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"secret" box"

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"secret" box"

#1

"secret" box"

bill tindal, E.TN

>This box goes in the "secret" compartment in the Chester Co chest I am building. It is cedar w/shellac finish, some multitude of coats (more on that later).

I kind of like the dinky dovetails for a small box (about10 x 15"), but I probably won't use dinky dovetails on a drawer. It sure makes a difference fitting when the wood is changed. I was reliably cutting dovetails for the many poplar drawers and all was going well. I had to do some paring to get the cedar to fit.

This being a small box I decided to plane and not sand the surfaces before finishing. Actually I thought I would not finish the box at all. But handling it during construction was scuffing it up so I decided to coat the sides and top. I have heard the virtues of a planed/not sanded surface but the open pores of the planed surface sopped up finish. I think some light sanding would have been better. I'll post the chest later in week when I get the photos sized.

Does anyone know why this Forum requires smaller pictures than the main forum?


img

Re: "secret" box"

#2

PS

bill tindal, E.TN

>The box is sitting on the top of the chest. It is stained with burnt umber pigment and then varnished with thinned varnish.

Re: "secret" box"

#3

Purty!

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I like the bookmatching of the sapwood, and the tiny dovetails are perfect for such a small box.

Re: "secret" box"

#4

Re: "secret" box"

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>Bill

That is beautifully made. The proportion are just right and the shape and number of the dovetails fit in wonderfully. How did you finish the bookmatched top (which the grains running oppositeto one another) - sand or plane?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: "secret" box"

#5

planed

bill tindal, E.TN

>this Eastern Red Cedar, which is actually a Juniper, is a fairly hard wood and it planes nicely even where there is grain reversal. And the shop smells nice while doing it.

Re: "secret" box"

#6

Re: "secret" box"

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown PA

>Very pretty Bill. That lovely bookmatched top will be a nice surprise when the secret is found.

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#7

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Paul in NJ

>Very nice Bill! I am looking forward to seeing the chest.

Paul Dzioba

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#8

Very pretty Bill. A question...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Is the box hinged? Or does the lid slide. I wanna see a pic of the chest too!

Nice DT too!

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#9

the lid construction

Bill Tindal, E.TN

>The top is not hinged. The box was made and the top sawed off leaving 1/2" of box side fastened to the lid. This operation never goes well so there was some planing to get things aligned again. Then I mitered (using my wonderful shooting board, THANK YOU Woodcentral particiapnts) 1/8" thick x 3/4" wide pieces inside the lid. (These stick 1/4" below the inside edge of the lid and fit inside the box bottom.) So the lid friction fits onto the base with these 1/8" pieces providing the friction and aligning the top with the base.

I made some boxes for a butterfly collector this way once and they made a nice fit for a lid that will be opened occasionally. Wife likes the box top so who knows if this box will ever be a "secret" box of not. It would have been better if it was ugly.

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#10

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Frank D. in Montreal

>Very nice work Bill. It's always nice to see finished projects too; thanks for showing us and I'm looking forward to seeing the chest.

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