A.R.C. Stash

[bandit571]

found a stash of thin Aromatic Red Cedar slats..

   
Thought I could make a box of some sort out of it?    1/4" by 4"..maybe.    Looked through the pieces...

   
Hmmm..sides were a bit long....and the ends were too long...so..trimmed the long sides to about 8-1/2" long...and thought the ends could be cut down to just over 4"

   
Something like this for the ends?  Mitre Box to cross cut..

   
With the only "bad" edge was one of the long sides had a "Factory" edge....re-cut the long sides to 8-1/4" long....and all ends are square now.  

Marking gauge to lay out a few baselines..

   
Which I am sure I'll soon abuse..

Corner joints are to be finger/box style....got out a 3/16" Sash chisel to set the spacings of the fingers...

   
Disston No. 68 saw to make a few saw cuts, and the the chisel did it's thing..

   
Use these to layout the matching fingers...dry fit..

   
For some odd reason, that first corner always looks the worst....adjustments were made for corner #2...

   
Looking a bit better?    rinse and repeat 2 more times...

   
The square is Ash, and it is to protect the top of my bench from chisel strikes.   Ok, 4 corners done....but, a box needs a bottom and a lid....of some sort..

Stay tuned, next exciting episode is all about bottoms and tops

[Tony Z]

Merry Christmas Steve!

Nice stash, but not something my allergies will permit to use. I have to add, I’m going to try your hand cut box joints. One of your previous threads did a most excellent job of detailing each step.

T

[bandit571]

A box needs both a bottom and a lid....so..amongst the Cedar scraps, there was a Poplar scrap, about the same size....

   
I rough cut for length...scraps did have a good factory edge...needed it a little better for glue ups...

   
Matching edges were jointed.  Then these 2 parts were laid out on top of the box...again jointed edges together...marked out the excess widths...bandsaw the excess off, leaving the lines...then some clamps and glue...

   
Bench vise as a 3rd hand, AND as a caul to hold things flat.   Let this sit a day....

Ok, clamps are off, I need one good edge...

   
To place against the fence.   I also marked the blank for width...but right now, a cross cut was in order...

   
Then plane the other long edge to the line...aiming for a tight fit all the way around....needed planed a bit.

   
To get things flat...don't want the bottom of the box to rock, because of a rounded bottom panel...later?

   
The real "fun" can begin.....

Before I took the box apart, I marked out for a lid, since I had enough Cedar for that.  
But, that will be in the next episode, so....

Stay tuned..

[bandit571]

Been a while?  Time to update this?   Have since glued the box itself up....equal parts of glue, cauls, clamps and cussing....with an assist from a mallet..

   
Added a spacer block to the open side, to keep things from bowing in....Let this sit a day...or 2...then..

   
Time for a clean up...corners were sanded and planed, along with all 4 sides, until things were square and smooth..then flatten the bottom of the box..

   
Contrary Grain?   Try planing grain going 4 directions at once...then flip over, and level the top edges..

   
Then sit this aside for a while...and remove the clamps from the lid panel....which needed flattened along the glue line...both faces...

   
Then over to the bandsaw....I thought maybe a double finger lift, with a notch in the middle for a fancy latch...

   
And some matching hinges around in back...

   

Hmmm....Front looked too much like Dolly Parton....hardware came with nails....holes in the hinges were in the wrong spots...

Decided to use screws, instead of nails....holes were too small....we have ways..

   
Goodell Pratt Co. drill with a pilot hole sized bit, and a Stanley drill with a slightly larger bit to drill through the brass.  Hinges had a pair of holes that completely missed any wood at all...replaced those with a single hole a bit lower down..AWAY from the rim of the box. 

   
As front the front...

   
NOT the look I was going for....
Stay tuned...

[bandit571]

Ok, got tired of looking at a lid that needed a bra....so..once the seal coat of varnish was dry enough to sand smooth..over to bandsaw...to rough cut something...smaller

   
Then, what the little 101 plane couldn't reach, the 24mm Aldi's did....removed the saw marks, faired the curves a bit..

   
Looks a little better...As for the screws...

