# Andersonec (Andy) Box wip



## andersonec (26 Feb 2013)

I want to make a predominantly white box, quite contemporary with some veneer on the lid. I know the directive is a box which stands 6 inches high but I wish to digress and keep this one to the 'golden mean' ratios, this one will be 300 x 185 x 115 high, 

Chose a piece of Maple






Set out the dovetails and the box size on a piece of paper




Did 4 and 5 dovetails to see which looks best, five is too busy so four it will be.

Back to the board, after laying it out I now have the dimensions I need to finish the board, it needs to finish at 16mm thick as I will be curving the sides and the top edge needs to finish at 12.5mm to take a hinge. 




I faced one side and one edge then paralleled the board to 105 mm wide, finished two strips of Wanut to 5mm and glued them to the edges to bring the board to 115mm, removed the slight overhang of the walnut on the face side and then finished the board to 16.5mm thick. It is now ready for cutting to length.

Too cold in the garage so I've come in for a cup of tea and a warm.
Andy


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## andersonec (2 Mar 2013)

Went for a recce today to look at a monthly artists/craft market in Lincoln in which I am taking part as from next month so on my return I decided to do a little more as the temperature in the garage had increased slightly. Managed to finish cutting the tails just as the nose started to run and feet were starting to complain of the cold. 

Redesigned the dovetails 





and cut the tails. As I am going to curve the outside of the box the base of the tails had to be flat and not undercut otherwise a gap would show up when the side is planed, used a block to keep the chisel vertical.





Tails cut.


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## andersonec (6 Mar 2013)

Some progress with the box,

Glued up, got a little carried away when routing the slote for the base, lid and the slot for tray support, these had to be stopped grooves otherwise it would show through the dovetails.





Close up to show the slot for the tray support and the rebate for the lid, the corners will be chopped out with a chisel.





Lid panel ready to be glued in, the inside has been veneered and sanded as it will be inaccessible afterwards.





Sides being planed to a curve, the shaping is being done now because there may be variations in the shape if done after the lid is separated plus the curve is carried on continuously and not stepped.





Sides planed and sanded, lid panel glued in





Got headache now and going to lay down in a darkened room...................

Andy


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## carlb40 (6 Mar 2013)

That is coming along nicely, do like a bit of maple


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## andersonec (6 Mar 2013)

And matched with some Walnut is a marriage made in heaven Carl


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## carlb40 (6 Mar 2013)

Yes i know. I want to do as yet an undecided project in maple and black walnut


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## Rob Platt (6 Mar 2013)

Its not an unusual combination I`m going a similar way myself with some extras as soon as I can get at it.
They`re all looking good glad I`m not judging
all the best
rob


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## andersonec (7 Mar 2013)

Separated the lid today





and tidied up the cut





decided on what is going on top.




A design I want to put on the lid with marquetry, the design is printed off, transferred to tracing paper then transferred to the veneer with carbon paper, I will cut that and stick it on the lid over the next couple of days.

I go to a website for patterns http://www.craftsmanspace.com/ it has a very large selection of nice patterns under various headings, there are also some old books available for free download, woodwork, metalwork, engineering etc. a handy site with buckets of stuff which will keep you browsing for a while.

Andy


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## stevenw1963 (7 Mar 2013)

Looking good


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## bobscarle (7 Mar 2013)

Andy. Good looking box so far (Bah! :lol: ) How did you separate the lid? It must have been the devil's own job to hold a box with curved sides on a table saw or router table. Or even handheld with a fence.


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## JakeS (8 Mar 2013)

The curve of the sides looks very nice!

I'm curious - do you do anything in particular to minimise break-out on the far end of the plane stroke? Or are you starting at both ends and working towards the middle for that?


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## andersonec (8 Mar 2013)

bobscarle":n0uxzslb said:


> Andy. Good looking box so far (Bah! :lol: ) How did you separate the lid? It must have been the devil's own job to hold a box with curved sides on a table saw or router table. Or even handheld with a fence.




