Okay I have no money but this is what I can and want to do

Alright, what kind of box should I make. I never thought of making a box before. What would its function be?

Tell me how you got started. I have never heard of boxmaking.

Almost no one I know of appreciates homemade stuff. I have grown to like it more, as I age.

Tue, Sep 2, 2003, 10:09pm (EDT+4) john_20_28 snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (jm) wants to know: Alright, what kind of box should I make. I never thought of making a box before. What would its function be?

Well, the function of most boxes would be to hold something. You can also stand them on end and sit on them. You want someone to tell you what kind of box to make? In that case.

JOAT No sense in being pessimistic - it wouldn't work anyway.

Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 1 Sep 2003. Some tunes I like.

There are several types available and a couple of basic methods to use. One way to make boxes is to turn them, if you have a lathe. Since you don't you are restricted to rectangular , or something along that line, boxes. The corners can be joined by dovetails, finger joints, half-laps or but joints. I put them in that order because I see that as the decreasing order of WOW factor when people look at the box. The boxes could be for jewelry or cigars or anything else that you can think of. The reality is that its function of the boxes would be to cause pleasure in the people you preset them to.

Dave in Fairfax

you need to start simple and work up. Do a search on Wood box +plans

I hope that helps, Dave in Fairfax

Thanks! I found them. Much more interesting than cutting board.

Actually, I couldn't find more than a few on the Intenet, but Amazon has some books.

Go to a bookstore or a library, find the boxmaking books and flip through them for ideas.

That basically _is_ how I got started. I had never made a complete box before.

It's nothing the slightest bit fancy. I used scrap plywood, which is quite ugly, but functional and free. I made four pieces the height I wanted the box to be, then cut off about a third of the width to make the lid pieces. Cut a couple of pieces to fit the top and bottom, and I had the makings of a box.

I'd like to say I did something fancy in the way of joinery, but the truth is that I marked hole locations and then drilled pilot holes through the pieces with my drill press, then nailed it all together. (Yes, *nails*... I'm so ashamed...) I didn't even use glue. I cut the mortises for the hinges with my table saw, then screwed one of those little flip down catch thingies to the front. I cut a piece of scrap pine and fiddled with it until it was a perfect fit for the inside. I used a Forstner bit to make places to stick my dies, and I drilled appropriately sized holes to fit the taps.

Voila. An ugly but very functional little armored case so I quit losing my taps and dies.

I'm working on a finger joint jig now. I plan to make something out of scrap oak with finger joints and glue instead of screws, which I will actually make in a fashion that permits sanding and finishing. I might make a fancy box to replace my Dremel case, which never wants to stay open, and which is always flipping over and spilling all my stuff all over the place.

Beyond that, maybe a fancy jewelry box for SWMBO or for Mom or something. Limitless possibilities with boxes, and they're cheap because they don't use much in the way of materials. I think these will be good practice for joinery too. I can do dovetails, through tennons, finger joints, pegs, half laps, splined miters... Seems like a good way to learn about joinery, so the next time I try to build myself a set of doors for a hutch, they don't come out looking so awful.

I think it will be more fun than bird houses and shadow boxes. I have too many damn bird houses, and shadow boxes just encourage SWMBO to collect more little piddly crap that has to be dusted. :)

I have several friends on the crafts circuit that make boxes. Most of them use exotic woods for decorator boxes. Some functions include stationary, jewelry, trinkets, and some are just for collectors. Yes, there are collectors of small wooden boxes. One makes Bible boxes with carved tops. Another makes just cigar boxes of Spanish cedar. Another makes fancy $300 to $1000 boxes for crematory ashes. Some are turned. Some are inlaid. And one of the most promising young cabinetmakers I have known now makes specialized plywood boxes for shipping aviation instruments -- a waste of talent, but very profitable. harrym

I bought this book (don't know if this link will work here):

Box-Making Basic: Design, Technique, Projects by David M. Freedman

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No S*it? Well I'll level with ya, I had jist lost a few fingers tht day on my "cheap" saw using the blade guard and that is the best I could type at that time

Don't even need rollers, just wedge a piece of plywood scrap against the base of saw, with another piece in lean-to fashion, cross-brace drywall-screwed or bar-clamped to hold it together. A little adjustment will allow the workpiece to gently climb and them skim across the ramp.

It's Brit speak. They use it a lot.

To Goat:

So you repeated it.

To RM MS

Plonk.

:) way to go! He made my twit list recently too...

dave

news.veriz> To RM MS

."Hard to type after he lost those fingers to the crappy table saw with the wonky fence.".

Well, actually it was the Blade Guard that bit me.

Wonky? What the Hell is Wonky? Sounds like a word a friggin' teacher would use to try and sound cool.