Kiddo Boxes

From J:

Next project: keepsake boxes for my nephews. One is old enough to be in the "save things" stage. The other one is still too young for this, but why make one box when it's just as easy to make two? Also, as a younger brother myself, I don't want to leave him out of big brother's fun. Two boxes it is! One box is walnut, one is cherry. The cherry board is a leftover from my entryway tower; the walnut is leftover from my vanity cabinet. There's also a little bit of plywood in each box, again from their respective projects.

Each box is about 9x12x5. I cut the pieces out so that the grain will wrap around the corners of the box, so the cut order goes front, left, back, right when looking down the length of the board. I then resawed each piece from 3/4" thick (a bit beefy for a box of these dimensions) to ~1/2" thick on the (gulp) table saw. Blade height to the max (~3.5"), two passes with each board to take it to 1/2". Normally, a bandsaw is the preferred method for resawing, but as I don't have one, a table saw will do (the "buy J a bandsaw" fund is now accepting donations). This first attempt was only slightly terrifying. I've since purchased a couple of table saw accessories that will make future resawing safer and more accurate.

If you look closely, you can see how the grain flows around the box (especially on the cherry).

Next, I used my box joint jig to add the joinery at the edges of each piece, checking frequently to make sure that they mate up well. I put a 1/4" x 1/4" rabbet around the bottom edge using the router to accept the bottom plywood panel. The plywood panels were cut at the table saw to the proper dimension.

Test fit. Notice the weekend box in the background?

Plywood goes here.

Glueup time: epoxy is the glue of choice, due to its long working time and lubricating properties that help the box joints all go together. Each glueup took eight clamps, so I was limited to doing these one at a time (the "buy J more clamps" fund is also accepting donations). Let the epoxy set for 12 hours. After the epoxy set, I used a flush-trim router bit to take off the protruding joint fingers. Any gaps in the joints were filled with quick-set epoxy, which was then retrimmed to keep the profile flush. Other epoxy squeeze out was removed using a combination of planing, chiseling, and sanding.

Never enough clamps.

While the boxes were gluing, I made the panels for the tops. I took the remnants of each board and cut out two pieces that I joined together to get the necessary width. The panels were made extra large and will be dimensioned to the final size later. I had enough of the right type of clamps for these.

Wait...enough clamps?!?!? Preposterous!

After 12 hours in the clamps, I flattened the panels using the router planing jig I made for working on end grain cutting boards. After a little bit of cleanup around the top lip of each box, the now-flat panels fit without any wobble on top of each box. I rough-trimmed them to the necessary size at the table saw, then ensured that they perfectly matched the dimensions of each box by using the flush-cut trim bit to cut the panel to the exact dimensions of the body. The underside of the front and side edges got a tiny chamfer for visual interest.

Before...

After. Top surface is now flat. Now just repeat for the other side.

The tops were then beveled at the table saw and recesses for the hinges were cut in the box top using the router and a chisel. I sanded over the bevels to soften the edges. Hinge mounting was more difficult than I thought it would be. Very tough to get the lids lined up just right - there was no margin for error due to the previous flush-cutting. I would do things a bit differently if I had a do-over for this step, but despite some frustration they went together fine in the end.

Nice enough for an adult, durable enough for a kid.

Sand everything to 220 grit and apply the finish. Finish is my go-to standard, Arm-R-Seal semigloss. It's extremely durable and should hold up decently to little kid abuse. I love the grain on the cherry box and the color and hints of burl in the walnut box.

Enjoy, kiddos! While these boxes might seem a bit nice for toddlers, I hope that you can use them throughout your lives and think fondly of your uncle J when you do. They're made to last!

Project cost: I only used lumber that I had on hand for these. Each box has $20-30 of wood in it, plus a couple of bucks for the hinges. Maybe $3 of finish - I had to buy a new can. Comparable boxes run around $50 online, so decent savings vs. purchasing are possible for this sort of project. We're not in cutting board territory, but not bad! Total time invested is probably 10 hours over two weeks, with lots of time spent waiting for glue to dry. Making two identical pieces at once was an excellent way to increase my efficiency in the shop - I'll be doing that again for future projects.

Project thoughts: I like making small things that don't contain hundreds of dollars of wood in them! There are also some fun construction techniques involved. There's not much of an opportunity to hide things on a project where the inside and outside are by design completely visible, so the end appearance of everything has to be taken into consideration with each technique used. For example, keeping careful track of grain orientation on the two boards that make up each lid - is the joined edge easily visible, or is it hidden by the natural grain pattern?

I by no means claim to be an expert, but this build felt...straightforward. Outside of the recessed hinges, I'd done each of these steps before and knew more or less what to do. That made it less stressful than almost every other project I've done and I was able to enjoy the process more.

Next up: a couple of small things, then a surprise.