Project: Simple, figured box

[Jim Becker]

On some particularly hot and humid days recently, I needed a small project to enjoy the comfort of the shop in-between doing other things out in the heat. There was this small, leftover piece of cherry crotch staring at me from the front of my lumber storage rack that basically said, "Use me! Use me!!". There was also a need to better organize our daughter's incoming mail...she's traveling for awhile and using our address. So a small, open box became the projects and I said "yes" to the "Use me! Use me!", too. And, of course, this little box will be usable for other things in the future, too.

The decision was made to use the approximate centerline of the crotch as the point of reference. There was enough material (after resawing) to provide two nice long faces about 125mm tall as well as less exciting material for the bottom. The short sides will come from some other cherry off-cuts I have in the bin. The initial processing of the larger piece was to get a parallel cut to the reference line and then rip to width, followed by resawing to half the thickness. My band wandered a little bit, so final thickness was 6mm which is appropriate for this kind of small box.

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I'm doing simple here, so the corners were mitered on the slider which also allowed for consistent lengths with the stops on the fence. Grooves for the bottom were also cut on the saw...a little trial and error to work up to just the right groove width. I did a dry fit while the glue dried for the bottom blank

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[Jim Becker]

Lots of sanding after that...

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For assembly, given the mitered corners, doing a "rollup" was just the ticket. Outsides are taped end to end, the whole workpiece flipped, glue applied and then the sides are wrapped around the bottom piece.

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I did think about putting in spines, but in the end...didn't. It's still a very sturdy box for its intended purposes. Nothing heavy will go in there and it's not going to get banged around. So the simplicity of just gluing it was fine. From here, it's just finishing. I chose to paint the inside black as I found that the figure visible inside was distracting from the figure on the outside. I might "flock" it in the future, but not for collecting mail.

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Once coat of polymerized tung oil to pop it followed by a bunch of coats of clear matt finish from a rattle can did the deed.

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The moral of this story is pretty much something I've believed for a long time, supported by an idea that George Nakashima expressed in his "Soul of a Tree" book...the wood will tell you what it wants to be. This little left-over board said it wanted to be a box. It got its wish.

[George Yetka]

Nice box. It appears to be floating a bit. Is there feet?

We have a mail box. Prior to implementing the box stuff got brought to our office and filed weakly. Now it gets put in the box and brought to the office every 6 weeks or so and the pile looks too daunting so it usually gets stacked in the office and the box brought back to the kitchen to refill. This is a cautionary tale.

[Jim Becker]

George, I neglected to mention I put some felt feet on it to protect the surface it would sit on. So yes, that raises it about a millimeter up off the table it's on. The initial purpose for this wouldn't normally be needed, but since our daughter and her SO gave up their apartment before leaving for their travels, it was necessary for her to make provision for her mail (and voting). She doesn't get much paper mail and they only forward non-junk anyway. But at least this keeps things neat. They've actually returned home a few times as they have learned what they need to have for their camping vs what they don't need...they shed a lot of weight on the first visit back! They are currently in Michigan enjoying a large state park and sand dunes for a bit before heading back east for a wedding in Pittsburgh PA next week.

[Mark Rainey]

Well done on a simple project Jim. The figure is dramatic. Just visited the Allentown museum and was admiring their Nakashima furniture. Are there museums around you that have Nakashima furniture?

[Jim Becker]

Well done on a simple project Jim. The figure is dramatic. Just visited the Allentown museum and was admiring their Nakashima furniture. Are there museums around you that have Nakashima furniture?

The Michener Art Museum here in Doylestown has a Nakashima reading room completely with furniture, etc. We actually got the "full "tour of the Nakashima compound which is near near here, too, when the Museum had a fundraiser a number of years ago. It included a box lunch and conversation with Mira and Kevin plus access to ALL the buildings. During the normal visitation hours on Saturdays (I believe that still happens) you can visit a portion of the Nakashima operation.

[glenn bradley]

Beautiful material and the simple box form really shows it off.

[David Falkner]

Nicely done, Jim. It's fun to make these little boxes, especially when you have some figured pieces like you've used.

[Joe A Faulkner]

I appeciate how you featured the center grain pattern. I’m a sucker for this natural symmetry. A joy to behold.

[Jim Becker]

I appeciate how you featured the center grain pattern. I’m a sucker for this natural symmetry. A joy to behold.

It just made sense to put the feathering on the horizontal center line since it's the "feature" of the crotch figure.