So it's Blackwood season. I seem to be having great luck picking the right rough sawn boards!! This box is Tasmanian Blackwoood with a bookmatched Black Heart Sassafrass lid panel. The box is 600 mm x 300 mm x about 250 mm high. The trays are made from some beautiful QLD Maple I found in a woodyard. 2.7 metres of 100 mm x 50 mm. Excellent! The finish is Hard burnishing Oil, which I find to give a beautiful lustre with heat resistance and water resistance. Lasts forever too.

For those interested, the bench under the Blackwood Box is African Mahogany done 11 years ago with HBO. Still looks like the day it was oiled!

Regards,

Rob

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http://www.damnfinefurniture.com
I don't have as many tools as most people here...but Gee I've got some pretty hardwoods!

Another nice one!

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Water separates the people of the world; wine unites them.

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It may be an optical illusion from the lighting, but it looks like you managed to wrap the grain around the external corners of the box - did you use a single long board? Nice work, as always.

Hi Paul,
Thank you for the kind words. Yes, it was one long board. I didn't intentionally cut the timber for the flow on effect for grain, but it's highly possible that I did. I'll have to have a look m'self!!

Regards,

Rob

__________________
http://www.damnfinefurniture.com
I don't have as many tools as most people here...but Gee I've got some pretty hardwoods!

Beautiful work Rob!

I am curious how you joined the corners of the trays, and how the tray bottoms are joined to the sides. What is the material/thickness of tray bottoms?

Charles

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Tools I Have Made: 3 Mallets, Layout Knife, a 1/8 inch Skew Chisel, a 1/4 inch Skew Chisel, Miter Box, 1/8 inch chisel, 3/32 inch chisel (from 3/32 Champion punch), Tool Cabinet

Hi Charles,

I use mitre joints for the corners of the trays and these usually survive anything except extremely rough treatment (this is where you bless the day you bought a Kapex!!). I use Titebond II wood glue. The bottoms are "attached" by routing a 4 or 6mm groove using an appropriate slot cutter to dig the trench. The bottoms, are then slotted in as the box is assembled. The grooves are usually about 4-6mm deep. This is how I do it.

First, I finish the tray bottom, either with some self adhesive felt or the timber is oiled if it's a quality finish I want for the box. (If I want to use some special timber, with figure or outstanding grain). Otherwise I use Ply or MDF with the felt.

Second, I lay the four sides of the box on the bench with the groove face down and match the sides and grooves for the bottom.
Then I tape the corners together.

Thirdly, I flip the now joined ( with tape) sides to expose the mitre faces and add glue to those faces.

Lastly, I insert the base into one of the slots and fold the sides over, so that the base sits in all the grooves and clamp it up with some box clamps.

If you're adventurous, you can make a stack of boxes in one go using this method, just by cutting several base slots and the required height and sawing through just below the the bottoms.

So you could make the entire contents of a set of drawers if you wished.

I use self adhesive felt because it looks so much better than flock or felt/velvet that has been glued on to the base. I found a felt supplier whose product is good and reliable. I use black or burgundy colour because green and red look cheap to me.

Regards,

Rob

__________________
http://www.damnfinefurniture.com
I don't have as many tools as most people here...but Gee I've got some pretty hardwoods!