Back in 2010 during my power tool days I made a few boxes that fit over Kleenex containers. They were joined at the corners with table sawn box joints and the tops were glued on and flushed with the sides.
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| Two oak boxes |
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| A redwood box |
I wanted to make another Kleenex box, but using only hand tools this time and using wood that has been laying around the shop for too long. When we had a bathroom renovated a few years ago, I kept all the oak face frame wood. It had a profile on it, but I was able to get some useful wood.
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| Original 3/4" face frame board on left, resawn and semi-squared useful ~5/16" boards on right |
I glued up boards to make the panels for the box.
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| Two long panels in clamps |
After squaring them up, the dovetails were laid out and cut.
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| Removing the waste between tails |
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| Using the David Barron-inspired dovetail marking board to transfer tails to pin board |
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| Knifing the pin locations |
After a little fitting, the parts were glued up.
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| In the clamps |
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| One corner after a little clean up |
For the top, I cut an oval shape for the tissue opening. I made a template using Sketchup, printed it out, transferred the shape to the top, then cut and smoothed the shape.
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| Template on the top piece - centerlines on both the template and wood are key to alignment |
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| Starting the hole with two circles that match the shape of the oval ends |
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| Cutting out the waste - later smoothed and rounded with rasps, files and sandpaper |
After leveling the top edges of the box, the top was glued on with the aid of two "I-beam" shop helpers.
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| Gluing the top on |
And here is the box all smoothed over, ready for finishing.
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| Looks a little bland - needs some finish |
The recipient likes black things, so I'm going to ebonize this. I started a week before this with the ol' steel wool in vinegar trick. I meant to wash any oils out of the steel wool like a commenter on
Ralph's blog mentioned, but forgot. This time I used apple cider vinegar. The solution looked much the same as when I used distilled white vinegar, except I didn't get the disgusting reddish brown glop this time.
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| Steel wool and vinegar after about 5 days |
When I was ready to ebonize, I brewed up some oak shavings and gave the box a couple coats of hot tannin broth. I'm using
Richard McGuire's method from his Side Table video series.
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| I think this was after coating with tannin broth |
After a few alternate coats of tannin broth and steel wool / vinegar, this is what it looked like.
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| Part way done |
When the coats had dried, I buffed with a clean cloth and the color turns a bit grayish / purplish. But a wipe of fresh broth brings out the black again.
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| Buffed finish on right, new brushing of broth on left |
And here is what the box looks like after three coats of boiled linseed oil.
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| BLO curing |
It has been chilly in the garage lately, so the oil is taking a while to cure. But in a couple days I'll add a coat or two of wax to shine it up. I'm happy with the way this looks, even though some oak color still shows up in the deeper pores.
