# Carlb40 - Box - WIP - Finished



## carlb40 (16 Feb 2013)

Started mine today. A little short on cash as i am between jobs at the mo. So decided to go the reclaimed timber route.
I have had these shelves 8+ yrs now just sitting around. Almost did some with them last year and started to scrape the paint off. Revealing IMO a hideous veneer on it. 
It was about 1-1.5mm thick












After trying boiling water etc to remove the veneer and not working. I bunged both pieces through my thicknesser, carefully taking about .2mm off at a time.

The resulting timber i think looks much nicer 











As you can see i have some stringing already done for me LOL
Not sure what type of timber it is? If anyone knows please step forward 

Don't normally do 'plans' . Well i do, but they normally stay in my head :lol: 

Now this will be a few firsts for me, using a plan and as usual for be going overboard on a project :mrgreen: 


After searching for various designs and not being taken with any - either the oriental/ japanese or mission style boxes. 

I gave up and went for a bath. Then while lying there i designed this in my head 






The curve on the side will be replicated on the front/ rear. The dovetails will be just reinforcements for the mitres, in a contrasting timber and possibly the same for the feet. 

Probably been done before and by wayyyy better peeps than me. 

So stay tuned for my epic failure #-o


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## Chrispy (16 Feb 2013)

Might be wrong but that looked like a very old bit of sawn rosewood veneer with ebony stringing. on mahogany of some sort. hope the box goes well.


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## carlb40 (17 Feb 2013)

Thank's Chrispy.
So did i do wrong by planing the veneer off? :shock:


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## Chrispy (18 Feb 2013)

Not if you don't like it. (hammer)


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## carlb40 (5 Mar 2013)

So thought a little update was in order. Yesterday started on the bottom panel. Decided to use a bit of ash, planed, cut and rough thicknessed the panel to be. Glued it up. Took it out the clamps this morning.






After some scraping to remove the glue, back to the thicknesser but had a bit of tear out. Sooo changed the blades and for my trouble this happened  






Tried putting timber through the other way, and the same happened again.






So now onto bottom panel mk2. This time i thicknessed it to size before joining. 






Glued and clamped. 





Tomorrow it will be cleaned up ready to be turned into a raised panel


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## Racers (5 Mar 2013)

Hi, carlb40

Looks like it was to short for your thicknesser.

Pete


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## carlb40 (5 Mar 2013)

Yeah i thought that aswell Pete, hence thicknessing the new piece to the correct size before cutting and gluing. Strange thing is though, the first piece went through without issues before i changed the blades.


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## DMF (6 Mar 2013)

Hi,

sorry missed your comment in Animas WIP thread, would of loved to have joined in but im not quite there yet!

good luck with you build and i look forward to the next bit  

Dean


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## andersonec (6 Mar 2013)

Carl,

I am usually wrong but I think that looks very much like a piece of elm.

Is that Olive ash you are using for the base?

Andy


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## carlb40 (6 Mar 2013)

DMF":hu939s8z said:


> Hi,
> 
> sorry missed your comment in Animas WIP thread, would of loved to have joined in but im not quite there yet!
> 
> ...


Thank you.

You just need to practice. Don't forget although i am a chippie by trade i have never made a box before. Well one bread bin that's it. So all this is new to me


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## carlb40 (6 Mar 2013)

andersonec":2ebzikh9 said:


> Carl,
> 
> I am usually wrong but I think that looks very much like a piece of elm.
> 
> ...



You mean the main timber is elm? I think the lighting in my shop isn't the best for photographs. Once the pieces are smaller and box shape, i will put them into mu light tent and get some better pics 

It is olive ash. I was on a job 2yrs this month in St albans. One aspect was fitting benches in the changing rooms. Metal frames with ash for the seating. I filled the back seat of my mondeo with the offcuts of ash, some of which is olive ash


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## carlb40 (6 Mar 2013)

Thought another little update was in order. Not done anything on the box itself. However what i did do was make a shooting board as i can't trust the ts200 to get a bang on 45 degree angle.






Also i mentioned in another thread i made a plane specifically to do the concave curves on the sides. Well it has been finished a few weeks so thought i had best post a pic or two.

Recycled some oak i had, joints are not the best. Blade bedded at 55 degrees i think. Also it seems to have dried out a bit as you can see from the dowel.





Reasonable curved sole





One clifton blade 





And a test run 











Seems to work ok in the spruce i tried it on.


