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Can crazy wood be used for box lids?

Just another thought. Sequence can be important. Remember to cut the dados or rabbets for the bottom before you glue the box sides together. As long as the bottom (or top) of the box is flat so it will fit in your jig, your can add splines anytime.

Since you're planning on a drop in lid, I'd make the box first. Then, using the actual box, design your lid. I'd make the lid slightly larger than the outside of the box, all four sides. That will allow you to trim it to fit very precisely. Hopefully your lid design will have a flat side (doesn't matter if it's inside the lid or outside the lid. That flat side will allow you to run the lid along your fence on your saw to cut the rabbets so your lid will drop in smoothly without a lot of wiggle. If you have one, can also use a router table for that step. Sneak up on it, make a cut, test fit, sand a little, if necessary trim a tiny bit more, etc until you get the fit you like.
 
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Mike1950 said:
These are also in classroom. Called tea boxes. One is 1/2" other 1/4 " thins. Leg does add strength. But I know of none failing. Small boxes are difficult to get perfect miters but doable. I think first batch i made 16 all different.
But splines from what I have read are more decorative than structural.

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amazing how you can see tiny mistakes in pics. these are 12 yrs old
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #44
The box is wormy maple and the lid will be walnut. Thank you for posting the pictures! Mine isnt glued (or sitting in these clamps right) but gives a visual. This maple sure does tear up easily 😔 Has some small bits of tearout when sanding.

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  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #46
Another line of questions for my lid- will I be able to keep this 3d figure with sanding alone? It has some major milling marks going on.

20260215_131809.jpg
 
That is affirmative. Start with 80 grit and keep moving so you don't cut a groove. Should only take a minute, then start up the numbers, 120, 180, 220, 300 prolly stop there if you are using a film finish like polyurethane.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #49
Well this is the end result with all the lessons learned from my do-it-myself on the fly experiment 😂

1. I finished the inside pieces of the box with polycrylic since I heard it was easier to finish the inside prior to assembly. This caused the wood to cup, so I had to dampen the other side of the pieces until they flattened. My miters were no longer absolutely flush. The advice to cut and glue all in the same day suddenly seemed more important than finishing the inside prior to assembly.

2. During glue-up it was difficult to use the corner clamps and get everything square, and painters tape was causing the soft maple to peel off in some parts. I used the "miter rub joint" method. At first it seemed successful, but I somehow managed to shift one of the long ends slightly. This, in additon to the miters no longer being perfect resulted in a big fat gap that could not be burnished.

I didnt want to fill the miter gap with sawdust and yellow glue. I heard that shellac and sawdust would look better, but the fine dust wasn't sticking to it. (Looking back, maybe I should have used a higher cut of shellac than 1lb?). I ended up using some clear tacky glue I already had. It doesn't look the best, but it did fill the gap.

3. Making the lid for an off-square box was interesting. I opted for a drop-in lid and used a thin panel of figured walnut. I spent a lot of time carefully measuring and marking and it was still off. I did manage to get the inside of the panel to fit decently, but that is the only good result. I made a shallow rabbet on the panel with a trim router. Trying to sand out the small router marks from the rabbet was a pain. I ended up using a dremel to try and smooth them out.

4. Finishing was also interesting. I went up the grits with sanders and then finished with hand sanding. Most of the blemishes and mill-marks were removed, but I missed a few. Once I applied the shellac, all the little gouges and curly marks from the sander showed up.

The shellac itself seemed pretty straightforward. It sure does make the walnut look nice! I mixed a 1lb cut and thinly applied it with a paintbrush. That caused a lot of sticky spots that wouldnt dry. I rubbed
denatured etoh on to remove the stickiness and lightly sanded down the raised grain with 330 sandpaper.

This time I carefully applied the shellac witha cloth. Even then I still had some sticky spots after a few days. Perhaps areas with figuring picked up more shellac than other parts? I used a 1lb cut for the entire box and applied three layers, letting it dry between each application. The third layer is when it became sticky again. I rubbed on more denatured etoh to get rid of those spots and applied Johnson's paste wax after it all dried. I love the feel of wax, but it didn't do anything for the looks of the wood in my opinion.

I made a file with notes and pictures as I made this mess of a box so I can remember what worked and what went wrong. I will definitely be following plans for my 2nd box and heeding the advice from the classro
om threads here!

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20260227_010916.jpg
 
If you hadn’t shared your nightmares, we would not have known, as judged by the final product! It turned out lovely! Chuck
 
sugarlady1980 said:
Well this is the end result with all the lessons learned from my do-it-myself on the fly experiment 😂

1. I finished the inside pieces of the box with polycrylic since I heard it was easier to finish the inside prior to assembly. This caused the wood to cup, so I had to dampen the other side of the pieces until they flattened. My miters were no longer absolutely flush. The advice to cut and glue all in the same day suddenly seemed more important than finishing the inside prior to assembly.

2. During glue-up it was difficult to use the corner clamps and get everything square, and painters tape was causing the soft maple to peel off in some parts. I used the "miter rub joint" method. At first it seemed successful, but I somehow managed to shift one of the long ends slightly. This, in additon to the miters no longer being perfect resulted in a big fat gap that could not be burnished.

