Small Box B

   The second small box I made from pallet wood also turned out to have lovely grain. This time I pushed my luck a little too far and made the sides 1/8th inch thick.  That did not give enough contact surface to get a solid glue joint so I had add  bracing.

 

The sides are braced internally and taped 

while the gravity clamp does its job.

  When I do a project like this that relies on glue alone I always give the glue lots of time, usually over night to set. I used Gorilla Glue to hold this together.  Also I tapered the corner braces so there was a smooth flow from the top into the box.

  The box is finished with two coats of "3 Part Finish" * and one coat of wax.  The only small handicap 3 Part Finish has it is is slow to dry.  I find that it needs 24 hours to dry enough that a second coat can be applied. It takes a couple of days for the final coat of finish to really harden. In this case time was available so it is not a problem, old style finishes are not for last minute folks. Once dry I gave the box a quick coat of wax and now it looks great.  

  Start thinking about gift season, it isn't far away.

  

* 3 Part Finish - one part boiled linseed oil

                          -one part varnish

                         - one part mineral spirits or turpentine.

Small Box Project - What you can get from a Skid

   In our kitchens there has always been a 'Junk Drawer'.  In this drawer lives the many miscellaneous house hold things that need to be at hand, but....don't really belong.  This drawer holds, zip ties, twist ties, rubber bands, string, a flash light, and emergency radio and other stuff.  This drawer served as the inspiration for a proof of concept project. The tins holding the twist ties and rubber bands have gotten nasty and rusted, time to be replace with something nice and without sharp edges.

 

 It is fashionable to collect and up cycle wood, happily there seems to be no end of skids at the end of driveways asking to be taken away any used.  Over time I have collected skid wood, some ended up is camp fires but the heavier hard wood bits have been kept back for future consideration.  Often , given the nature of the wood, I have chosen to make most of the projects pretty rough or aimed at life outside in the elements.

  This time a sorted through my collection of hard wood from skids. 

  All the wood is rough, often a little twisted and I have no idea what species of wood the pieces are. But it is all 'hard wood' and should have some personality once cleaned up.

King Joiner 

12 inch Planner 

  A hand tool wood worker faces the same first steps in using reclaimed wood as I.  Being a hybrid shop I used my jointer and planner to get my wood to consistent  workable dimensions.  For this box I machined the board to 1/4 inch thick.  Next I ripped the board to 4 inches wide and cut off four 4 inch pieces.

  With a bottom of soft wood cut to size the four sides were glued in place and left over night to dry.  The quality of modern glues means that as long as the seams are tight and the glue allowed to cure no fasteners are needed.

  Since this box is made from hard wood. Actually really heavy, hard wood it sanded very smooth. I went to 400 grit when sanding and then used clear varnish to finish this box.  The grain is quite interesting and the glued butt joints perfectly solid. 

  The next box will push the envelop. The wood is only 1/8 thick.  Next blog you will see the result. I have high hopes for the glue joints.

cheers, ianw

  p.s get out and enjoy the fall colours while they last.