Bob, Firstly I made sure the top was as flat as I could get it then screwed a tall piece of mdf to the fence of the band saw and took a few minutes to make sure it was the correct distance from the blade (sharp) and absolutely vertical and parallel to the blade (very sharp) kept it firm against the fence and fed it into the blade with it slightly tipped forward so the blade (very very sharp) which cut into the top corner first and wasn't hitting the full length of the side all at once which may have caused it to deflect, the side was just resting on the table. I then smoothed the cut with a block plane set very fine and took some time and care doing it to achieve a perfect :roll: fit
But I notice you are using mainly hand tools, I have separated them before with my Dozuki saw, just keep the corners square. 

Andy


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## andersonec (8 Mar 2013)

JakeS":1xhmokhl said:


> The curve of the sides looks very nice!
> 
> I'm curious - do you do anything in particular to minimise break-out on the far end of the plane stroke? Or are you starting at both ends and working towards the middle for that?




Hiya Jake, plane inwards from both ends, don't go full length otherwise disaster #-o the plane was angled quite sharply crosswise to try and avoid tear-out when planing against the grain, the finishing planing was done with a block plane honed at approx 50 deg to remove any sections of tear-out and was sometimes planing at almost 90 deg to the run of the grain.

Andy


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## DIY Stew (8 Mar 2013)

Andy

This is probably a stupid question but the wide pin where you split the box for the lid, is it exactly twice the width of the other pins, or do you also have to take into account the kerf on the saw you are using?

By the way it's looking very nice.

Stew


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## andersonec (8 Mar 2013)

DIY Stew":1c0skl0o said:


> Andy
> 
> This is probably a stupid question but the wide pin where you split the box for the lid, is it exactly twice the width of the other pins, or do you also have to take into account the kerf on the saw you are using?
> 
> ...



Stew, the dovetails were laid out on paper first and the thickness of the kerf was taken into account then. What I was more concerned with was the width of the pin at the top matching the width of the pin at the base, done those first then laid out the the same width either side of the cut plus the kerf plus clean-up which gave me the width of that pin, the remaining distance was then divided up for the other two pins and made them roughly the same width as the ones already done.
Hope you can understand that :? 

Andy


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## DIY Stew (8 Mar 2013)

andersonec":366rwj7w said:


> DIY Stew":366rwj7w said:
> 
> 
> > Andy
> ...


Thanks for that Andy.

I think when I make my first box I will perhaps just try mitring the corners!!! :? 

Stew


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## andersonec (8 Mar 2013)

Veneered the lid today





Unclamping is always done with a little apprehension on my behalf, is it straight? are there any bubbles, is it stuck all round the edges? luckily this time it came out ok  it is still a little damp from removing the veneering tape but will clean up the edges tomorrow when dry and then maybe start on the tray but according to the weather forecast that may be a little ambitious.

Andy


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## gasman (10 Mar 2013)

Hi Andy - great project. Can I ask you about the lid? Is is a man made board veneered on both sides so there will be no expansion or are you relying on the wood being fairly dry. The only time I ever made a box like this, I used a solid board for the lid and after a few months inside there was a very small gap opened up due to shrinkage across the grain
Lovely job on the marquetry
Cheers
Mark


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## andersonec (11 Mar 2013)

gasman":1q36fi91 said:


> Hi Andy - great project. Can I ask you about the lid? Is is a man made board veneered on both sides so there will be no expansion or are you relying on the wood being fairly dry. The only time I ever made a box like this, I used a solid board for the lid and after a few months inside there was a very small gap opened up due to shrinkage across the grain
> Lovely job on the marquetry
> Cheers
> Mark



Mark, The lid is 9mm Birch ply veneered on both sides, although one side was done first and when removed from the clamps the lid was sized, sanded and glued into the box before it had time to cup, the outer veneer could only be glued on with the panel fixed in place and the marquetry had to be done first and that took an evening to cut then clamped up overnight.

Andy


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## andersonec (20 Mar 2013)

OK, got a couple of decent (sic) days in the garage and got the thing finished, had to finish it anyway as I have got involved with a monthly craft market next to Lincoln castle, hope to sell a few bits to enable me to buy some more timber and stuff so now got to make some stuff to sell.

Made the trays from some Walnut, mitred the corners and made some splines from five layers of veneer,
Fitting the splines





Splines fitted and planed up with block plane, as the tray is going to be above the height of the box a chamfer was put on the top edge . 





everything finished with two coats of finishing oil and then wax.





