Building a box questions

[BpB123]

me too!!!!

regarding interest in Papa Jim's secret lock info

[Hank Knight]

I've made a bunch of boxes over the years and have always cut the top off on the table saw as has been suggested, leaving a tiny sliver of material to be cut through with a knife to release the top. But I've found a better way. I made a box for one of my sharpening stones a couple of weeks ago and cut the top off with a 1/16" slot cutter on my router table. I cut three sides completely through then taped strips of thin wood (think popsicle sticks) over the kerfs on two opposite sides with double-sided tape to stabalize the top before cutting the 4th side. Worked like a charm. The 1/16" slot cutter cuts so easily you hardly know it's doing its job, and it wastes very little material. It felt a lot safer than cutting the top off on the table saw. Finally, it leaves a perfectly smooth finish, unlike the table saw or a bandsaw that both leave tooth marks that have to be removed.

[bennybmn]

I've never done one, so I won't add too much (other than really liking the slot cutting bit idea), but recently I had occasion to spline the corners of a frame for the first time.  Rather than building a dedicated jig, I planned on tacking a couple of pieces of scrap on a 45 to some plywood and clamping it to my tennoning jig (which I rarely use). Well, the rear stop on the jig tilts, and has holes in it to mount a backer board. So I cut a 45 on the end of some scrap, attached it to the tennoning jig, and viola. Spline jig. My router table has a miter slot too, so I plan on experimenting with other splines too. 

Food for thought.

[Papa Jim]

Unfortunately I don't have one around to take pictures of, so here is my hurried up rather pitiful sketch:

Now to explain what's going on. Basically this is just a typical sliding lid box with the top trim glued to the side of the box high enough to accomodate the thickness of the lid. The last piece of trim is glued to the lid so when it is inserted into the slot it looks to be a "lift off" lid. Drill a 9/32" verticle hole into the open end piece of the box to within 1/32" of the bottom. Drop a 1/4" x 1/4" spring down into this hole followed by a 1/4" rare earth magnet, followed by a 1/4" steel rod just long enough to stick up 1/8" over the top of the box. Drill a 1/4" x 1/8" pocket in the lid to line up with the steel rod. To close the box you just push the rod down and slide the lid on. The spring forces the rod up into the hole in the lid and the box is "locked" with no apparent means of opening. If your jointry is good people will struggle endlessly trying to "lift' the lid. You open the box by holding an opposit pole rare earth magnet directly under the spring. It attracts the rare earth magnet in the hole, compressing the spring and lowering the steel rod, and lid slides open. When I first came up with the idea I used three 1" rare earth magnets to form a rod, but discovered that was wasteful, and one with a steel rod was fine. I have also discovered that you don't really need a rare earth magnet to open it.  Had a lot of fun with a friend who couldn't open it. I set it on the hood of a car, opened it right up, closed it, and handed it back to him. It took several rounds of this before he figured it out.  I also found that Steak & Shake soda straws fit the 9/32" hole perfectly and the "parts" fit smoothly inside.  The hard part is the spring. If its' too stiff, it won't compress, and if it's not stiff enough it won't support the rod. I finally found mine at Century Spring Corp (www.centuryspring.com), specifically, stock number 10269. Althogh I came up with this on my own, it's too simple not to have been done previously. Have fun with it. I'll look out for further questions. Papa JIm

[TomFromStLouis]

I have made a number of boxes over the years and after some positive feedback on one design I launched into a series of five boxes with simplicity of design and ease of construction as goals. It is quite easy to get bogged down in detailed back and forth about feet, lid attachment, fitting a bottom, etc.

Here are the parameters of Tom's Basic Box: 

• mitered corners. A shooting board makes this a quick and easy joint, plus I always like to wrap the figure of the wood around all four corners and this joint shows that result perfectly. I now saw kerf key each miter for strength.
  
• no hinges. Fit a top that drops into place and avoid hardware hassles. Have it hang over the sides or install a handle for easy removal.
  
• thin side walls. I dislike the clunky look of 3/4" wood to make a 10" box, so I resaw 4/4 and end up with ~3/8" sides. Bonus: when you resaw a 20" long board you can book match the ends of the boards with the now exposed inner faces as the outside of the ~12" x 8" box and have all four corners match. Try it.
  
• Block feet. Small boxes do not require feet, but if you get to a certain size just gluing a block in each corner can work.
  
• Glue the bottom in all around. The bottom requires a ply core veneered with your walnut or something similar. No wood movement allowed in the bottom and gluing it in really strengthens the structure.
  
• If it is to be a larger box, consider gluing some rails to a couple sides before assembly and include a removable tray.
  

Get your proportions to be pleasing and the above will be clean and versatile for a lifetime. My 2 cents.

If you build a number of boxes you will develop ways to accomplish certain tasks reliably - such as the mitered corners or veneered bottom - but they might seem a lot to master for your first. Still, dive in and head in a direction that will yield satisfying boxes. I have found the tips above to work for me.

[jbmaine]

thanks for the input everyone.
 I think a plan for this is coming together. I'll post pic's when it's done.
 I hope I have time to finish this before yard work starts. Feb. 24 in Maine and it's 60 degrees out. Two weeks ago we had 2 noreasters back to back. Crazy weather.
                                                               Jim