How to Line Boxes & Drawers

[custard]

Thankyou Custard
Really appreciate your spent time on this

one question though, Is it attached to bare wood?
will the copydex stick to a finish?

Steve

I always work on bare wood but I guess Copydex might stick to many finishes, I'd recommend testing first though.

The general principle with boxes is that you do all the finishing before lining, maybe a final exterior wax is left until afterwards but no more than that because getting finish on lining would ruin it. If there was a risk of finish getting on glue surfaces I'd normally just mask it off.

 

[custard]

Nice work custard.

My tip is to use Hemostats/clamps when changing the scalpel blades.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Surgical-Hemo ... SwiDFYRHDg


Pete

Wise advice, personally I use pliers but it's the same principle.

 

[custard]

Custard

Could you please clarify the last paragraph of your second post with some pictures.
Thanks

If you look at the penultimate photo you can see the shiny band of double sided tape (after removing the backing band), and you can see the flap of suede waiting to be pressed down onto it. There are two ways of going about this. Firstly you can fold over the card (therefore pressing the double stick tape down onto the suede), or secondly you can fold over the suede (therefore pressing the suede down onto the double stick tape).

In a simple situation like that photographed my preference is to fold over the card. However, you will meet situations (for example the situation where you have an MDF strip on the card to support a lift out tray) where you have no choice but to fold over the suede. Consequently there's merit in practising folding over the suede even on a simple example like this. The key issue is this, suede (along with most fabrics that you'll likely use for lining) is stretchy, so much that it's easy to get creasing which ruins the job, that's why I emphasised starting in the middle and working out from there towards the two ends.

Hope that clears it up.

 

[galleywood]

Custard

Yes it does - thanks.
It was the reference to mdf to support a lift out tray that I could not follow.
Now I see it in the pic of the box with the green lining.

 

[custard]

Custard

Yes it does - thanks.
It was the reference to mdf to support a lift out tray that I could not follow.
Now I see it in the pic of the box with the green lining.

Okay. Incidentally, when you're wrapping a lining around the "step" of the card and MDF support, I find it works better to approach it one "flat" at a time, I use a credit card to push the suede or felt well into the corner before laying it down across the next "flat". If you try it you'll instantly see what I mean.

 

[thetyreman]

great article custard, as usual very high quality content and information, I will put it to use on my next box project.

 

[SteveF]

sorry to ask more questions, I understand your time is precious
how would you approach my situation of cutlery box?
I am thinking of a sort of dental molding to separate the knives forks etc

Steve

 

[Garno]

Great post Custard and very easy to follow for a complete novice. How simple it will be to do remains to be seen, I now have my hides, copydex, card, green mat and rulers along with some double sided tape.

I have a question for you though,
Why use scalpels and not a Stanley knife? ( I don't have a scalpel ) Is it just personal choice? One thing I have learnt from your posts is that you very rarely include something that would not make a difference to the task in hand, therefore I can only assume there is some importance in using the scalpel. On the other hand I could be reading far too much into it and a Stanley knife would be fine.

Who was that man on the grassy knoll?

 

[Paul200]

Funnily enough Garno, I've just been lining a jewellery box. I've done this plenty of times in the past but always used a Stanley knife. Having read Custards sticky I used a scalpel instead and I found it to be far more accurate. A Stanley knife can snag the material you're cutting - presumably a scalpel is sharper so makes the job a lot easier. (The reason I have a scalpel to hand is because I had a mate who worked in a cartographic office and he gave it to me to use when I was making very tiny ships in miniature whisky bottles :roll: - they're not expensive though)

Paul

 

[MikeG.]

I've been woodworking for about 40 years now, and I've never made a box! (Well, smaller than a blanket box, I mean). However, there is one on the distant horizon: a cutlery canteen. Can anyone offer any insights into the lining of a canteen? I mean, the outer lining as per custard's excellent instructions looks straightforward, but what about the fiddly stuff which actually holds the cutlery? In bought canteens this is covered in the same stuff the box is lined with, and I haven't a clue how I might set about doing that.

 

[custard]

I've never made a cutlery box, but I have made boxes for sextants and for musical instruments with curved support blocks, so I guess it's the same principle. With pig suede you normally reserve the parts of the skin from around the neck and armpits, these are a bit thinner and much stretchier, so they can be formed into compound curves without wrinkling.

I think cutlery boxes are often lined with felt. I'm less experienced with working with felt but I get the impression that proper wool felt (as opposed to the tat you'll find on Ebay) is also a bit more elastic and can be shaped into curves.

 

[Harbo]

I think Malee?? of this Parish, made one years back using spray applied felting.

Rod

 

[Garno]

Funnily enough Garno, I've just been lining a jewellery box. I've done this plenty of times in the past but always used a Stanley knife. Having read Custards sticky I used a scalpel instead and I found it to be far more accurate. A Stanley knife can snag the material you're cutting - presumably a scalpel is sharper so makes the job a lot easier. (The reason I have a scalpel to hand is because I had a mate who worked in a cartographic office and he gave it to me to use when I was making very tiny ships in miniature whisky bottles :roll: - they're not expensive though)

Paul

Thanks Paul,

That makes perfect sense, Looks like I need to get one then.

Being tight-fisted was hoping to save those precious pennies

 

[JJ1]

Thank you very much indeed Custard for an extremely useful and easy to follow article. Very much appreciated.

 

[Myfordman]

I've just finished my first box lined by Custard's method. Thanks for posting.

 

[custard]

Very tidy and professional result.

The hardware all looks nicely fitted too, clean and even shut lines and a smoothly operating lock that is neither pushing the lid up nor distorting the box.

=D>

 

[Myfordman]

Thanks for your kind words. I'm not a conventional wood worker but an engineer who machines wood as just another engineering material. Precision fits do it for me!
Apart from a screwdriver and a paint brush, not a single hand tool was used on the job.

Even the lock recess was done on a milling machine!

 

[Just4Fun]

I have just followed this (excellent) guide to line a box I made. Just thought I would pass on a tip re lining material, if your box is small (mine was about 250x170x100mm). I used a chamois leather which I bought from a car spares place, sold as a cleaning product. I was a bit concerned that the quality might not be good enough to line a box but it produced a nice result that I was happy with.

 

[MattyT]

Thanks for posting this guide. I'm going to use this method to line a large jewelry box that I'm currently making.

 

[thetyreman]

if you line the inside of the box, I take it you line it with suede or felt first then make the trays so they fit perfectly to that new slightly reduced size?