Project Information
I needed a box to hold my gouges. EarlS had sent me a box of shorts a while back, so I started digging through it. There were two nice pieces of American Chestnut in there that looked like likely sides. Plus a couple pieces of plywood, some white oak, and a piece of cherry and poplar.
I resawed the 3/4 pieces of chestnut into 3/8-ish pieces, and cut them in half height wise. One had a worm hole close to the end, so I cut that off for the short sides of the box. Then I dovetailed things together and screwed up one set of dovetails, so I trimmed the box a little more and tried again. That, with the piece of plywood in it, made the first piece of the box (the upper tray, in the middle of picture 2, and upside down in picture 4). I didn't notice the other wormhole you can see in picture 1. If I had, the box probably would've only held 5 or 6 tools per layer, and I would've needed a third layer.
I cut the second layer of the box to the same dimensions, being careful not to screw up. I used a piece of poplar (resawed to 1/4 thick) for the bottom of that ( rightmost in picture 2, and upside down in picture 5). There's a little gap on one side of the bottom, but it's got "room to move," right?
I cut one piece of oak into quarters (turning quartersawn oak into flatsawn) for use as the tool rests. I cut another piece of oak into eighths and glued strips inside the upper layer so it could nest into the lower layer.
Then the lid. That's the other half of the poplar with some oak strips around it, then a piece of cherry on top. The lid piston-fits inside the upper layer. The cherry was thicker than I liked, so I sawed about 3/16 off it and saved that for a future project. You can see the finished lid in pictures 1 and 3. The strips on the edges needed little cutouts so they would fit over the oak pieces that sit on top of the tools. With the box nestled together, everything is pretty secure inside the box.
I'll figure out latches later, but for now an old nylon belt will wrap the pieces and hold them together just fine.
Finish is quick and dirty. I sanded everything on the belt sander using a worn-out 60 grit belt (I'd guesstimate it as equivalent to about 150) and then coated with BLO. I'll probably shellac things at some point, but for now my gouges are secure and I don't have to worry about banging them against other tools on my workbench.
Mission accomplished!
I resawed the 3/4 pieces of chestnut into 3/8-ish pieces, and cut them in half height wise. One had a worm hole close to the end, so I cut that off for the short sides of the box. Then I dovetailed things together and screwed up one set of dovetails, so I trimmed the box a little more and tried again. That, with the piece of plywood in it, made the first piece of the box (the upper tray, in the middle of picture 2, and upside down in picture 4). I didn't notice the other wormhole you can see in picture 1. If I had, the box probably would've only held 5 or 6 tools per layer, and I would've needed a third layer.
I cut the second layer of the box to the same dimensions, being careful not to screw up. I used a piece of poplar (resawed to 1/4 thick) for the bottom of that ( rightmost in picture 2, and upside down in picture 5). There's a little gap on one side of the bottom, but it's got "room to move," right?
I cut one piece of oak into quarters (turning quartersawn oak into flatsawn) for use as the tool rests. I cut another piece of oak into eighths and glued strips inside the upper layer so it could nest into the lower layer.
Then the lid. That's the other half of the poplar with some oak strips around it, then a piece of cherry on top. The lid piston-fits inside the upper layer. The cherry was thicker than I liked, so I sawed about 3/16 off it and saved that for a future project. You can see the finished lid in pictures 1 and 3. The strips on the edges needed little cutouts so they would fit over the oak pieces that sit on top of the tools. With the box nestled together, everything is pretty secure inside the box.
I'll figure out latches later, but for now an old nylon belt will wrap the pieces and hold them together just fine.
Finish is quick and dirty. I sanded everything on the belt sander using a worn-out 60 grit belt (I'd guesstimate it as equivalent to about 150) and then coated with BLO. I'll probably shellac things at some point, but for now my gouges are secure and I don't have to worry about banging them against other tools on my workbench.
Mission accomplished!