Project Information
Thanks for looking at this project. I will reply to all of you Lumberlanders out there who take time to "have your say" in the next 24 hours, so check back for feedback. There is a tutorial index at the end of this posting that will show you how to build the jigs and learn the techniques for building boxes like this teabox.
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Pictured is a (11 x 7 x 5 1/4) teabox with 9 compartments designed to hold about 50 packets of tea. The small "chain pocket" on the left-hand side is meant to capture the chain and keep it from tangling with the teabags. The dividers are made of recycled wooden Venetian blinds.
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Woods: The top is made from a local Honeylocust tree. (hence the "honey is a locust" title) The sides are from a Black Cherry tree that grew nearby and the corner splines are from a Brazilian Sucupira tree. I love the way this sucupira glows in the light as it rounds these corners.
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This close-up shows some of the nice mottling in the quarter-sawn Black Cherry.
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The colors in these three woods seem to really work well together I know the cherry and sucupira will darken with time. I don't know what the locust will do. If anyone out there has an old piece made of Honeylocust and can tell me how it ages, let me know.
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Focus: Buying directly from the sawmill is an inexpensive way to get great wood. If you are making boxes you don't want the wood that furniture makers need. You want the wood with wild grain and crazy patterns. Usually the second or third board cut from the tree are my favorites. The first cut usually has too much sap wood. Many of our local mills have a stack of sticked wood that they set aside some time and it is already dried. If you buy wood green, you should stack it and put spacers between the layers. Wood stacked with spacers is commonly called "sticked" wood. Air dried wood with a rain proof top usually dries at one inch per year. So, if you buy one-inch boards at the start of one summer you can usually use them at the start of the next summer.
Several people in our area have made a business of kiln drying wood. Of course it is more expensive than buying green wood, but it is more likely to be stable, and you can use it right away. Buying directly from the dryer is another way to save money on boards. Who knows, you may even be able to trade a box for some boards. I always try.
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Keep boxing and keep posting.
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Tutorials: For methods used to make boxes like those pictured above just click on the blue links below. They are arranged by topic.
Combining Wood Colors:
Jig for 45ing corners:
Routers and Rounding edges
Why round box corners?
Organizing a glue-up table:
$5 band clamps:
Making splines with a simple jig:
Adding splines to a box:
Making a jig to cut spline slots:
Measuring for spline slot cuts:
Installing an attached top: like that pictured above.
Cutting off the box top and sizing piano hinges
Adding finger indents:
More about finger indents.
Mortising and installing hinges:
Tips on making trays: for inside boxes:
Finishing tips:
Swapping Wood By Mail:
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Pictured is a (11 x 7 x 5 1/4) teabox with 9 compartments designed to hold about 50 packets of tea. The small "chain pocket" on the left-hand side is meant to capture the chain and keep it from tangling with the teabags. The dividers are made of recycled wooden Venetian blinds.
Woods: The top is made from a local Honeylocust tree. (hence the "honey is a locust" title) The sides are from a Black Cherry tree that grew nearby and the corner splines are from a Brazilian Sucupira tree. I love the way this sucupira glows in the light as it rounds these corners.
This close-up shows some of the nice mottling in the quarter-sawn Black Cherry.
The colors in these three woods seem to really work well together I know the cherry and sucupira will darken with time. I don't know what the locust will do. If anyone out there has an old piece made of Honeylocust and can tell me how it ages, let me know.
.
.
Focus: Buying directly from the sawmill is an inexpensive way to get great wood. If you are making boxes you don't want the wood that furniture makers need. You want the wood with wild grain and crazy patterns. Usually the second or third board cut from the tree are my favorites. The first cut usually has too much sap wood. Many of our local mills have a stack of sticked wood that they set aside some time and it is already dried. If you buy wood green, you should stack it and put spacers between the layers. Wood stacked with spacers is commonly called "sticked" wood. Air dried wood with a rain proof top usually dries at one inch per year. So, if you buy one-inch boards at the start of one summer you can usually use them at the start of the next summer.
Several people in our area have made a business of kiln drying wood. Of course it is more expensive than buying green wood, but it is more likely to be stable, and you can use it right away. Buying directly from the dryer is another way to save money on boards. Who knows, you may even be able to trade a box for some boards. I always try.
Keep boxing and keep posting.
.
.
Tutorials: For methods used to make boxes like those pictured above just click on the blue links below. They are arranged by topic.
Combining Wood Colors:
Jig for 45ing corners:
Routers and Rounding edges
Why round box corners?
Organizing a glue-up table:
$5 band clamps:
Making splines with a simple jig:
Adding splines to a box:
Making a jig to cut spline slots:
Measuring for spline slot cuts:
Installing an attached top: like that pictured above.
Cutting off the box top and sizing piano hinges
Adding finger indents:
More about finger indents.
Mortising and installing hinges:
Tips on making trays: for inside boxes:
Finishing tips:
Swapping Wood By Mail:
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