Box Making 101

[Brett Bobo]

I'm planning to start making several jewelry boxes but there are several questions that I need help answering. What is the process of cutting the lumber to size for a continuous grain pattern around the perimeter of the box? Not the resawing process, but the actual cutting of each side to length. Should the lumber be squared on one edge prior to resawing? To get clean cuts on each side of the box, it seems that all sides will need to be trimmed slightly, ~1/8" or so, to avoid tearout and/or an non-square edge from the piece on the waste side of the blade. With each side being trimmed, the continuous grain pattern may no longer appear to be continous.

For splined joints, do you prefer to cut all of the material square at the table saw and then use a chamfer bit on the router table to profile the 45 degree cuts?

Thanks in advance,
Brett

[Paul Symchych]

for jewelry boxes I start with wood long enough to go around the box [adding a bit for kerf and errors]; rip to width; then cut the dado for the bottom [and for the lid panel if you want frame and panel w/the lid frame grain to match the box]. Prefinishing the inside of the box can save some later mess. Next I cut the 45 degree miters w/ my miter saw. Mark the 4 pieces to keep them in order. Here I depart from splines and go to keys which I prefer both for ease of making and for decorative effect. I use the bandsaw to cut more delicate keys than with a table saw, and they are neater than those I cut by hand. Precut the key slots making certain of the alignment. Cut key wood the thickness of the key slots out of contrasting wood. Then glue and assemble the base and box, holding it together with masking tape, glue in one or all keys on each corner, clamp and check for square. Trim excess key material after glue has set.
If I use a lid panel I assemble that as above creating a completely enclosed rectangle, then go to the table saw to cut the lid off the box.
I have some photos but haven't figured out how to attach them.

[Rick Moyer]

To add to Paul's comments, when i glue miters I lay the pieces flat, inside-down and end-to-end, and use clear packing tape to tape them together. This keeps the miters tight and alligned for glue-up.

[Jim Rimmer]

To get clean cuts on each side of the box, it seems that all sides will need to be trimmed slightly, ~1/8" or so, to avoid tearout and/or an non-square edge from the piece on the waste side of the blade. With each side being trimmed, the continuous grain pattern may no longer appear to be continous.

I'm kind of rookie at this myself but I've found that if you keep the trimming to a minimum the discontinuity is not noticeable since you are going around a corner. You are going to have a little that you may notice but no one else will. Unless a more experienced boxmaker chimes in, I don't know how you could avoid some discontinuity with the grain wrap.

[Charles Goodnight]

For a simple box I do the whole thing on a table saw. I cut a piece of stock long enough to make all four sides and a scrap extra for later setup.

1) I cut any grooves and dados. For example, I will cut a dado for the box bottom, and for the raised panel, and sometimes for an inside lip on the lid.

2) After I have all the inside grooves cut I figure out approximately where the cuts will be an pencil in numbers to keep them in order (i.e., put a 1 on both sides of the first cut etc.)

3) Next I cut the box with the blade set at 45 degrees.

4) Next step is to lay out the box flat on a table outside up, and tape it so that the tape will work like a clamp.

5) I fit the bottom and the raised panel

6) I glue the box around the bottom and panel, and tape the final edge to close the box up.

7) I cut the keys using a 45 degree jig on the table saw (the scrap of wood helps in the set up here)

8) I cut open the box. Set the fence using the scrap of left over wood so that you can cut it exactly where to cut the box. This is particularly important if you have an inside lip dado.

Using this approach I can crank out boxes at a pretty good rate!