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Biting off more than I can chew

This is where we don't want anything but evidence of your finest wood butchering in all its glorious, and photograph laden glory. Bring your finished products or WIP's, we love them all, so long as there's pictures, and plenty of 'em!

Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Dr.Al » 08 Nov 2021, 16:45

I finally made it to screwfix and picked up some of the hinges that AndyT suggested. Sadly they're a bit too big for the box:

screwfix_hinges.jpg
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I've run out of ideas for a hinge that will work so I think I'm going to have to do some sort of bodge with the rather nasty prokraft ones. Ah well...
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Mike G » 08 Nov 2021, 18:22

Are hinges the answer for a box that small? Wouldn't a lift-off lid do just as well?
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby AndyT » 08 Nov 2021, 18:30

Is it time to experiment with an external wooden hinge? I think so!

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5918 for example.
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Dr.Al » 08 Nov 2021, 22:06

Mike G wrote:Are hinges the answer for a box that small? Wouldn't a lift-off lid do just as well?


I might have to resort to that, but I was really hoping for a hinged lid as I want to be able to open it, pull stuff out & close it again with one hand easily in the dark.

AndyT wrote:Is it time to experiment with an external wooden hinge? I think so!

https://thewoodhaven2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5918 for example.


Eeep! That looks difficult!
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby novocaine » 08 Nov 2021, 22:36

I have some piano hinge that might be worth a try. I can dig you a bit out if you save me the effort and let me know the width of the box.
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby droogs » 08 Nov 2021, 22:38

small piano hinge inset with the barrel flush to the back or quadrants
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Dr.Al » 09 Nov 2021, 08:53

droogs wrote:small piano hinge inset with the barrel flush to the back or quadrants


novocaine wrote:I have some piano hinge that might be worth a try


Ooh, I hadn't thought of piano hinges, that's an interesting idea.

novocaine wrote:I can dig you a bit out if you save me the effort and let me know the width of the box.


That's very kind of you, thank you. The box is 66 mm square (with 9 mm thick walls).
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Dr.Al » 19 Nov 2021, 17:22

I've pretty much given up on trying to find a hinge that's any good for the box. I think the box is just too small for anything but some very low quality hinges. As much as I really wanted this box to have a hinged lid, it's never going to get finished if I keep hoping to find something, so I decided to just make a simple loose lid for it. On the off-chance I ever find a decent small hinge, I can always remove the loose lid and cut slots for the hinges.

I had a small off-cut of American Black Walnut that was the perfect width, so I trimmed a bit off to get the other dimension right, shot it square on the shooting board and then tried out my "new" Stanley #45 to cut a rebate all the way round:

Image

It needed a bit of cleaning up (mainly because of the spur that helps when cutting cross-grain), but I was quite pleased with how it went. I then used my block plane to chamfer in lots of places and, partly because of the body of the block plane leaving some rub marks and partly because the cross-grain rebate cutting didn't leave a very clean surface, I tidied it up with some sandpaper, going all the way to 320 grit on the rebates as I couldn't realistically sand with the grain.

Image

That just left a test-fit. If I hold the box upside down, the lid stays put in either orientation, but if I lift the lid, it comes off without lifting the box (which is much heavier than the lid, obviously).

Image

I'm not convinced about the colour of the walnut with the other woods (padauk and maple) so I may make a maple replacement in due course. I used walnut mainly because I had an offcut that was nearly perfect in size. I think I'll give it a couple of coats of oil (probably "Mike's Magical Mix" - Tung Oil, White Spirit & Varnish) and then decide how I feel about the look before deciding to make a new lid.
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Mike G » 19 Nov 2021, 20:48

Nice work, Dr Al, but like you, I think there is too much going on now with those 3 colours.
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Andyp » 19 Nov 2021, 20:53

Could small barrel hinges have worked for the lid?

I like the box but yes, one too many colours.
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Dr.Al » 20 Nov 2021, 12:28

Andyp wrote:Could small barrel hinges have worked for the lid?


I tried them back in this post, but in the end I didn't like what it looked like with such a thick lid. I suspect I'm being too fussy :eusa-whistle:
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Dr.Al » 20 Nov 2021, 12:29

The walnut lid looked better with some oil on it, but I still wasn't happy with it when I went out to look at it this morning, so I dug out a bit of maple, cut and shot it to size, planed it down in thickness and then smoothed the surfaces with a card scraper. I decided to approach the rebates in a different way for this one (mainly just as it's interesting to try different techniques). For the cross-grain rebates, I marked the locations out with a marking knife:

Image

I then made a knife wall with a chisel and chopped the bulk of the material out with my dozuki:

Image

I then finished the cross-grain rebates up with a chisel and used my #78 rebate plane to do the other rebates. It all then got a tidy up with my block plane (for the chamfers) and sandpaper on the rebate surfaces as on the walnut one. With that, it's ready for oiling:

Image

Image

Here it is next to the (oiled) walnut lid; I'll take some more photos once the first coat of oil has had time to dry.

Image
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby NickM » 20 Nov 2021, 18:46

Very smart.
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Dr.Al » 04 Dec 2021, 18:13

I haven't got much more to say about this, but I thought I'd post some photos of the finished box:

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Image

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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Mike G » 04 Dec 2021, 22:32

Well done Dr Al. Looks great. A very striking box.
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Andyp » 05 Dec 2021, 07:38

Yes a very nice box. It looks better with the lid the same colour as the splines.

Do you think it needs a knob on top? Just a thought.
Last edited by Andyp on 05 Dec 2021, 11:21, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Edited to make sense
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Phil » 05 Dec 2021, 07:41

Nice! Very nice. :eusa-clap:

Like the 2-tone
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Dr.Al » 05 Dec 2021, 09:50

Andyp wrote:Yes a very nice box. It looks better with the lid the same colour as the splines.

Do you think it needs a knob on top? Just a thought.


Interesting thought: I hadn't considered that. I might see if I can dig out some suitable bits of wood and lie them on top and see what it looks like.

Mike G wrote:Well done Dr Al. Looks great. A very striking box.


Phil wrote:Nice! Very nice. :eusa-clap:

Like the 2-tone


Thanks both
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby RogerS » 05 Dec 2021, 10:06

I'm sorry that I've come late to this thread. Brilliant WIP and end result.

If anyone is interested I seem to have acquired over the years many different small hinges and so if anyone else is in need and Screwfix mega-hinges are too big then shout up.
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Andyp » 05 Dec 2021, 11:33

Dr.Al wrote:
Andyp wrote:Yes a very nice box. It looks better with the lid the same colour as the splines.

Do you think it needs a knob on top? Just a thought.


Interesting thought: I hadn't considered that. I might see if I can dig out some suitable bits of wood and lie them on top and see what it looks like.


A knob from an off cut of the sides would be perfick to my highly untrained eye.
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby AndyT » 05 Dec 2021, 11:44

May I suggest an edit to the title of this excellent thread - it ought to be called:

"How I found out that I could chew quite a lot more than I thought" :)
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Re: Biting off more than I can chew

Postby Dr.Al » 05 Dec 2021, 14:24

AndyT wrote:May I suggest an edit to the title of this excellent thread - it ought to be called:

"How I found out that I could chew quite a lot more than I thought" :)


Thanks, but I'm not sure that's true - if you look back at my original post, I was planning to make a dovetailed box, but I chickened out!
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