Can't Cut a Straight Line

[Vaughn McMillan]

I think something's wrong with my saw...I tried to make a little cherry trinket box and this is what I came up with:

Cherry Wave 3 600 Low Res.jpg

Actually, it's another experiment gone right, and I plan to learn from the mistakes I made on this one. This box is made of cherry, with a walnut/maple/cherry stripe waving its way around the box. It's finished with BLO, although I may decide to add a clear coat finish...probably satin. The wave is a bent wood lamination, using the box sides as a caul, glued with plastic resin glue (thanks to tips I read here on SMC). Since the wave is visible from the inside as well as the outside, I've decided this box will remain topless, even though the wave isn't as smooth as I'd like. (My freehand bandsaw skills aren't quite to Sam Maloof's level...yet...as if.) Also, I'm not completely happy with the proportions on this one, but the next one will have that aspect handled now that I've read up a bit on proportions like 1:2:3 , the Root-of-two and the Golden rectangle. This one was essentially a test run to work the bugs out. Lastly, I need to get some better photo lighting...I may have to break down and build a John Hart photo rig.

Cherry Wave 1 600 Low Res.jpg

The legs are walnut, and quite honestly they were an afterthought...an attempt to cover up the fact that the wavy line didn't match up as planned on the corners of the box. (If you build a box with 3/4" thick sides, making sure to line up the waves at each corner, then trim the sides to 3/8" thick, the carefully-planned lines will no longer line up. DAMHIKT.) Nonetheless, what started as a patch has become one of my favorite aspects of this box. The legs are attached with glue and 1/8" dowels (microdowels, in my opinion), and I think the dowels help add to the overall look. I added the little 1/4" square pieces to the inside to carry the look of the legs to the inside of the box. This box was kind of an improvisation...made up as I went along (and similar to how I like to approach music).

Cherry Wave 4 600 Low Res.jpg

And one more shot from a different angle. I'm still a bit undecided, but I'll probably line the bottom of the box with brown felt. For now, it's just the natural birch color of the 1/4" plywood used for the bottom.

Cherry Wave 6 600 Low Res.jpg

I have work underway on another one or two "wave" boxes, but I've learned from the mistakes made on this one. If things go as planned, I intend for the wave to match at each outside corner (resaw the stock, then miter the corners, dummy), doing away with the need for legs to hide the evidence. Of course if they don't go as planned, I'm sure I can figure out a workaround.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

- Vaughn

[Jim Knauss]

Looks great Vaughn, very innovative!

Jim Knauss

[John Bailey]

Vaughn,

The box looks great and I wouldn't worry about not being able to cut a straight line. That's why I make dulcimers, kayak paddles and boats - no staight lines to worry about. Just keep making things that use curves. Unfortunately I'm building a shop right now and I keep running into curves where there shouldn't be. Oh well, such is life.

John

[lou sansone]

hey vaughn

thats looken pretty darn nice . I love the little projects that keep the sawdust going. great idea I might try it myself

lou

[Alan Turner]

Nice work!
There is a way to use a guide bushing(s) to get the offset in the sides, but I have never used it and don't recall where I read it. But, CRS aside, I do seem to recall there was a note aobut it in FWW this past year or so, and a more detailed article in the English mag, Furniture and CAbinetmaking, several years ago.
I bet Pat Warner covers this as well.

[James Ayars]

Vaughn, When I get to the point that my best work looks as good as your mistakes, I'll be feeling 10 feet tall.

The curves not matching up gives it character. That's one of the things I like about hand made as opposed to automated production.
James

[Bill Simmeth]

LOL! That saw seems to work just fine!

Great job on the box. Very creative design.

[Jay Knoll]

Vaughn

That is some great work! I agree that it would be nicer if things "lined up" but the legs take some of the problem away.
And for a first effort who cares?

Did you make it all out of one piece of wood? I remember seeing something in a box making book about how to make the grain run around a box. Couldn't you do something like that as well with this technique?

Thanks for the post, now you've got me thinking

Jay

[Rick de Roque]

Love it. I like the walnut legs also.
rick

[John Miliunas]

Vaughn, IMHO, I'd say your excercise in "improv" was a great success! That is really cool and an idea I may need to "borrow" at some point! I really like the looks of that. Very neat!

[Andy Hoyt]

Yup, I like it too.

And while the legs are cool and do add oomph to the piece, I wonder if more oomph could be had by making the legs "in full" and mortising the sides into them. That way the inside piece of the leg would not look like an add-on component. Although an issue presents itself with the installation of bottom of the box I'm sure you could develop the solution.

Just a thought, Vaughn; I do like it just fine the way it is.

[Dan Oliphant]

Vaughn,
Great looking "trinket box" and the photography ain't bad either.

[John Hart]

Wow Vaughn...I'm totally impressed. Did you steam your laminations or did you schmush 'em cold? There's no limit to what you can do with that design concept! Bravo!

[Vaughn McMillan]

...
There is a way to use a guide bushing(s) to get the offset in the sides, but I have never used it and don't recall where I read it...

I'm not sure I'm understanding you on this one Alan. I don't see how guide bushings (I'm assuming on a router) would be used for any of it. I'm newby enough I don't have any FWW issues around to go looking in, so if your CRS subsides a bit, I'd like to learn more.

...
Did you make it all out of one piece of wood? I remember seeing something in a box making book about how to make the grain run around a box. Couldn't you do something like that as well with this technique? ...

Yes, I started with a single piece of 3/4" cherry long enough to make all four sides of the box, making sure to have the wave start and end in the same relative position so they'd match when it was wrapped around into a box. After seeing how clunky it looked with 3/4" thick sides, I trimmed them down to 3/8" after the box was glued up. Since it had mitered corners, the trimming caused the wave to become offset at each corner. It's hard to describe in text (and I'm supposed to be a tech writer) but essentially, the closer to the inside face I trimmed, the farther off the match at the corners became.

Later the same weekend I bought David Freedman's Box-Making Basics and learned the grain-wrapping technique you mentioned and realized that would be the best way to do it. (It's masically bookmatching the blank, then cutting two sides from each bookmatched half. For the next version, I'm gluing up a wavy stripe in 3/4" cherry again, but then I'll resaw it and use the bookmatched pieces for the box.

...
I wonder if more oomph could be had by making the legs "in full" and mortising the sides into them. That way the inside piece of the leg would not look like an add-on component...

Same dog bit me. I think it'd look very nice with the "full" legs, and might give that idea a try on a future box. If I'd have been careful, I could have even done it after the four sides had been assembled. Definitely one of those hindsight moments.

...
Did you steam your laminations or did you schmush 'em cold?

They were cold-schmushable --I tried it just to see if they could fit the "form" -- but it took a LOT of clamping pressure to do it, so I soaked them for a few hours in the bathtub, then clamped them up for a day or so with no glue. That seemed to get about half the needed curve, so I glued them up and clamped the whole mess.

Thaks for all the comments -

- Vaughn

[Steve Clardy]

Maybe you need to get the front end aligned on your saw.

Very nice box!!!!