids, the router tore off a chunk from the lid of spalted beech. I suspect the wood had just decayed a little too much at that point. Unfortunately for me it was the only interesting piece I had left and of course it was for my wife's box.





Scarfing a new piece to a corner is always a tad fiddly when working with small parts. I decided to clamp the remains of the lid to the bench, screw a baton parallel to the break line then used wedges to clamp the donor piece against the baton. The repair turned out well, particularly as the repair patch is a different species of wood, although it blends nicely with the spalting in the Beech.



The repair is to the top left hand corner, difficult to see even on close inspection.



I just need to,wrap them now.

Thanks for reading.

Gallery

Comments

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Nice boxes. A thought for you on wrapping is to put something inexpensive the person getting the box will get a kick out of, and just put a bow on top. If they act all excited about the box, just act shocked, ohhhh OK you can keep that too, it was just a box. I usually put a scratch off lottery ticket in mine with a wish they win big. My Wife always gives me away anyhow.

Nice work, thanks for posting.
 

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Hey amigo,

You did a bang-up job on the small boxes….Your kinfolks will get a kick out of them…That's a good idea to do something like that for a Christmas treat…..!! You used some "exotic" woods in building them…Now just a shekel in each one, and they will think they found a treasure….:)… And that spline jig worked just like a jig is supposed to work…..!!
 

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Steve/Rick. Thanks for the comments boys. Each one does actually contain a little gift, pertinent to them, just never thought to mention it.

The photos don't do the design of Dougs boxes justice, down to the photographer and his poor use of shop lighting lol.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment

David.
 

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Look good David.
 

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These are great and very thoughtful gifts. Very nice to personalize each one.
 

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Bob & BB1. Thank you gents, much appreciated.

David
 

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Great looking various types of wood….I like angled cut on top sides.
 

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Hey David. Long time since I've been here. Looks like you're having the time of good living in the shop. Your boxes are super nice. Hope you're totally enjoying your retirement. I hope to get back in the shop and make some dust in 2019. Work/Play safe. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to you and yours.
 

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The boxes may be called basic, but you still have to have a certain amount of skill to make sure that the construction has been executed well! It could be basic, but messy with corners all uneven and untouched and that would make all the difference! I think you did a pretty good job with yours so don't sell yourself short!
 

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Great looking various types of wood….I like angled cut on top sides.

- majuvla
Thanks for the comments.
 

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Hey David. Long time since I ve been here. Looks like you re having the time of good living in the shop. Your boxes are super nice. Hope you re totally enjoying your retirement. I hope to get back in the shop and make some dust in 2019. Work/Play safe. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to you and yours.

- Roger
Hi Roger, I too am not a regular visitor, true what they say, in retirement one never has enough time. I hope you are well informed ld friend.

David
 

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The boxes may be called basic, but you still have to have a certain amount of skill to make sure that the construction has been executed well! It could be basic, but messy with corners all uneven and untouched and that would make all the difference! I think you did a pretty good job with yours so don t sell yourself short!

- RituGupta
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. The boxes were well received by our dinner guests.
 
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