   
That HUGE screw?   That be a #6, 1-5/8" Drywall screw.   One of the hinge screws used is sitting IN the threads of the bigger screw..

Corners of the box were given a small round-over.    Around the bottom of the box, pilot holes through just the Cedar to prevent the nails from splitting the Cedar edges..

   
3 nails, driven down flush, per side....equally spaced...

Then, it was time to cobble a small tray..

   
Had a few scraps to used...issue was with the height of some of the sides...didn't match up...we have ways...

   
Gang all 4 up, plane until they do match....Plan was to finger joint the corners.   Tried the No.68 Disston...too coarse...took things to the bandsaw..

   
Not a bad start...had just started to cut on the other end....BANG!   Blade on the bandsaw snapped....80" of 1/4" wide saw blade does make a bit of noise, when it breaks...

Tried to carry on with the #68....wound up cutting on the wrong side of a line...tossed that end piece...had to make a new one...that was also too thick (fat?)

   
Decided to stop for the day...

   
And think things through....
Stay tuned..

[bandit571]

So...not wanting to wait around for a new bandsaw blade....went and dug out something else to try...once all the dust and cobwebs were removed..

   
13", Cast iron base, tilting table..

   
The only way I can tell which way the teeth are facing, is with a fingertip.....used the first cuts as a pattern.  And, cutting on the correct sides of the lines..

   
Hmmmm, Tight enough, needed a small hammer to assemble for a dry fit...one done, only 3 more corners to go..

Stay tuned....

[bandit571]

Other items have gotten in the way of wood working.....working to fix the drain IN the sink...had to replace that.     Had a water leak in the basement...thought it was from a bad hose washer on the clothes washer.....nope...drain line that was from the sink had come loose from where it connected to the City sewer connection...fixed that.   Bathroom light..when you'd turn the switch "Off", light merely dimmed a bit.....new light switch didn't change a thing...swapped out the LED bulb for a "non-LED light bulb...FIXED IT!.......Contractor ha repair the huge hole in the Kitchen ceiling...waiting on final coat of "mud"....and paint.


Cedar Box:   The Boss likes to take her jewelry off at night, and leave on the night stand beside the bed......discovered that one of the cats loves to play with shiny objects...so, the box is upstairs, ON the night stand....so when she takes the rings and such off, they will go into the box....I still have to build that tray, yet.

Uncle Sir Charles (Horse) provided the WAKE-UP! this morning....and hasn't really let go, yet......might get some shop time tomorrow, eh?

[bandit571]

Late start today, early ending, too.....things wanted to fight today..
Got the other 3 corners done..

   
And this was the "easy" part of today....one end is a bit too thick, will plane it down, later...

Test fit to the base..

   
As for a handle?   The blank has a defect I need to work around..

   
So, while the scrollsaw was still around..

   
Rough cut...will even things out, later...need Mortise & Tenon work done...

   
Scrollsaw to make the tenons...chisel to chop the through mortises...dry fit?

   
One end about done...somehow managed to get the other end ready for a glue-up....even the shop stool was fighting me, today.   Soooo...

   
End of the work day...glue things up, let everything just sit for a day.   Had quite enough "fun" for one day.

Maybe tomorrow, I can clean the glue-up..up...and get it ready to glue to the base...whether it wants to or not. 

Stay tuned..

[bandit571]

Clamps came off, frame was cleaned up, squared up...

   
C clamps rounded up, a few cauls made..brush some glue around..

   
And set this aside, until tomorrow.


Gave a spokeshave a try..

   
Started up..

   
Then worked my way around..

   
A small strip of Ash...might even make it into a handle..

   

Just in case I might need a new one....

Stay tuned..

[bandit571]

Tray is out of the clamps...needs planed up a bit..

   
Tray bottom was a bit oversized...tools for this job?

   
Need a couple compartments below the tray..

   
And, a place for the tray to sit on..

   
Since there is now a lock..

   
I guess this little box is about..done

   
Maybe?

   
And a look at the bottom..

   
Project is done.  Next?

   
Maybe clean up the top of the bench...maybe?

Thanks for looking in, hope I didn't bore anyone...