How to Make a BASIC Box!

[Music] this is the honeymoon box i built it with a small piece of koa that i brought home as a souvenir from our honeymoon in kauai in 2006 at the time i was pretty new to woodworking i wanted to show off the beautiful wood but really didn't want to screw it up so i kept the design as simple as possible i figured be a good project to share with you so i decided to remake it this time i'm starting out with a piece of clara walnut and a piece of curly maple out of this piece of walnut i can get a box that's about 10 inches long and maybe 5 inches deep i'm gonna resaw this piece but out of one half i'll get my box top here and out of the other half i'll get my front and back pieces and this will end up being the two short sides of the box [Music] [Music] prepare your lumber however you want table saw band saw [Music] hand saw [Music] plane [Music] power plane [Music] or even power laziness [Applause] [Music] technically any way you stick two pieces of wood together is considered joinery so when i say no joinery for a bit of click bait on this video what i actually mean is that there's no traditional joinery techniques like dovetails box joints or even miters which frankly all scared me a little when i was just getting started instead this box relies on the strength of modern wood glue with side grain to side grain contact as you can see in this little mock-up i made the inner side piece is glued to the outer side piece but it's got its grain running vertically so its side grain gets glued to the side grain of the front and back pieces and by the way i know that somebody will point out that these two pieces are glued with opposite grain directions but in my experience with something this small it's not a problem [Music] so [Music] whatever length you cut your front and back pieces to your box top has to be just a little bit shorter so it doesn't bind [Music] after i cut all the pieces for the walnut box i decided i had enough maple for two smaller boxes and i wanted to show how you really can make these boxes in just about any size or shape measure the overall height of the front and back pieces plus the box top whatever you end up with make your short sides about three quarters of an inch taller because that'll become your feet i'm using some almost matching scraps of maple and walnut for the inner parts of the side pieces notice the grain direction of these pieces like we talked about [Music] i'm just using the width of my table saw blade to cut an eighth inch wide dado for the bottom of the box and i have this eighth inch stock left over from another project but you could even use thin plywood the length of the box bottom will be the same as the front and back pieces to get the width of your box bottom measure from dado to dado with those inner side pieces in between [Music] i decided to put a little chamfer on all the edges of my box with a 45 degree router bit totally optional [Music] now's a good time to do a little pre-assembly sanding [Music] now you can see how we went from this to this here's our top piece here's our front and back pieces and here's our outer side pieces we're going to glue up our box in two stages the first stage is the front and back pieces the box bottom and the inner side pieces i'm just doing a dry fit to make sure everything's good before the glue up in the second glue up we'll add the outer side pieces [Music] so [Music] i use a damp rag to clean up some of the glue squeeze out [Music] and a popsicle stick with an angle cut in it makes a great tool for getting into the corners [Music] before the next glue up i want to make sure that these ends are completely flush so i don't end up with a visible gap [Music] i do a little more sanding before the next assembly before i glue on the outer side pieces i use some scraps to raise the box up the height that i want my feet to be but i also want to maintain an overhang with the side pieces that's even all the way around in this case it's about an eighth of an inch [Music] and by the way if you're less than confident in your tools or abilities all of those overhanging edges are a great way to hide small gaps or imperfections in a way that other joinery can't [Music] for the smaller maple boxes i used a scrap of quarter inch plywood to raise them up so that they'd have a shorter foot that was more proportional to the size of the box [Music] the original honeymoon box had a hinged lid but in the spirit of keeping these boxes as simple as possible i decided to try a lift off lid instead so to keep the lid in place off camera i made these two little candy bars and glued them to the underside of the lid and then of course we need some little knobs to grab the lid with and for this simple little detail feel free to get creative [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] do [Music] one last sanding up to 400 grit before i apply the finish you'll need to make a really fancy backyard spray booth and then grab a rattle can of satin polyurethane [Music] give it two or three coats and follow the directions on the back of the can [Music] make sure to cover it to keep dust particles off your finish after the final coat i use a 400 grit sanding mesh to gently remove any dust particles or imperfections in the polyurethane finish [Music] and finally i hand polish everything with paste wax this gives it a nice satin shine but also leaves the surface feeling silky smooth instead of that plasticky feeling you get with bare polyurethane [Music] just wipe it on wait about 10 minutes and then polish it with a clean cloth [Music] [Music] i like to line the inside of my boxes with real leather [Music] [Music] check the fit and then just add yellow glue [Music] just use a block of wood and something heavy to clamp it down [Music] so [Music] [Music] just like our marriage the original honeymoon box has lasted almost 15 years and i think it goes to show that even a really simple bond can last forever if it's made with love and a little understanding [Music] a huge thank you to all of my supporters on patreon for encouraging me to go out to the shop late at night after the kids are in bed and produce these videos if you want to join the club get access to my sketchup files t-shirts stickers and other merchandise or see your name at the end of these videos just find me on patreon see you later [Music]

Channel: Blake Weber

Views: 125,082

Keywords: woodworking, woodshop, build, how to, make, maker, garage, wood, design, walnut, maple, make your own, diy, craftsmanship, carpenter, skills, tips, joinery, box, jewelry box, beautiful, finish, wax, polyurethane, weekend, project, EASY, simple, basic

Id: b4-KtUUtRvY

Length: 15min 5sec (905 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 17 2020