Laminated Keepsake Box.pdf

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Laminated Keepsake Box
T
hough you might think that a box is a box is a box
and not very exciting, this particular little box is
rather special.Notonly doesit use wood thatmight other-
wise be thrown away, but better yet, the layering tech-
nique allows you to very easily modifythe length, width
and height to suit your own needs. You could call it a
"log cabin" box. This refers to the way the sections are
layered one on top of another with the ends staggered,
just the way the old timers built their log cabins.
If you are going to stay with our design, you need
twenty-four 1/2" X 1/2"-square sections in all, twelve
long and twelve short. All I did was search through my
pile of offcuts, select two colors that went together to
makeapleasant counterchange, and then pushed the
wood throughmyportable surface planer. Having planed
the wood to a crisp 1/2" X 1/2"-square section, cut the
wood to length so that it is perfectly square-ended and
slightly oversize. As the long pieces need to end up at 5
1/2"— meaning when they are built into the finished
6"-long box—it's best to cutthem at about 5 5/8", so you
canplaneandsand them back to a goodfit andfinish.
When you have made the twenty-four lengths, pile
them up in a dry-run arrangement, in the order they are
going to be in the finishedbox, andpencil mark the top
andbottom layersof the stack. Draw inregistration marks
MAKING THE BOX
When you have studied the working drawings and seen
how the lid and the base boards are set into slots—with
the lid being able to slide in and out—then make deci-
sions as to the size of your box, and size and plane the
wood accordingly.
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unglued. This done, test to make sure that the lid is a
good fit and leave the box until the glue is set. Glue the
short length on the endof the lidboard.
Finally, plane and sand the box downto a flush-sided
smoothfinish, makesure that the lid is anice easyfit in
the grooves, and then wax andburnish toa high sheen.
so there is no doubting the layered order.
Being very careful that you don'tmake a mistake, take
the eightlengthsthat go to make the top andthe bottom
layers and use either a router or a grooving plane tocut
the channels.Aim to have the grooves at about3/16 " wide,
1/4"deep, and centered in the1/ 2" thickness ofthe wood.
With the channels crisplyworked, take the wood that
youhave chosen forthebase and the lid andusea router
or a plane to cutthe rabbeted edges. Whileyouare at it,
use a router or a "round" mouldingplane,or even a gouge,
tocutthe beautiful scooped convexcurve that runs down
from the top face of the lid through to the rabbet.
Starting at thebase andworkingup,glue the fourbase
lengths together so that the base board is nicely contained,
and then layer up in log cabin fashion until the box is
complete. Don't forget to leave one of thetop-end pieces
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SPECIALTIP: USING OLD PLANES
Though there are any number of ways of
cutting tongues, grooves and rabbets, I
think that the old metal grooving plane
takes a bit of beating, meaning one of the
old metal Stanley or Recordplanes. 1 use a
Record 043 and 044, bothmade sometime
before 1950. It's true they are no longer
made, but 1 picked mine up at a fleamarket
for no more than the cost of a new router
bit. The Record 044 has eight blades that
range in size from 1/8 " to 9/16".
USING OLD PLANES
The classic Record 044 grooving plane isa beauty,easy to tuneand
pretty foolproof to use.
STEP-BY-STEP STAGES
2 When you are happy withthe overall shape and
alignment of the box, use a ruler and square to
check for squareness.
1 With the base dry fitted in place—meaning no
glue—layer the squaresections up log-cabinstyle so that
the ends stickout beyond the corners. Pay particular
attention to the alignment of the grooves.
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3 Before you leave the
glue to set, make sure
that the lid is an easy but
snug fit and that it runs
right through to the end
of thebox, sothat the end
runs into the groove.
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PORTABLE SURFACEPLANER VS.
HAND PLANES
If you are a beginner to woodworking, then sooner or
later you will have to make decisions about your overall
approach to the subject, or your "working philosophy."
One ofthe main questions that you have to ask yourself
is, do you want the emphasis to be on the bench power
tools—meaning routers, press drills, planers and all the
rest—or doyou wantto focus on using handtools? Most
woodworkers 1knowfitin one offourgroups:
Will not use power tools at any price.
Will grudgingly use the occasional power tool, but
much prefershand tools.
Enjoys using power tools for most of the work, and
tidies upwith thehand tools.
Verymuch enjoys using power toolsandis reluctant to
use hand tools.
I reckon that Gill and 1 fit into group two. We much
prefer working with hand tools but will sometimes use a
power tool tospeed thingsup.
Okay, so you must surely have gathered by now, that
we're not verykeen on power tools. It's not so much that
we can't afford to power up, but rather that we bothdis-
like all the dust, debris andnoise that power toolsgener-
ate. To our way of thinking, there is nothing quite so
unpleasant as being covered with fine dust and blasted
with noise.
Allthat said, 1 was so tuckered out one day last sum-
mer—when I was heavily involved in the strenuous and
sweat-making procedure of hand planing a massive
rough-sawn oak plank—that I decided, against my better
judgment, to invest in a portable planer thicknesser. To
cut a long story short—or you could say to plane a fat
story thinner (ha!)—when I first saw this machine, I was
firmly convinced thatit was the beginning of the end of
my wayofworking. My thinkingwas that it would some-
how or other weaken my belief that slow-and-quiet is
beautiful. However, there is no denying that it has
changed the way 1 work. For example, where I once strug-
gled andstrained with a jointer plane, andthen a smooth-
ing plane, 1 now pass the wood a few times through the
surface planer. In fact, I have to admit that it's a beautifully
efficient machine that gets a lot of use. Of course, it is
noisy, and 1 do have to house it in its own shed, and I
did have to get myself a dust sucker and a full-face respira-
tor mask, but against that, I can now spend much more
time playing aroundwith my various grooving, moulding
and combination handplanes.
Most expertswould agree that the best way is tostart
with hand tool techniques and thenpower up when you
fully understand yourneeds.
6 If all is correct, thebase slab should be well con-
unncd, but shouldfit loosely, so that the box side can
move without splitting the base.
The portable surface planer is a great bench machine. All you do is
feed the wood in one side, between the cutter blades and the bed, and
it comes out the otherside nearly finished!
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