How do I cut a 45 degree angle on a flat plane?

[scotttarnor]

Thank You TReischl ! I save that photo to try that technique later.

[rink]

TReischl, I never would have figured that out in my entire lifetime. Genius.

[TReischl]

TReischl, I never would have figured that out in my entire lifetime. Genius.

Yep, me either! I am thinking I came across it one of my old WoodSmith magazines a long, long time ago.

Typically I do not make boxes with 3/4 inch walls, or even 1/2. They look sort of clunky to me. Sooo, since I am using thin wood I put a Freud .060 thick blade (actually for a circular saw so it is about 7 inches in diameter) to do the miter cuts to keep the material loss to a minimum. Handy for doing those feather inserts on corners
too.

Have always enjoyed building boxes, all sorts of them. Here is my favorite of all time:

This one really flips my switch because the front of the drawers are mitered to the sides of the box. I think I made 3 full size ones and I have one floating around somewhere that is scaled down. The plans for these boxes are in an old Wood Smith magazine.

Here is another fun one:

This one is made from construction pine I scrounged at a job site. It was mostly done on the CNC router. Not sure anymore where the plan came from, but it is pretty unique the way the lid fits the case. Not your typical method by any means.

Here are a bunch more I have done over the years:

I use this one for my "guy" jewelry box. It is first real box I ever made.

Made four of these at one time for various chess players in my family and friends.

Tool chest. Plans from WoodSmith. This one was built in 1997. I still use it.

So, yup, like I said earlier, I like making boxes!

[rink]

Those boxes are beautiful. Thanks for the pics.

I’ve only built one box. Not pretty like yours, very square and uninteresting. It did have a sliding tray. Gave it to my dad. He liked it. It was cherry wood from a tree at his place that fell victim to a tornado in 2006. I want to build more boxes. Maybe a set of matching ones for all the grandkids, with their names engraved. So many ideas, so little time, even in retirement.

I did build a couple of really nice steamer trunks years ago. I suppose I could count those as big boxes.

[SteveNelson46]

Ted,

Building boxes is one of my favorite things to do also. Your boxes, workmanship, designs and finishes are some of the best I've seen.

I am a subscriber to WoodSmith magazine also and I have all of the back issues from the first to latest (digital). The skill levels of their projects range from beginner to advanced but only a few designed specifically for the CNC. This is one of their projects I made before my CNC days.

[TReischl]

Steve: I remember those plans in WS. Always wanted to build one. That is an excellent job you did on it!

In general: A lot of woodworking centers around being able to build a box well. Kitchen cabinets are nothing but boxes. My very first woodworking project was building a set of Norm Abram's adirondack chairs. But the first real project I did was building kitchen cabinets. Lots of boxes, LOL!

When I get bored in the shop, I will build a box. Right now I am building two. No particular reason, but they will be given to someone at some point. Been spending quite a bit of time designing "wave" tops, that look like beach sand.

The projects in WS are great. That magazine and Shop Notes are pretty much how I learned wood working. Built a lot of their projects over the years.

[TomWS]

Since we're discussing the book match technique for box making, I thought I'd throw this project in the conversation. Here is an example of some Ash being used on a Music Box for my Granddaughter.

Here is the ash all sliced and mitered using the technique discussed in viewtopic.php?p=282062#p282062:

Here is the finished box with the two front corners shown:

The inside uses the same technique for the liner:

The liner is removable to gain access to the electronics below the false bottom:

[TomWS]

And here is one of my favorite 'boxes' based on the grain matching challenge.
This is a Hall Bench I made for my daughter. She chose the style, I got to have fun with the wood!

The top was fun. It required gluing up some very nice (and expensive) figured cherry and then 'wrapping' it around the 'box'. It was the first time I tried dovetail splines. A lot of expensive wood was at risk trying this!!! It came out ok

The Drawers were matched (to each other), of course.

This is how I got the drawer fronts:

And since I was going nuts with the grain matching, might as well do the drawer insides...

Cheers!

[TReischl]

Yup, we got some serious box makers on this forum! All really nice work.