Nice work,Phil. A little too delicate for my touch but very nice work. James.jj777746
Keepsake Boxes
I love to make little boxes and have been making these in various forms over the years. They make great gifts and are always well received. One of the reasons I bought a CNC machine was to help up my game. For Christmas, I made 8 boxes with a variety of different carvings on the top or front.
I made these from 1/8" thick cherry with 1/8" box joints. The box joints were cut with a 1/8" spiral bit on a router table with an Incra LS Positioner. The lining is made from pine, cork and velvet. The carvings were done on a small Al extrusion CNC router using a 90 degree V bit. I used Affinity Designer and F-Engrave for CAD/CAM work. Boxes were finished with an oil based poly.
Here's a detailed write-up of how I made the boxes.
I made these from 1/8" thick cherry with 1/8" box joints. The box joints were cut with a 1/8" spiral bit on a router table with an Incra LS Positioner. The lining is made from pine, cork and velvet. The carvings were done on a small Al extrusion CNC router using a 90 degree V bit. I used Affinity Designer and F-Engrave for CAD/CAM work. Boxes were finished with an oil based poly.
Here's a detailed write-up of how I made the boxes.
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The cork is interesting but really easy. When you cut it, it has a pretty rough edge as the cork basically crumbles. I conceal that by using the pine insert lining. It's just self stick shelf liner. Pretty cheap.
The velvet is a bit more complex. You really can't just cut it to fit and glue it in. Makes a mess. Don't ask how I know this. Instead, I glue it to a piece of card stock (I use art mat board but anything fairly stiff will work). I make it about 1/16" smaller than the inside of the lid. In the first photo you can see 3 stages - fitting the card to lid, a card glued to a piece of velvet sized 1/2" larger on all sides and a finished one. The third photo shows trimming the corners. I then smear on contact cement and fold the cloth over making a stiff velvet card. With the velvet on the edges, the card makes a very snug fit in the lid. I think that should be enough to explain it.
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I definitely wouldn't recommend 1/8" stock when starting on box joints. But 1/4" is pretty easy. Having an Incra LS positioner makes it pretty easy, dare I say foolproof. Well, not damn fool proof! A lot of woodworking is making boxes of one sort or another so it's a good skill to have. I recently finished making a 15 drawer cabinet for my workshop. 15 drawers - boxes. 3 carcasses - boxes. Drawer organizers - more boxes.
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