Dear Harold
Try this if you have a workshop band saw.
Use the thinnest quarter inch band blade that you can find, between 4 and 6 teeth per inch will be fine.
I prefer to use branch wood taken from senior trees that are having their crowns reduced, this utilises what would normally be a waste product and a major plus is that the wood tends to be old and knarled.
I split the branches in two lengthways sometimes down the middle, sometimes off centre whilst trying to keep them as long as possible. They are then loaded into the kiln utilising the air space on the top of a strapped down load and to the sides of the fans.
The wilder the grain the better e.g. bends, snapped off dead branches that are being overgrown, crotch wood, warts and burrs are superb. Old Ash is very good for this, as is Yew.
If you want to end up with a finished box 12" long, begin with a 13-14" blank.
Start by flatting the base on the jointer or by hand, then to the band saw, flip the blank on its end and start shaping the outside of the top using the bark line as a guide. Making sure you stray over and under the line as you cut.
Lay it down on the flatted base and cut both ends off to about the finished size, I tend to use a vaguely 'S' shape cut, utilising anything of interest I find in the grain.
Flip it up on its end again and cut off the lid approximately 1/4" from the outside edge, then back on to the flatted base and take another cut from each end, about 1/8" thick will be sufficient.
Back on to its edge and cut out a deep 'U' shape to form the hollow body of the box, the 'U' shape needs to funnel from what will be your front edge, down into the 'U', up the back and funnel out to the back, in a nice organic, smooth, flowing single cut.
Now, reassemble everything you have cut, so it forms the complete blank again.
If you like the look of what you see, then take the trouble to sand the bandsaw marks off the lid, with a light sand along the two end grains at this point, stay away from the back and front edge of the lid.
Glue the two big ends back on to the body (I use 5 minute poly glue or superglue).
Clean up the inside, leaving the bandsaw marks in the 'U' shaped body. Clean the saw marks off the inside faces of the two thin 1/8" pieces and glue them into their respective places inside the body. Taking the trouble to ensure that everything lines up perfectly.
Clean up the body, check the lid for fit (it will be supported by the 1/8 pieces), adjust as necessary, clean up all around.
Oil and wax.
You can either hinge the lid or leave it as a lift off.
It's far easier to make a box than it is to write out the instructions. It takes me about 45 seconds to cut out, 4 minutes to reglue with poly and a set of 'quicke' clamps, 15 minutes to sand and clean, oil and wax.
The boxes are then worth about $25 for small ones (4 to 7 inches long) and up to $150 for bigger ones (12 inches long).
But I don't sell them, these are the amounts people have offered to buy them for. To date I have made about 45, they are given away as presents and are in great demand.
Yours Sincerely
Mr. James Iain Swanson
Furniture Maker
Derby
