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Shaker Blanket Box

18K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  degoose 
#1 ·
The Design Brief

I wanted to make my two young nieces (under 5) a present for Christmas. Their mother suggested a blanket/toy box with the following specifications. Size 800mm wide, 400 deep, and 500 high. No sharp corners. A slow close mechanism for fingers. And it should be able to be used as a seat.



More pictures.
 
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#4 ·
You might want to add a relief to the top of the vertical panels so that your nieces can't trap their fingers as the lid closes. Just an inch or so at the edges would probably be enough to support the top. It would also mean they would get air if they decided to climb into it!.

Nice design though, especially the scroll work.
 
#6 ·
The green thing is a cushion, yeah, the plan was for someone else in the family to patchwork the cushion.

I wonder that instead of making it of nice timber (eg. cedar) I should make it of pine and then paint the whole thing in blackboard paint.

 
#7 ·
Timber Purchase, Prep & Glueup

For Christmas this year I'm making 2 Blanket Boxes (Toy Chests for the kids) and a Wax Melter. The materials (radiata pine) and construction (dovetailed solid timber) is fairly similar so I've working on them together.

Step 1 - Purchasing the Timber




I purchased the timber (with an extra few boards) from Bunnings. Fortunately they must have had new stock in and the boards I selected were actually close to flat and without major defects or many knots.

Step 2 - The Rough Cut Battle Plan




After marking out all my cuts (with margin for error) I then rough cut the pieces using my Makita Jigsaw.




Step 3 - Jointing

The boards were close to flat from the shop. Although, I would normally still go through the processing of dressing the timber (jointing and thicknessing) this time I decided I would hand plane the faces after glue up and would use the machines to do the edges.

Step 4 - The Glue Up




With a new bottle of Titebond 3 I started gluing up the 16 pieces required for the projects.
 
#10 ·
Flattening the Sides

Flattening the Sides
The timber in this project was purchased as 'dressed-all-round' (or DAR). This is meant to mean that each edge side is flat, parallel to the opposing side and square to the edge. For several reasons this is never the case. The timber is processed probably years ago in a production line in a climate different to my own. The changes to moisture content as it dries further allows wood to do it's think and warp, cup and twist. Crosscutting the timber into smaller pieces changes the internal tensions within the board allowing new movement. And the mass produced aspect means that care is not taken with individual boards.





To begin with I tranverse (planing 90 degrees to the average grain direction) with my Stanley No 7. The blade (which is original) I have sharpened with a chamber (curve) to scoop the grain. Tranversing results in small areas of tear out.



The next step would be using a jointer or a smoother plane to make passes at 45 degrees and then parallel to the grain. The process needs constant checking with straight edges and winding sticks to make sure you're still flat. But I don't have a good smoother… so it's back to the power tools.



Using a belt sander (Makita 9924DB) I first traverse and then move parallel to remove the plane marks.



Using a random orbit sander (Makita BO5021KX1) I then remove the belt sander marks.



In the end I have four boards 540mm x 860mm ready for joining.

This technique is not perfect, but it works. Hand planing to finish would be faster, more enjoyable, less dusty, and result in a better finish. (Though care must be taken for tear out.) However, you need a finely tuned smoother which I just don't have. Did I mention there is a wish list on this site….

Sneak Peak: The Next Step - Dovetailing the Sides



The sliding leg vice comes into it's own…

(Photos are not of the blanket chest, but rather the wax melter, technique is the same.)
 
#11 ·
Beautiful work, and … an important lesson imparted.

I've never been able to just USE S2S or S4S, either-likely, for exactly the reasons you gave.

Which makes me feel that much better about the jointer and the planer that I bought, and confirms my notion that buying rough-sawn, or skip planed lumber-for less money-is a smart move.
 
#14 ·
Dovetail Dry Fit




For a while I didn't think the toy chests would be made in time, but after two busy days in the shop, it looks like the kids will have toy chest come Christmas. The dovetails dry fitted together and look good. I was very pleased that the first few slide together without fine tuning, but was disappointed by some that needed a bit more work. The apprentice didn't seem to notice though.

More info and photos on my blog.
 
#17 ·
Base Mouldings





Base moulding completed with a combination of hand and power tools. Particularly proud of my dovetails and hand planed round over. Certainly learnt a few lessons in other areas though largely related to time and planning in the mitres, glue-up and curve cutting.

The whole process is blogged in detail at the love of wood.

Part 1
Part 2
 
#20 ·
The Lids





The solid pine lids for the two boxes is complete and ready for finishing. Two boards were matched for grain and rub glued together with titebond III. The pieces then cut to size with the circ saw and guide. The edges were than rabbetted first using the LN rabbet block plane and a offcut as a guide and then the LV plow plane. (The reason for this was the plow plane which lacks a knicker caused significant tear out when used across the grain, the plow plane was used to finished due to a faster action and depth stop.) The groove was cut quickly and easily with the plow plan. The middle 4" is glued with titebond three (to allow expansion). A LN hand saw was then used to trim the edges. The corners are curved with a saw and rasp. The edges a 1/8" CMT round over bit in a bosch trim router. The pieces are ready to final sanding.
 
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