Small box and hinges

[WORSS]

Hi everyone,

I made a small box and cut it in two with a bandsaw. Can anyone provide me with a successful procedure to add the hinges while making sure the top and bottom line up perfectly? The hinges I have are Brusso box hinges.

Thanks, Bill

[Dan Parrell]

[william kossack]

Here is the process I have settled on

I use small piano hinges that I cut to the size of each box cutting a small rabbit just the depth and width so the hinge sticks out to my liking. The rabbit is done on a router table with the fence adjusted for the size hinge I'm using. That way the rabbit is the same depth and width on the top and bottom.

First attach the hing to the bottom.

I put something like a couple screws down on the hinge or I leave the heads of a couple of the screws sticking up so the other side of the hinge sticks up enough to meet the top.

I fold the hinge over and then put hot glue on the hinge in a couple spots and place the top on carefully lining up the corners and edges so they match and press down before the hot glue cools otherwise you will have too large a gap between the top and bottom.

Next gently open and close the box and make sure the glue holds and the top and bottom remain lined up correctly.

For small boxes I clamp the box into a BD workmate so when the lid is open all the way the top rests flat. For larger boxes I have a pair of angle brackets that I clamp to the box to support the lid so that it is level with the other side. The important thing is to not stress the hot glue otherwise it will come loose.

Then I carefully drill my first couple pilot holes for the screws and put the first screws in. One you get a couple screws in you can breath more carefully

Most of my boxes are done with 1/4 to 1/2 inch stock. Screws are the biggest problem because with harder woods they like to shear off if your pilot hole is not big enough resulting in having to drill out the part of the screw remaining in the wood and then finding some way of filling the hole and getting a replace screw to fit and hold. I've used this process with boxes made from ebony and other harder woods using number '0' or '1' brass screws (I'ver broken as many as a dozen screws on one small ebony box

If you may find a bit of the hot glue sticking out from the back. I just trim it off flush with the surface with an exacto and anything remaining is not noticed after the box is finished.

You can go to

see how they turn out (most have been filled with candy and sent to friends and family for christmas)

WORSS wrote:

[Ron Magen]

Bill, Nice boxes . . . {the rest of you . . . keep your minds OUT of the GUTTER !!}

From the looks of the BOTTOM BOXES {in the first picture}, you must be the 'definitive guy' to ask about Purpleheart and color retention.

We share our home with a retired Champion Malamute. Her breeder recently asked us if she could start to show her, again, in the Veterans Classification. We agreed, and since September {at the National Specialty}, she has won at the 4 shows she entered . . . 'Best of Opposite', and a TON of First's, with a few Seconds thrown in. The reason I mention this is because the breeder's 'color' is Purple, {it IS the 'royal color', and Zoë is 'the Queen'} I'd like to make the 'Shadow Boxes' for her ribbons out of a wood that is naturally that color.

[william kossack]

I've used purpleheart for a number of pieces for several years and I've never had problems with it keeping its color. If cut or sanded agressively it will have a brown color but then purple up. To get it to turn purple I don't do anything to it but leave it unfinished for a week or two. Once it reaches a good purple color I give it a coat of tung oil and then wait at least a couple days before padding on shellac. I don't have any of the older boxes because they were given away as presents but I got one back recently that I had given my motherinlaw because she had died. She had it sitting on a table maybe 5 feet from a window and it still has a nice color. Her son kept an ebony box mainly because I insisted and I have two sitting in my study that have not been given to anyone yet.

From what I have heard there are maybe 5 or 6 different trees that have the general name of purple heart. I've had the problem of different boards purchased separately purpl>Bill,

[Ron Magen]

Bill, Thanks for the feedback

Ron

SNIP