I feel a little foolish showing a small box that I made hoping that it will sit with projects such as Woodbloke's amazing cabinet. Still here goes.
I set out to make a small box to practice hand cut dovetails. That was my only design choice other than it was to be made from material I had available. So the sides are made of beech and the top is walnut. The knob is a piece of beech turned by me. I had the hinges but no brass screws, I will replace the steel ones later.
There were several lessons learnt from making the box. Firstly, it is possible! That may seem a stupid thing to say but I have been put off hand cutting dovetails by making a mess in the past. Time and care are what I needed most of all.
The wood needs to be flat and square, something I have also neglected in the past. I planned the sides flat and shot the ends square. That made a big difference.
Tools need to be sharp! Again, I know it may seem stupid, but in the past I have tried to cut dovetails with a dull edge. I used two chisels and stropped both before starting an end and before the final finishing cut.
One thing I have yet to learn is to stop before the scribe line. You can see that there are several "holes" by the pins. These have been caused by the saw cutting just below the line usually on the back. I must do better on this next time.
Aside from the initial preparation of the wood, all the work was done by hand, except one other bit. I have always had and used a router with a lot of success. I hated using it on this project! Maybe it was that it had the capacity to destroy all my work in seconds, or maybe a powertool seemed out of place after so much hand work. OK, getting heavy, stop now!
OK, its not a masterpiece but it is a functional box. I still have lots more to learn but this has given me the confidence to have another go and hopefully achieve better results.
I set out to make a small box to practice hand cut dovetails. That was my only design choice other than it was to be made from material I had available. So the sides are made of beech and the top is walnut. The knob is a piece of beech turned by me. I had the hinges but no brass screws, I will replace the steel ones later.
There were several lessons learnt from making the box. Firstly, it is possible! That may seem a stupid thing to say but I have been put off hand cutting dovetails by making a mess in the past. Time and care are what I needed most of all.
The wood needs to be flat and square, something I have also neglected in the past. I planned the sides flat and shot the ends square. That made a big difference.
Tools need to be sharp! Again, I know it may seem stupid, but in the past I have tried to cut dovetails with a dull edge. I used two chisels and stropped both before starting an end and before the final finishing cut.
One thing I have yet to learn is to stop before the scribe line. You can see that there are several "holes" by the pins. These have been caused by the saw cutting just below the line usually on the back. I must do better on this next time.
Aside from the initial preparation of the wood, all the work was done by hand, except one other bit. I have always had and used a router with a lot of success. I hated using it on this project! Maybe it was that it had the capacity to destroy all my work in seconds, or maybe a powertool seemed out of place after so much hand work. OK, getting heavy, stop now!
OK, its not a masterpiece but it is a functional box. I still have lots more to learn but this has given me the confidence to have another go and hopefully achieve better results.
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