Oak Box

I once made a sacred vow to never have more than one project on-the-go at a time. Despite this, earlier this year I gave up on the two cabinet projects I was well into at the time, and instead did a deep dive into a simple box with a sliding lid. Apparently three is the sweet spot!

The top and sides are red oak, the bottom Port Orford cedar, all milled from logs by myself some years ago. I gave up on my wood milling, but I am still benefiting from some interesting pieces in my wood pile.

I decided to use finger joints. Originally I was going to pin them as well, but decided that was not necessary for strength. 

I cut the finger joints using a vintage horizontal milling machine I picked up last year. I purchased a 3/4" end mill for it in order to cut the finger joints in one pass. It worked well, but it was good that I did a few test cuts as it seemed to cut a couple thousands of an inch oversized, which added up over the length of the joint. To solve this I just spaced each cut a little further apart to match the slightly wider cuts. 

For finish I applied several coats of shellac to the inside, while on the outside I used a Watco type oil. Each piece was prefinished before clamping. The top and bottom were shellaced on both sides, I did not want any oil evaporating into the interior over time. I think the figure adds a bit of interest to an otherwise utilitarian piece.

 

In order to clamp the finger joints I had to make special offsets to prevent the clamps from pressing on the ends of the fingers. Although this was not an especially large piece, the finger joints and prefinishing required quite a bit of care with glue application to prevent squeeze out.

The box is an odd size, relatively long, narrow, and tall. That is because it is intended to hold some specific family heirlooms. 

Another Shelf

In 2023 I had started an ambitious Arbutus display cabinet with legs, with the intention of giving it as a gift. However with the deadline only a few months away, I realized that it would not be completed in time so instead I decided to build a small wall-hanging shelf similar in design one I had previously made. 

It is made of beech with some unusual staining in it, and two rear panels, one of Port Orford Cedar and the other of an unknown burl.

The beech log was milled by myself in 2010. I air dried it for a year, ran it through my home made kiln, and stored it. I had several pieces initially, but gave most of them away. I did retain a couple pieces for myself fortunately! 

The alignment of the stains is not perfect, but nonetheless is quite interesting and unusual. One notable screw up I made along the way was a misalignment of the dowel pins. In order to recover I had to go with biscuits on the top. Worked out OK but I was sweating it for a while.

It all came together well, with handmade consoles and hangers. This photo is still before assembly but gives an idea. 

At the same time I dimensioned the pieces for a similar cabinet made out of spalted maple. Hopefully more to follow on this one later!