Guilt trip

I took the day off! I feel so guilty . But the winds were light and the day was sunny so I just had to go flying- paragliding that is. Not a box in sight! Well, that isn't completely true, I did get up very early and fit the rare earth magnets to a batch of ring boxes.I'll work the weekend....

sanding edges

One small batch of sycamore ring boxes shouldn't take too long but I hit a snag.
I think at the root of the problem was the rather light weight fast grown sycamore I was using. Normally sycamore is pretty dense and cuts beautifully but this particular tree was an exception. I've never seen growth rings in sycamore so far apart.
I made the ring boxes as usual and got a good finish with sandpaper but when I came to cut the quarter rounds on the edges I was left with a ragged edge.I was using a block on a small spindle moulder with a high speed knife which was as sharp as it could be. ( the peripheral speed of the cutter blade is a lot faster than using a router.) I tried sanding them by hand but what I really needed was some sort of machine to neatly, evenly and cleanly  sand the round overs. I just couldn't think of a way of doing it. So I spent almost an entire day building a jig. It was partly successful but if anyone out there in blog land can think of a better solution I shall be forever in your debt.

Finished -ish

I'm very pleased to say that the stationery box that I've been working on for these last few weeks is finally off the bench. It's not yet oiled but it's made! So I celebrated yesterday by tidying the workshop, giving it a thorough vacuuming and I even cleaned the windows - well I couldn't see out of them...
The phot shows the wooded latch which holds the lid rack in place.

lid rack

The rack which pivots forward and sits inside the lid is now glued up and ready to go  - dispite my managing to get the left and right muddled up and glueing the division onto the wrong side!

Ten minutes on the batch of ring boxes while the glue was drying.
My mind is running ahead - I'm wondering what to make next 'long boxes'? finish the ring boxes? or some medium sized jewellery boxes? Not sure yet.

circular saw sledge

The box continues to progress - much more than that I cannot say as I'm now working on the secret compartments... The pile of ring boxes stands forlorn.
So instead I thought I'd pop in a picture of my saw sledge (or is it a sled?) A piece of wood for a stop and if you want to adjust the cut by a tenth of a millimetre - use a piece of paper. Two tenths of a millimetre - two pieces of paper...

brass plates

I made two new striking plates - I don't like metalwork - metal dust is so much dirtier than wood dust! and last night I was burning midnight oil making the final adjustments. And it works. The finishing straight is definitely in sight for this box!

sanding jig

The moment of truth arrived when I fitted the mechanism for the last time, complete with a drop of oil and lowered the lid. It didn't work! How could it not? This was not fair. I'd measured everything. Everything was right to within a tenth of a millimetre or so and one of the catches was missing the striking plate by about 2mm! There was no way that could happen and yet there it was staring me in the face. Laughing at me! I didn't understand it last night before I went to bed and I don't understand it now. So I'm making some more plates and adjusting things.
Nothing of which has anything to do with this photo. I started work on some ring boxes while I was waiting for some glue to dry and for today's tipette I thought I'd show you my jig for making the ring box hinges absolutely square and absolutely the same size on my disc sander.

todays tipette

A"tipette" is a little tip...
Fix a piece of MDF or plywood onto your drill table - it make it so much easier to clamp things in place to drill them and to clamp on stops so as you can drill a repeat hole.
I am still working on the stationery box! I just can't say too much about it. I'm working on the 'keys' at the moment.

The Dales Highway

I'm back! We've just walked part of the Dales Highway which is a 90 mile trail through and over the tops of the Yorkshire Dales. It was very soggy. It does take your mind away from boxes for a while though which is a good thing. Now though I'm back in harness and I'm on the final leg of that big stationery box that's a secret so I can't tell you about it...

leather

I tend to use leather to line boxes for men and velvet for jewellery boxes. One thing I've  learnt about fitting leather into a given space is to cut it around 0.5mm larger than the space. Leather can contract as well as expand - a bit like skin...

Setting out table

The stationary box continues to progress. I needed a large, clear space in the workshop to unroll and cut out leather and velvet for the inside of my boxes and of course space is always at a premium so I hung my setting out table from the ceiling and now every time I need to unroll the velvet for the insides of a jewellery box or the leather which I generally use for my desk boxes, I lower the table from the ceiling.

glue theory

My theory about glue is that it should prevent things from coming apart - not hold them together. There are those craftsmen who maintain that with modern adhesives joints are not so important any more. I disagree strongly. How can we know what will happen to that glue in fifty years? Whatever I'm making should hold together without any glue - then it's well made. The glue is simply to stop it coming apart.
I'm not sure I'm going to win the Nobel prize for that theory... it seems odd that we don't know what three quarters of the universe is made from...

Never use a rule

I seldom use a rule for marking out. I always try to mark the length of something straight from where I want it to fit.
In this case I'm marking the width of the box onto a tray piece. I'll then set a stop on the saw and cut a test piece before cutting the real thing. At this point I'm looking for a tight fit - the dovetails are then cut about half a millimetre over size and the tray then fits into the box perfectly.

Dovetailed trays today

Monday has come round again. And I had the weekend off! Saturday was spent at a wedding trussed up in a tie and trousers that were to tight around my big belly. I enjoyed the wedding but not being trussed up. Sunday I worked on the sideboard - a substantial piece of furniture that's going to hold the breakfast buffet for Chris' bed and breakfast guests. I'll publish a pic when it's finished. So not a box in sight for the entire weekend - which is good.

Think outside the box?

Definitely a case of thinking outside the box! These grooves really should have been put in before the box was assembled but I have to admit I do find it difficult sometimes anticipating how everything is going to work before I actually see it. And I sometimes certainly spend too long thinking. So it's a compromise