One Last Holiday Gift

My sister asked if I could make her a box for the small size Kleenex.  So here's a few shots of that process.  The captions tell the story.  The wood I believe to be sapele - it's recycled from a cabinet another hobby woodworker made years ago.

After squaring up and cutting tails in the 5/16" thick resawn stock

Marking the pins

A closer view - please disregard the overcuts on the tail board

Marking the pin baseline from the tail board thickness

First dry fit

After leveling the top and bottom edges of the dry-assembled box, plowed
the 1/8" wide, 5/32" deep grooves and plugged the ends on the pin board.
The excess wood was flushed after the glue dried.

Dry fit with the grooves lining up

Top fitted.  Top is a smidge over 5/16" thick, with rabbets on upper
surface so that the top of the top is just barely above the sides.
The edges that are seen were "pillowed" to smooth the transition.

Glued up and shellac drying - 4 or 5 coats were used.
A coat of paste wax finished it up.

The top can float, but is fairly tight.  I'm happy with the relatively even reveal.

Here it is next to another I made about 10 years ago in the power tool days.

The top of that one was glued on and look what happened over time.

Glamour shot

I'm certain my sister will love this box.  The wood is gorgeous and finished beautifully.