I didnt want to fill the miter gap with sawdust and yellow glue. I heard that shellac and sawdust would look better, but the fine dust wasn't sticking to it. (Looking back, maybe I should have used a higher cut of shellac than 1lb?). I ended up using some clear tacky glue I already had. It doesn't look the best, but it did fill the gap.

3. Making the lid for an off-square box was interesting. I opted for a drop-in lid and used a thin panel of figured walnut. I spent a lot of time carefully measuring and marking and it was still off. I did manage to get the inside of the panel to fit decently, but that is the only good result. I made a shallow rabbet on the panel with a trim router. Trying to sand out the small router marks from the rabbet was a pain. I ended up using a dremel to try and smooth them out.

4. Finishing was also interesting. I went up the grits with sanders and then finished with hand sanding. Most of the blemishes and mill-marks were removed, but I missed a few. Once I applied the shellac, all the little gouges and curly marks from the sander showed up.

The shellac itself seemed pretty straightforward. It sure does make the walnut look nice! I mixed a 1lb cut and thinly applied it with a paintbrush. That caused a lot of sticky spots that wouldnt dry. I rubbed
denatured etoh on to remove the stickiness and lightly sanded down the raised grain with 330 sandpaper.

This time I carefully applied the shellac witha cloth. Even then I still had some sticky spots after a few days. Perhaps areas with figuring picked up more shellac than other parts? I used a 1lb cut for the entire box and applied three layers, letting it dry between each application. The third layer is when it became sticky again. I rubbed on more denatured etoh to get rid of those spots and applied Johnson's paste wax after it all dried. I love the feel of wax, but it didn't do anything for the looks of the wood in my opinion.

I made a file with notes and pictures as I made this mess of a box so I can remember what worked and what went wrong. I will definitely be following plans for my 2nd box and heeding the advice from the classro
om threads here!

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1. I sand inside parts but no on finishing one side. I use WOP finish for dummies.
2. If you look in classroom I use 90⁰ cheap Lowes corner clamps. And lots of squeeze clamps. And measure corner to corner to check for square. Tedious adjusting but you have once chance to get right. And in end saves time.
3. See 2
4. Sanding lid was right method. I look at scratches and estimate grit that made scratches and go 1 or 2 grits below. I would have started with 36. Almost impossible to get 40 grit scratch out with 80 grit paper. I mist at end to check for scratches. Mist all sides and dry evenly. Usually raise the grain on walnut anyhow.
5. I have made everyone of these mistakes and many more.
6. Your box looks fabulous. Wood thickness is proportionate to size. Lid is very nice chunk of wood. If first box, you did great job...
 
I think your box looks great! Like most people, you're your own toughest critic because you know where the mistakes are. I'm sorry about the "finish the inside first" problems. I've never had the sides cup like you did and I always finish the inside first because it's easier to sand flat pieces and not deal with tight inside corners.

That's interesting about the shellac staying tacky too. What did you make your shellac with? It might have a little water in it. I use Everclear to make shellac. But I haven't put it on with a brush either. I use a little pad made from well washed linen with a wad of cheese cloth inside and French polish my guitar that way.
 
DLJeffs said:
I think your box looks great! Like most people, you're your own toughest critic because you know where the mistakes are. I'm sorry about the "finish the inside first" problems. I've never had the sides cup like you did and I always finish the inside first because it's easier to sand flat pieces and not deal with tight inside corners.

That's interesting about the shellac staying tacky too. What did you make your shellac with? It might have a little water in it. I use Everclear to make shellac. But I haven't put it on with a brush either. I use a little pad made from well washed linen with a wad of cheese cloth inside and French polish my guitar that way.
Click to expand...
I sand all inside pieces before glue up.
The thinner the wood is the more chance for movement if wet on one side. I found this out the hard way. Made 2 pieces of thick veneer- booked. Glued onto to piece of 1/2 ply about 20x30. It was perfect. 2 days later it had bowed way beyond repair.....
 
Mike1950 said:
I sand all inside pieces before glue up.
The thinner the wood is the more chance for movement if wet on one side. I found this out the hard way. Made 2 pieces of thick veneer- booked. Glued onto to piece of 1/2 ply about 20x30. It was perfect. 2 days later it had bowed way beyond repair.....
Click to expand...
Wow, bowed 1/2" plywood, that's kind of hard to do. Maybe gluing the veneer on one side of the ply caused enough force to bow the piece? Or did you glue veneer on both sides at the same time?
 
DLJeffs said:
Wow, bowed 1/2" plywood, that's kind of hard to do. Maybe gluing the veneer on one side of the ply caused enough force to bow the piece? Or did you glue veneer on both sides at the same time?
Click to expand...
1 side- this was the problem- you have to do both sides. lay one of my maple thins on bench- spray one side with water- moves a bunch
 
Looks like a decent box by most standards. If your maple is soft enough to pull with tape, you may want to use a thinned epoxy to harden it next time.
@Barb had a formula

Birch bowls

The first bowl is spalted birch that was very punky so I used the quick stabilizing method of 60/40 resin/acetone mixture. Worked out nicely. The second is a birch burl cap that I got from a friend.
woodbarter.com
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #58
May God be glorified, thanks for the feedback! I was going to call it my clown box 😆 but I should probably give myself a little credit.
 
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