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UPDATE: After numerous emails, I have posted an article on Making Small Boxes With The Router Box Jig. Thanks to my readers for keeping me honest!
I love making little boxes. I have made lots of them. So has every woodworker, I am sure. I intend to get back into box joints in the future, just for the fun of it, because I haven't box-jointed anything in years. What a travesty! These boxes are simply rabbetted together with the help of my router table.
I remember watching The Router Workshop, when I could get it on PBS, and seeing an interesting method of making boxes. I was teaching woodworking at the time, so I took the idea one step further. I used an old jig to come up with an adjustable router fence/jig that I could use to produce a box out of pre-cut parts in about 2 minutes; from plain parts to joinery to glue-up. This is important as I had decided to make the boxes one of my projects in my class. When you are working with teenagers it helps to have things that can go from zero to sixty in a flash. Needless to say, the jig - which I should make a separate web page for I suppose - was a great success and the project turned out to be one of the best that my students turned out, after model rockets of course (always a favorite).
On to the pictures. Here is a mahogany box for storing my spare guitar strings. It is Honduras mahogany finished with aniline dye, orange shellac, and brushing lacquer. It was rubbed out with pumice and rottenstone and waxed. Here is another view. It shows a little wear (my daughter loves it - too much) but still looks pretty good. This is a mahogany wallet/watch box also made from Honduras mahogany but finished with a colored Watco oil. The oil was left to dry for a very long time, then it was waxed and buffed. This pencil box is made of ash and finished with Danish oil. This finish is simple but looks great on this wood.
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