Inside with the base lined with a navy blue pigskin, the two pieces either end are for the tray to sit on.





Tray lined and sitting in the box, I was going to do some sections for rings but impatience got the better of me.





Detail showing the top of the tray and the hinge (supplied by Ian Hawthorne)





Lid veneer.





Front.





Side.





Picture of the finished box.





I set out to make one which was quite contemporary and hopefully the timber and design has achieved it.

Andy


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## Gary Morris (21 Mar 2013)

that looks fantastic, a very beautiful box. Totally envious.

Gary


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## Melinda_dd (21 Mar 2013)

Think I'll give up now :? 

Great looking box


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## DMF (21 Mar 2013)

Looks fantastic and thanks for posting, loads of ideas for me to ponder on and i love the look of those layered splines! I realise it's probably the simplest part of the box but i was surprised at how much impact they had against everything else that was demanding eye time 

Dean


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## andersonec (21 Mar 2013)

Melinda_dd":1bmgt6bk said:


> Think I'll give up now :?
> 
> Great looking box




Oi you, I'm trying to catch you up on the turning.

Andy


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## No skills (21 Mar 2013)

Like it alot, good work =D> =D> =D>


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## andersonec (21 Mar 2013)

DMF":3adz6zr8 said:


> Looks fantastic and thanks for posting, loads of ideas for me to ponder on and i love the look of those layered splines! I realise it's probably the simplest part of the box but i was surprised at how much impact they had against everything else that was demanding eye time
> 
> Dean



Dean, simple yes but but because they are so small and neat they do add that little something. I got a cheap blade for the table saw from Atkinson Walker which I use solely for these, it is a 16 tooth flat top tooth blade, cost about 16 squids if I remember, it has a 2.8mm kerf and five layers of veneer fit just right. 
With an odd number (five) layers you can have various selections of patterns such as 
AA-B-AA
A-BBB-A, 
A-B-A-B-A,
And these sequences can be swapped round to suit the colour of the timber eg.
BB-A-BB
I keep all my off-cut strips of veneer about a foot long and glue them up as required, a two inch wide strip will give more than enough, just make sure they go all the way in to the bottom of the slot (hammer) #-o 

Andy


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## carlb40 (21 Mar 2013)

Very nice finish. I do like the splines myself, might pinch them for a future project


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## DMF (21 Mar 2013)

Thanks Andy, really interesting to see WIPs like this and it's all posts like yours above that has really started to make me think properly not only about tools and working methods but more importantly what you can achieve with them, for that i'm off to figure out this official thanking lark  

Dean


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## carlb40 (21 Mar 2013)

DMF":2er0o3qa said:


> Thanks Andy, really interesting to see WIPs like this and it's all posts like yours above that has really started to make me think properly not only about tools and working methods but more importantly what you can achieve with them, for that i'm off to figure out this official thanking lark
> 
> Dean


We will get you making a box one way or the other :lol: 


Have a read of this young sir 

been-thanked-have-thanked-t66880.html


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## gregmcateer (24 Mar 2013)

I followed this with increasing fascination, admiration and a whole lotta jealousy!!

Really, really nice.

Well done, you.

Greg


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## Melinda_dd (24 Mar 2013)

andersonec":24ueeonz said:


> Melinda_dd":24ueeonz said:
> 
> 
> > Think I'll give up now :?
> ...



 shucks thanks... Blush blush blush!


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## Jensmith (24 Mar 2013)

Lovely box Andy.


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## devonwoody (1 May 2013)

Good project and workmanship. Best of luck.


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## deserter (2 May 2013)

Beautiful, that marquetry is impressive to say he least, and your dovetails are perfect. 


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~


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## andersonec (2 May 2013)

Thanks for the encouraging comments chaps, I've been doing another for a friends daughters 7th birthday, bet you couldn't guess what her name is :lol:

Made with Maple and Walnut with some pretty Maple veneer for the top of the lid and Anigree veneer on the inside, used those layered splines again only 'cos I like 'em. I did some hunting on the net for a nice font for the name, wanted the thing to be quite contemporary so it wouldn't age as she grows up
































Andy


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