Make a Box

While this post is about a box I made for a friend's ashes, above, it can really be about making a box; pretty much any box, or drawer, or cabinet case ... whatever. This is how we do it ... It's not the only way, it's not the 'right' way, it's just the way we do it. I don't think I've seen this dovetail method in print recently (or ever), but we've been using it for so long that I don't know exactly how we came to it ... Anyway, for a hand cut looking dovetail, it makes for a pretty quick process and the more of them you do, the faster you get at them. No jigs to fuss with either. For the tansu stairway project and the tansu cabinet project, Will did so many of them, I think he could do them now while playing his banjo. I did this box, start to finish, and I know I'm not as fast as I used to be ... It was a reflective process though and I enjoyed it totally.
Click the pictures to enlarge them ....

In a case like this, we start with a full size mdf mockup so we all know how big it's going to be, and what kind of 'presence' it will have... This one was on hand for the service and seemed about right. The main box part is 4.75" high x 13"long x 8.5" deep as I recall. Base and lid add about another inch and a quarter in height and length ....

We cut the tails on the table saw, in this case using a 10 degree angle. The butternut (wood from Meg's kitchen) is soft so we used an intermediate angle. Those cuts can be anywhere from 8 to 12 degrees depending on the look you like. In the photo above, we're using a stop and a cut off to test our layout. after cutting the initial, defining 10 degree cuts, we make another set at like 5 degrees and then at 90 degrees, leaving very little waste to chisel to the line. (lower the blade a bit as you get to vertical).

We keep the pins small (1/8" or so at the small point) for what I think is a referred to as a 'British' look but you can make them equal if you like that look too. This is what the side looks like as it comes off the table saw, before we pare to the scribe line...

Then we trace the tails onto the front and back pieces and make our cuts with a 'gent's' saw. We use a sharp pencil to mark with and leave the line ... You can see the saw we use in the first photo above ... Then, from the small side of the pin cuts, we waste between the cuts with our multirouter. This can also be done I suppose, same as the tails, on a table saw with a carefully set dado head.

However you do it, you're left with some small trapezoids to final cut. We use a modified flush cut saw. The nose has been ground down for working in a small pin space on small drawers ...

You should be able to hammer them home right off the saw ... (after a little practice)

Front and back view ..

Glue up with cauls and clamps and center block to keep the sides from flexing... we use good old Elmer's white glue ... decent open time, short clamp time ...

The bottom is rabbeted and screwed on , or if you're making a drawer, slid into a dado from the back ,,,, For a cremation urn, we make an intermediate top, supported on corner posts, with a little leather tab to open it. You can see that top on the right above ... All the hardware is installed and then removed for the finishing process. we use a 1.25" brusso box hinge with a stop for the lid with a rare earth magnet epoxied in to hold it shut ...

The finished box ... Finished with a two step aniline dye mix, (Lockwood light golden brown walnut and LW Antique walnut water stains), a coat of gloss poly, a sanding and a gel stain coat next and a coat of satin poly ... buffed with a paper towel when dry ....

The thank you note which arrived in my inbox as I was writing this ... good karma ...

cremation urns .. a meditative process

time for a little update to an ongoing post i wrote back in 2014.

i am working on a new mahogany box for a client in Louisiana

similar to the one below, only in natural mahogany ...

this photo shows the interior, with the supports for the sub top

i will add a small leather tab to the back of the sub top 

once i have completed the finishing

it is in the finish room now ... more photos later ...

we've made a number of boxes for friends' ashes over the years.  i always find it an honor, a time to reflect, and a time to appreciate the person and the relationship we had.  the boxes and caskets below were all made in the last 7 years and i expect as time goes by to make a few more each year. our friends are getting older. click the photos to enlarge them.

the box at the top of this post was for the mother of a good friend;  her daughter in law's box is in the photo above; both boxes are in stained butternut.

this one was for a good friend's mother; cherry and curly maple.

a matching pair ... the husband above in november; the wife, below, a few months later.

both in stained quartered cherry

 

and we knew them since the 70's

a friend for 43 years who passed on this past summer .. birdseye maple and steel; family effort; sam on metal; will on dovetails; dan on the box bottom, the lid, and finish

kit's mom;  milk painted pine and douglas fir

mother in law above ... father in law below

reclaimed pine

a few more boxes from the archives below

"put a piece of glass in that sub top so horst gets some light in there"

 

 

not an urn, but a 'treasure box' .. 

