| Project by The Box Whisperer | posted 04-21-2013 06:15 PM | 4586 views | 10 times favorited | 22 comments |  |
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I have a gig coming up at a market. I have lots of projects (and school) on the go so I knew I needed to bang out a bunch of boxes quickly. I decided to fall back to my personal bread and butter, the box joint.
Pic 1 – The money shot, All the boxes form this current run at once. My biggest box operation to date.
Pic 2 – The 2 largest boxes. I suppose I cheated, because one of these isnt a box joint. In making all of these, just to add a little variety to the work I decided to make a decent sized box while making it up as I go. It is brown maple and walnut, joined with a pinned rabbit. I used thicker 1 inch stock on the sides, and routed out a classic cove around the sides and top of them. The box sides are 1/4 inch walnut. The top is more brown maple, with a rounded sides and a laminated lid lift made form scraps. The drop in tray is unfinished aromatic cedar. To the right of this guys is big red, which is box jointed 1/2 inch Padauk with maple top and bottom and a custom lid lift. Drop in tray again is unfinished aromatic cedar. These were my first inserts, and Im happy with how they turned out. Finish on both of these boxes is danish oil.
Pic 3 – Top row is lacewood and brazillian mahogany with maple top and bottoms, middle row is red oak with live edge maple lid lifts, bottom row is african mahogany with maple tops and bottoms. All of these are box jointed and finished with danish oil.
Pic 4 – Top row, the outer 2 are padauk, box jointed and finished with danish oil. I rounded over the corners on one of these, and Im happy wiht how it turned out, Id do it again. Boxguy, if you read this it was your advice that inspired me to try it. top row middle are box jointed purple heart, finished with water based satin poly. Bottom row is walnut, finished with danish oil. Tops and bottoms are all maple except for the lone 1/4sawn ash to the right. custom lid lifts form scraps.
Pic 5 – Top left, canarywood and birch, top right maple and wenge, bottom left louro preto and ash, bottom right aromatic cedar. Finish on the louro preto was danish oil, the rest got the satin water poly. more scrap lid lifts.
Pic 6 – All of them again just because its nice to see a bunch at once.
A lot of this wood is reclaimed, even some of the exotic stuff. Its amazing what people will throw out, or sell for next to nothing as firewood. I also have a hard time throwing away even the smallest scraps. I think Ive had enough box joints for now, maybe Ill do some half blind dovetails for the next set.
Thanks for viewing, hope you enjoy and as always, any and all feedback is welcome.
-- "despite you best efforts and your confidence that your smarter and faster than a saw blade at 10k rpm…. your not …." - Charles Neil
22 comments so far
whitebeast88
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4128 posts in 3652 days
#1 posted 04-21-2013 06:29 PM
great boxes,nice job.hope you have good fortune at your upcoming show.
-- Marty.Athens,AL
The Box Whisperer
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#2 posted 04-21-2013 06:31 PM
thanks very much beast, I really like your wooden toolbox.
-- "despite you best efforts and your confidence that your smarter and faster than a saw blade at 10k rpm…. your not …." - Charles Neil
cajunpen
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#3 posted 04-21-2013 06:47 PM
That is a nice batch of boxes – you should have no problem selling them.
-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/
The Box Whisperer
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#4 posted 04-21-2013 06:50 PM
thanks cajun, your boxes are really nice too.
-- "despite you best efforts and your confidence that your smarter and faster than a saw blade at 10k rpm…. your not …." - Charles Neil
SteveMI
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#5 posted 04-21-2013 08:11 PM
That is volume production in my world and making that many different kinds at once is unheard of for me. I could make a dozen fairly quickly, but they would have to be nearly identical.
I agree with cajun, you should be very successful with them.
Steve.
-- Being sawdust or first surface awe are dependent on the tool kerf
The Box Whisperer
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678 posts in 3532 days
#6 posted 04-21-2013 08:24 PM
thank you steve, your boxes are really nice too. I love the scroll saw work. Ill have to get one of those someday…
-- "despite you best efforts and your confidence that your smarter and faster than a saw blade at 10k rpm…. your not …." - Charles Neil
Monte Pittman
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#7 posted 04-21-2013 10:44 PM
Great variety. Really nice job.
-- Nature created it, I just assemble it.
MShort
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#8 posted 04-21-2013 11:01 PM
Great bunch of boxes. Hard to pick a fav since I like them all.
-- Mike, Missouri --- “A positive life can not happen with a negative mind.” ---
Dallas
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#9 posted 04-21-2013 11:35 PM
TBW, How do you go about pricing the different sizes of boxes for your shows?
-- Improvise.... Adapt...... Overcome!
The Box Whisperer
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#10 posted 04-21-2013 11:37 PM
I generally have a price for small, medium, and large boxes. custom lid lifts add a little extra, and inserts add a little more extra. not all boxes wihtin a category are exactly the same size but I group them that way.
-- "despite you best efforts and your confidence that your smarter and faster than a saw blade at 10k rpm…. your not …." - Charles Neil
Dallas
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#11 posted 04-21-2013 11:39 PM
Thanks, that was my thinking too, but some of them are more labor intensive, (for me at least) than others.
-- Improvise.... Adapt...... Overcome!
The Box Whisperer
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#12 posted 04-21-2013 11:41 PM
yeah for sure, and another factor is a box made from a super rare or expensive wood may bump up in price a little. Dallas, that cutting board you made is sweet!
-- "despite you best efforts and your confidence that your smarter and faster than a saw blade at 10k rpm…. your not …." - Charles Neil
Dallas
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#13 posted 04-22-2013 12:02 AM
Thanks, I have about 15-20 more to make like that. I’ll be sick of them after about 2 more.
-- Improvise.... Adapt...... Overcome!
jumbojack
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#14 posted 04-22-2013 12:58 AM
WOW. I spend a month making one box. Youve made over a dozen! Rabbits are not so prolific. Very nice work.
-- Made in America, with American made tools....Shopsmith
The Box Whisperer
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678 posts in 3532 days
#15 posted 04-22-2013 02:19 AM
honestly jumbo thats kind of what I feel like doing after a run like this. Im very pleased with how the big ones turned out, so maybe make a few more around that size. The thing with me, that I cant get past, is even with jigs, the most time spent is setting up the cut, not making it. So once you set it up, why not make 4 cuts rather then 1, and you ll have 4 boxes. The only times Ive ever made just one box, they were as gifts to specific people.
Thank you everyone for the kind words. These boxes are small and simple, most of you guys have much nicer ones under the belt.
-- "despite you best efforts and your confidence that your smarter and faster than a saw blade at 10k rpm…. your not …." - Charles Neil
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