'nother box

[Grizz]

I am experimenting with box joints in anticipation of building the sea chest slash buoyancy boxes for the boats. These act like furniture and weight control while wandering, and some of them will be portable for setting up camp or packing the contents along the boardwalk. It's a learning curve type thing.

I made this prototype from some scrap doorskin and just made it a random size based on a scrap I had lying around. Here are some of the parts. These 4 pieces were glued with superglue.The ends were layed out and added after that.

447c.png

I installed the ends with epoxy thickened with wood flour. Too much glue as it turns out. And cut the top with a 1/16" kerf blade in the table saw. There's a buffed coat of Minwax PU on the outside.

488c.png

It was entirely accidental that the box turned out to have a useful purpose. The excess glue, when hogged out, will allow 20 rounds to just fit inside.

491c.png

I could add pieces to the top to make it a slip fit over the box. I could hinge the lid with leather and use a leather clasp. The slip top makes a box that will stack inside its larger box more easily. There will probably be 2 sets of fitted boxes inside the larger chest to protect the tools from the weather and from thrashing against each other.

Other boxes will house the edged tools, the files and rasps, the drawknives and spokeshaves, and the planes, which get their own fitted space with a deck above for the other smaller boxes.

Pleasant fiddly stuff sitting by the fire and dreaming of other things to make.

Watching Going Medieval on the History Channel. Reminds me I have to get a trebuchet built into the boat's rigging. eh?

[Chuck 100 yd]

Sweet. I have been thinking of buying a contractor size table saw just for that purpose. My shop is already getting crowded but I will find room somewhere.

[Blaine]

I'm always impressed when anyone can make cool stuff.....

[Mescalero]

Really,
You should see my shop in Timberon.

[Blaine]

Really,
You should see my shop in Timberon.

I could screw up a stainless steel football with a rubber hammer....

[Mescalero]

Come on by, you will have fun.

[Blaine]

Come on by, you will have fun.

I'm hoping to visit my friend in Cornville in August....I want to ride the scoot down...

[Mescalero]

That's a long ride.

[Blaine]

That's a long ride.

Not at all.... It IS a hot ride in August....

[AJMD429]

Reminds me I have to get a trebuchet built into the boat's rigging. eh?

Now THAT would be cool...!!!

[Sigmar]

Well grizz a subject I know inside and out. I've built custom furniture for years. use titebond 2, its weather resistant. Also make a jig for your tablesaw so you can have box joints all the way up, will give you more strength as you'll have more surface area to glue. gotta love working with wood

[Pitchy]

Pretty soon you`ll be a professional boxer Grizz.

[Grizz]

Pretty soon you`ll be a professional boxer Grizz.

The Quote of the Day goes to Pitchy

good one

[Blaine]

Pretty soon you`ll be a professional boxer Grizz.

The Quote of the Day goes to Pitchy

good one

He had a joint....

[Sigmar]

Pretty soon you`ll be a professional boxer Grizz.

The Quote of the Day goes to Pitchy

good one

He had a joint....

now he's really flipped his lid

[Blaine]

Pretty soon you`ll be a professional boxer Grizz.

The Quote of the Day goes to Pitchy

good one

He had a joint....

now he's really flipped his lid

You're learning to roll with them....

[pokey]

nice

especially like the trebuchet idea.

you need to find this book. one of my favorites.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Toolbox-Book- ... 1561582727

[Grizz]

Good link. Thanks Pokey. It's hard to stay square around the unhinged lids.

The Jamestown Ships Box on p6 resembles the thousand year old viking shipwright's tool box.

[Mescalero]

Were the Viking tools iron?

[pokey]

The Jamestown Ships Box on p6 resembles the thousand year old viking shipwright's tool box.

from the nothing is ever really new department.

[Grizz]

Were the Viking tools iron?

yes, iron. there is more info around, including modern plans to build the viking chest, maybe pop sci or pop mechanics. I forget where I saw them.

[92&94]

Well grizz a subject I know inside and out. I've built custom furniture for years. use titebond 2, its weather resistant. Also make a jig for your tablesaw so you can have box joints all the way up, will give you more strength as you'll have more surface area to glue. gotta love working with wood

I do them that way too, even cabinet drawers on the rare occasion I make cabinets. Quick and easy, very strong.

Often I make the fingers of the joint the same width as the thickness of the stock, but it's not necessary. Sometimes I make the fingers a single blade thickness.

[Grizz]

My shipping crates are based on the size of plywood. A one sheet trunk produces a box that measures 48x24x17 framed internally with 2x2s, with practically no waste. We use a forklift and crane to handle those. This trunk will float over 700 pounds of freight as long as the water stays out of it.

My standard size is 24x16x17 external dimensions. That's about the handiest size and I get two from a sheet with not much waste. The 17" height is very handy as a seat, horse, or bench depending on how they are arranged. I scoot a couple together to get the dog at a better working height for haircuts. I used 3 of them as a foundation for a 4'x16' loft table to lay out boat parts. I sometimes put the end framing outside to gain traction for lifting. They are glued with PU and screwed with deck screws. The lids are screwed down for shipping. Like this:

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This size is ideal for hand truck transportation and I think of it as a ROUGH-RoughTote. The box on the left is 3/4 full of ballast and I just about can't lift it. Back won't co-operate I guess.

My long-gun box is box jointed on the sides, top, and bottom with random box joints and large dovetails on the ends to pull all the pieces together.