and here are two casket i made,
one for my dad , a dancer, an engineer, a fisherman and a hunter; cherry and walnut

and one for my mom; a mom and a quilter; various woods

 there is a detailed post on box making with dimensions and step by step steps at this link

 they've all been spur of the moment projects and i haven't varied the theme much

 and often i get one of these

jump at the chance to make one if it comes your way.  you won't regret it.  it's wonderful thing to do.

custom sideboards and buffets

we have made quite a few different sideboards and buffets in the last 25 years, and the form is one of our favorites.  there are 27 sideboards on our regular website, but since we are working with some clients on a new designs, i felt compelled to organize some of my favorites here.  the curly maple one above is one   actually, i like the challenge of the sideboard/buffet form, and there's not one shown here that we didn't enjoy designing and building.  the sideboard directly below is from my own home and we have made several variations on that one using our 'studio style' cherry and black design theme.  click the photos to enlarge them.

 

 60" wide x 20 " deep by 34" high.  natural cherry and black milk paint.  1987

there is a blog post on this sideboard/dining room at this link

 a variation on our sideboard circa 1988.  72" long x 20" deep by 34" high

                                  

this one and the one below are similar in design with figured cherry panels and quartersawn cherry edge details.  one with an edge inlay, one without.  one with black details; one all cherry and one with curly maple details and crotch mahogany veneers.  same drawing, different results .. 'take and object; do something to it; do something else to it'.

 ditto here with black painted legs and 'burl and bar' edge inlay.

mahogany and curly maple; crotch mahogany veneer panels ...

a fancy and complex variation on the theme above in cherry and maple burl 

with subtly curved doors and drawer faces ...

the black walnut bar/sideboard above was a fun project.  mirrors, lights, glass, 

repeating details ... all fun. there is a pretty long blog post on that one here.

not exactly a sideboard, but sort of the same idea

 

and here's a stylish one that accompanied a table with similar design ... we worked the details over carefully with the client and while we we stuck for a label, included it in the realm of 'art deco' though it is strictly 'diane and dan deco'.  an extremely fun project from the early 90's.

here's the table that it went with.  lots and lots of details on that one.  often, the table and sideboard are designed to complement one another and make the room seem to be totally custom.

 

this custom bubinga sideboard was made from the 6 feet we cut off the end of a 20' bubinga plank that we used to make a 14' x 48" wide table that went to princeton, new jersey, next door to the governor's mansion

  i've got a better photo somewhere .. +/- 2002.  dawn of the digital photo age

 

this figured cherry sideboard had a table with it

as did this cherry and maple burl sideboard from +/- 2003.  this sideboard was made from virtually the same drawing as the first, curly maple sideboard in this post.  'take a design, do something to it'

this country style sideboard was one of the first sideboards i made back in the very early 80's...

 and this one, from the early 90's, was an engineering challenge with it's suspended box and turned supporting columns with brass feet, and curly maple veneered doors.  the inside was almost completely drawers on runners that pulled out to store not only silverware and dining room stuff, but also music cds, at the time a semi precious commodity.  times change ... another 'diane and dan deco' project ...

this is not really a sideboard, but it's a cool piece.  it was designed to go against a curved wall, (the 'front' in this photos), but we made the drawers go both ways and they had pulls on the other side too, so it can also be placed at some time in the future, against a straight wall.  multitasking ... and on and on ...

this one is from last spring.  it's 9' long and had to go through the window when it got to new jersey .. oops!  but it made it ... it now has a stone top and you can see the details of its construction in this blog post.

i'll add a few more as time permits and update our progress on the upcoming sideboard below once we get it under way in early december ... all for now ..

    12/2 ... a few more sideboards

 studio style again with cherry and black and ebony and burl details.  the pulls are blackened brass, custom cast for us by horton brasses in pensylvania.

and this piece, while technically not a sideboard per se, has certain sideboard buffet qualities to it.  storage, interest, detail.  'fun with walnut'  ...  blog post here

 a little mahogany 'arts and crafts' thing here ... hardware from stickley.  design by dan and mary

 something tall with a little paint ... this one we designed with the client who wanted a top set of shelves, but also wanted it to be 'light' and wanted it to store a lot of stuff too.  in the foreground are some of our windsor chairs from the mid 80's when we used to make a lot of them ...

 my first sideboard.  1973.   before i even had a house to put it in.  i made it from a book entitled 'fine furniture you can make yourself' and i believe it was by someone named christoforo, but i can't seem to find it at the moment.  it's around here somewhere ... anyway, you can see what happens to a linseed oil finish on pine over the course of almost 40 years.  it gets pretty dark.

 close up