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## Anima (6 Mar 2013)

That plane certainly looks a damn site better than my attempt; no blood stains for one.


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## carlb40 (6 Mar 2013)

Thank's. I can add some blood if you want


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## carlb40 (13 Mar 2013)

Today i managed to get a bit more done on the box, not much really.

Cut the timber to rough size, with a mitre on the one side ready. Also machined the groove for the raised panel






As you can see, i have sort of assembled it. One to see how it would look, and also to make sure the panel fits.











Next to do is cut the timber to the correct lengths. Trim a wee bit off the raised panel as it is a tad tight fit. Once done, i will get some shellac on the panel.

Then before the box is assembled, i need to do the concave curve on the bottoms of the main box. 

Still unsure on how to approach the lid yet :roll:


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## Lee J (14 Mar 2013)

that looks stunning. 

great job


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## carlb40 (14 Mar 2013)

Thank's Lee

I wouldn't say stunning LOL


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## carlb40 (16 Mar 2013)

Another update.

Managed a bit more this week. Here it is dry assembled. With the rough sized lid to be in rough place. I was seeing what sort of size rebate to form for the lid to drop into. 






As you can see the curves have been done on the base. I just marked up 2mm in the centre from the bottom, 30mm from each end and joined the dots to form the curve. Clamped front / rear, and the 2 sides separately together. Then just used a spokeshave to form the curve. A bit of light sanding and job done 

Raised panel sanded to 240g then applied grain filler. Left overnight to dry. Then sanded again to 240g. Then 2 coats of 1/2lb orange shellac and 2 coats of 1lb orange shellac applied and left to dry. Then lightly sanded to 400g






The insides of the box were sanded up to 400g, then mitres masked off and same shellac treatment as above. Plus as you can see the rebates were formed for the lid. 






Then yesterday along with trying to get the ts200 to cut 45 degrees again lol Yet another jig :roll: 

Quickly knocked up for the dovetail splines 






A few test cuts 






and the router table is set up and ready to rock and roll.

Time for yet another jig, but not taken any pics of it. Needed a safe way to do the curve on the feet. So just used ply/mdf to guide the timber for the feet, while i used a 102mm hole saw to cut the ends of the feet.





1st pair mitred and glued up. Think with all the faffing about it took 2hrs to make the one pair.

Today 3 pairs in 45 min, i guess jigs can help. 






Box is now in clamps while glue goes off overnight. Ohh and the feet. 

Tomorrow, hopefully size the lid for the box and get it and the feet glued on.


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## carlb40 (17 Mar 2013)

As i forgot to take one yesterday, here is the box in clamps






Today i sized the lid and not very well. There are a few tiny gaps. Decided to use hand planes as practice, as i have never really used them much. So even though roughly 30mm had to be taken off one side. I used my 5 1/2 to plane almost to the line, then the 4 1/2 with it's fine set to get the lid to fit within the rebates. Not sure how long it all took with lots of trial, plane more off, trial etc etc. But think it was at least 1.5hrs lol
Then it was sanded through to 400g

Anyway lid got fitted and glued.






After about 5hrs in the clamps, they were removed. A fence added to the spline jig, a few more test cuts. Then the scary moment of putting the box in the jig and hoping it all went ok.











As you can see 2 sets of splines all the way around.

And finally for today the box with the feet mocked up in place. Still to do a bit of fitting and repair 2 corners. This mahogany is quite brittle.






Next to do is the splines and fit the feet. Then it is over to doing the concave sides and convex lid. 

Not sure what to do first the lid? or the sides? Any suggestions?


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## rileytoolworks (17 Mar 2013)

That looks lovely Carl.
I may as well give up now.  

Adam.


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## carlb40 (17 Mar 2013)

LOL
Thank you Adam, however mine is nowhere near in the same league as your box


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## andersonec (17 Mar 2013)

A labour of love.

Andy


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## carlb40 (18 Mar 2013)

Thank you Andy


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## carlb40 (19 Mar 2013)

Yesterday i managed to make and fit the splines. What a palaver i had getting the splines the right size. 3 lots of timber to get the correct size. Even the very very slightest nudge on the fence made 2 of the timbers wayyy too loose a fit :roll: 
Anyway after about 30 min and who knows how many test fits. Splines where the right size  







Also glued - well epoxied 2 of the feet on yesterday. Then the other 2 today.