I have done even-and-symetrical joints for other tool boxes but now I prefer framing for the rough duty ones with lapped sides, and random box joints for the lighter duty ones to eliminate the loss of space. I might start box-joining the 24x16 size and use epoxy filleting and tape inside to replace the wood framing, stitch and glue boat building style. That ups the cubes inside. Nothing like making boxes that are stronger, longer lasting, and more handsome than I am, eh?

[gamekeeper]

I'm always impressed when anyone can make cool stuff.....

Me too...

[Grizz]

I'm always impressed when anyone can make cool stuff.....

Me too...

Aw, shucks, thanks guys.

Here's a little more in case someone wants to ship something and get it in one piece.

welder_box.JPG

Custom fit to keep it from jostling while thrashing it around. The wirefeed and other stuff is in another box.

all-terrain_hand-truck.JPG

This is my custom aluminum hand truck. It packs enormous weight. I sometimes use it as a jack to lift log ends for sawing if they don't need the full hydraulic jack treatment. That truck will easily pack a full fuel drum from the fuel dock or the boat to the house.

my_place.jpg

Airial looking toward my place. Fairweather range top right. Chichagof Island below. Miss it almost every day.

letter_box-1.JPG

letter_box-2.JPG

And here's a gift to my wife for an anniversary or something like that:

It is made from one Douglas Fir plank and the grain is continuous around the sides. Kind of fun.

thanks for looking

Grizz

[Sigmar]

I'm always impressed when anyone can make cool stuff.....

Me too...

Aw, shucks, thanks guys.

Here's a little more in case someone wants to ship something and get it in one piece.

welder_box.JPG

Custom fit to keep it from jostling while thrashing it around. The wirefeed and other stuff is in another box.

all-terrain_hand-truck.JPG

This is my custom aluminum hand truck. It packs enormous weight. I sometimes use it as a jack to lift log ends for sawing if they don't need the full hydraulic jack treatment. That truck will easily pack a full fuel drum from the fuel dock or the boat to the house.

my_place.jpg

Airial looking toward my place. Fairweather range top right. Chichagof Island below. Miss it almost every day.

letter_box-1.JPG

letter_box-2.JPG

And here's a gift to my wife for an anniversary or something like that:

It is made from one Douglas Fir plank and the grain is continuous around the sides. Kind of fun.

thanks for looking

Grizz

Nice joinery

[hightime]

You sure got my attention. I too have been trying to build a few. I started with a pine range box. Then I gave that to my son and built one out of oak for me. Last summer I built an ammo. box for my 45-110. I have bought a box joint jig. It works ok for the 1/2'' joints, but not for the 1/4'' on the ammo. box. I had to do that by hand. Too much work. I'll figure something else out this year.

Owen

[Grizz]

Owen, that is outstanding work. I bet your cases draw as much attention as that beauty they serve.

I enjoy the random type joints just for fun, and I like cutting them by hand, it's the therapy that offsets the madness around us. If I try to make them too precise I get frustrated with my poor skills.

Here is a box joint jig that is cheap, easy to make, and does things some of the others can't. It will handle the 1/4" stock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovERpMk6 ... ure=relmfu

I haven't tried this yet out of plain laziness.

Grizz

[hightime]

Thanks for that tip Grizz. I knew there must be an easier way.

Owen

[92&94]

I've never seen it done that way... interesting...

I use jigs that I attach to the miter gauge. Just a piece of plywood with a finger of wood the same width as the fingers of the box joint. Quick and easy enough that I've never looked for another way of doing it.

[Grizz]

I've never seen it done that way... interesting...

I use jigs that I attach to the miter gauge. Just a piece of plywood with a finger of wood the same width as the fingers of the box joint. Quick and easy enough that I've never looked for another way of doing it.

I'd like to see a picture or two of that if possible.

thanks

[sore shoulder]

Just added that jig to my woodshop projects.

[92&94]

I've never seen it done that way... interesting...

I use jigs that I attach to the miter gauge. Just a piece of plywood with a finger of wood the same width as the fingers of the box joint. Quick and easy enough that I've never looked for another way of doing it.

I'd like to see a picture or two of that if possible.

thanks

I didn't set up the dado just snapped a couple pics. Imagine the blade is the same width as the cut out in the jig.


The jig is set so it is one finger width away from the blade:


Here is what you would see after the first cut:


First cut then gets put over the jig's finger, setting the spacing for all the fingers on the box side:


The mating piece is started by butting it up to it's mate after the last cut - so that the fingers on one piece match the notches on the other. I think to snap a pic with a second piece, it would butt up to this one so that the blade notches the corner of it:


Finished box:

[Grizz]

92&94

Thanks for the pictures. It looks simple and the box looks great.

What kind of plywood is that?

How do you join the bottom?

Here's another take at a dovetail corner.

http://woodgears.ca/dovetail/impossible.html

This guy's site is worth some study time.


thanks,

Grizz

[92&94]

That plywood is 1/2" baltic birch. It comes in 5' square sheets from lumber yards that cater to the cabinet trade. Runs about $35 a sheet these days. Used to be $15 in the 1990's. Its available in 3/4" as well, but that's kind of overkill for cabinets so you don't always see it around the yards.

The bottom is 1/4" thick baltic birch, rides in a dado 1/2" in from the bottom edge. The back piece of the box is shorter, only comes down to the top of that dado, so that the bottom slides in after the drawer box is assembled. For regular display boxes I run the dado on all sides and just install the bottom when assembling the sides.