Yesterday i was trying to decide between titebond/ resintite/epoxy to glue the feet on. Needed/ wanted some strength on the joint due to planing the feet once attached.
Finally decided on epoxy, probably over kill. But better safe than sorry. That purpleheart can be a pain to plane. 

As you can see, i gave it a quick sand. Started marking up for the curves. Now i kept the curve on the top the same as the rest. 2mm down from the top. Just not sure it is enough? Will 3mm be too much and look inconsistent with the other curves? 

Decisions decisions


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## andersonec (20 Mar 2013)

carlb40":z14uz60g said:


> Yesterday i managed to make and fit the splines. What a palaver i had getting the splines the right size. 3 lots of timber to get the correct size. Even the very very slightest nudge on the fence made 2 of the timbers wayyy too loose a fit :roll:
> Anyway after about 30 min and who knows how many test fits. Splines where the right size



Carl, if you want to adjust you router table fence fractionally then clamp a piece of wood on the table top against your fence with a business card or a piece of folded paper between the wood and your fence, loosen the fence clamps, remove the card / paper then move the fence to touch the clamped piece of wood, it takes all the guesswork away and you can make minute adjustments that way, if you only do one end then the adjustment is even smaller.

Hope you understand what I am trying to say.

Andy


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## carlb40 (21 Mar 2013)

Thank's Andy i do understand what you mean. I was only adjusting one side as it was. Not sure the box would have survived if i tried moving both ends of the fence. (hammer)


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## carlb40 (4 Apr 2013)

Right a wee update is in order me think's. Most of this was done about a week or so ago, a bit of work came my way so the box was put on hold.

After marking out the top curves - marked down 2mm on the corners, then marked the centre point and used a bendy rule to form a curve. Trying to plane down to the lines with my 4 1/2, i felt too much could go wrong. Sooo stood back and thought about it. Then i thought i will try my spokeshave, opened the draw and remembered i had sold it #-o Next to the space where it used ti sit was my No 80. Gave it a whirl and it did the trick nicely 






Hopefully you can see the curves going both ways, ie left to right. Front to back.

Did the same with the sides, found the centre point. Marked in 2mm and again with the bendy rule marked from the centre out to the corners of the feet. 

After some planing, resting in between due to the box being too high to use the wooden plane.

Here are the results






Needs a bit more finessing of the curves, which should be done over the next few days now my gooseneck scraper has arrived.

Then it will be time to cut the lid on it :shock:


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## carlb40 (25 Apr 2013)

Almost finished.

Box lid cut off, done over 2 days with my ryoba saw . It was a tad nerve racking as it was the first time i have done that. 












After cutting it open i planed all cut edges with my 5 1/2 

Deciding it needed some way to open the lid. I made a template and routed out for a bit more purple heart. The top part forms the 'handle' the bottom part was scraped/ sanded to create a slight recess to allow your finger to lift the lid.













Hopefully you can see what i mean LOL


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## carlb40 (25 Apr 2013)

Next up, the hinges. Decided not to bother with yet another jig. So chopped them in by hand.













All sanded to 600g, just needs a wipe down and shellac applied.


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## carlb40 (30 Apr 2013)

Shellac applied, not sure how many coats - lost count :lol: 

Front




Inside of lid




Side 1





Side 2




Rear





Didn't bother retaking insides/underneath due to them being pre finished before glue up. Hope that's ok? 


Good luck to those who entered


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## Racers (30 Apr 2013)

Hi, Carl

Nice box, I like the curves.

Pete


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## Eric The Viking (30 Apr 2013)

I'm with Pete - what a nice shape, and excellent execution too.

E. 
(who's glad he didn't attempt anything!)


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## DMF (30 Apr 2013)

Great job Carl, look forward to the next WIP!

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D> 

Dean


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## carlb40 (30 Apr 2013)

Poop - forgot the last few screws, so here is a pic ( bad as put tripod away) of missing screws installed.


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## carlb40 (30 Apr 2013)

Thank you guys. It turned out better than i expected


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## Roughcut (30 Apr 2013)

Quality. =D>


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## carlb40 (30 Apr 2013)

Thank you


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## RogerBoyle (30 Apr 2013)

Carl
Thats a nice box 
Lovely wood 
Well done mate


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## carlb40 (30 Apr 2013)

Thank you Roger


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## deserter (1 May 2013)

Beautiful, the shape is exceptional. 


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~


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## Gary Morris (1 May 2013)

Outstanding, high class, lovely box


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