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Two general ideas that ran through the two days were the use of abrasive techniques for fine tuning and jigs.  Cutting veneer necessarily causes distortion at the ends however abrasion through sanding allows for much less.  Clearly you cannot sand large volumes but cutting for example stringing or veneer close to the line and then using sanding to reach the final edge is a good compromise.   Constructing jigs seems to be a waste of time but I came to understand that they are an essential in many situations – even if you are only constructing a few boxes.

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Veneering

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A pair of bookmatched veneer sheets was chosen and using a mirror, the cutting line was chosen.  The mirror was very useful in seeing what the final effect would be given different cutting lines.   Check the surfaces of the veneer carefully – if you see dips and bumps then choose the bumps as you can sand them off easier than trying to level out dips! Once the line was chosen, the two sheets were aligned and cut together.  Don’t forget to put the two front sides inside together.

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To ensure the two sides were straight lines to fit together perfectly, they were sanded together in a special sanding block. You cannot sand off too much otherwise you lose the perfect bookmatch. You will need another piece of veneer the same size to attach to the underside of the substrate so as to make the lid stable and balanced to variations in moisture etc

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The two parts are then attached using woodworking blue tape ready to glue to the lid..

 Back to the veneered lid - a substrate is cut to size that will be the inside of the lid (mdf is good but avoid the dust – I use thin ply). I do not routinely glue veneer and so now adopted the recommended technique which is to sandwich the veneer and the substrate as below:

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¾ inch blockboard

Piece of carpet underlay

Perspex

Paper

Bookmatched Veneer

Substrate (mdf or ply)

Balancing Veneer

Paper

Perspex

Piece of underlay

¾ inch blockboard

 

I used ordinary PVC glue and then clamped all together – left for at least an hour. You might want to experiment first to get the right amount of glue.  If you use too much it can come through thin veneer.

 

Box Construction

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You can choose a number of different corner joints. Most people tend to have a favourite – mine now is a simple mitre joint with splines. 

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To keep it simple I made a jig for my tablesaw that presented the corners to the blade at 45 degrees.  I got the idea from the net – see link at the bottom. I take the kerf width of the blade as the width of the spline itself and then drum sand some contrasting wood down to that width for ease.

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In this example however I am using an even simpler rebated corner.

 

The box is constructed in one piece with the veneered lid and base inset into rebates of the sides.   An advantage of mitred corners is that you don’t have to stop the rebate to avoid it showing out.

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A jig was available on the course which made it quite easy to glue up the box.  I have not replicated this at home but the idea is sound if you intend making lots of boxes of about the same size.  I use a band clamp with corners.

Box assembly – note the angle iron to spread the load. 

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Stringers

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Stringers are thin pieces of contrasting veneer used to decorate the edge of the top – they also cover up the interface between the side and the lid.  Again after initial cutting of the stringer, they are made exactly 45 degrees using a simple jig involving sandpaper again.

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Lots of tests should be made before beginning to rout a groove on the lid itself.  You need to plan for the right distance from the side as well as (upside down and blind) making sure that the groove is stopped at the right spot each time.   You need to cut the rounded corners that the router generates.  Either do by hand with sharp chisel or use one of the veritas jigs available.

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If you can afford it, an downcut spiral cutter cuts the best grooves.  It sounds odd to have an downcut which essentially traps the cut wood in the groove rather than a normal upcut which removes the shavings but you get less tear out and therefore a sharper edged groove.

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Once complete and glue set – finish the top of the box using a scraper.  I had never really understood the power of a good scraper before but it produces and excellent finish – just take care to keep with the grain wherever possible.

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Separating lid from box

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The box is made whole and the lid cut off using a bandsaw.  It is useful to present the box at an angle to ensure a consistent pressure is needed (rather than presenting  along a whole side first and last  and then the thin sides in the middle.  A jig is used. Don’t stop when cutting and don’t slow down at the end of the cut.

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The best blade to use is a 6tpi ½”.  There are ones called smoothcut which are ideal for the purpose.

Even when you use a new smoothcut blade, you need to sand the cut surfaces.  The best way seems to be to glue large sheets of sandpaper to block board and then sand the cut face by moving the box over the flat sandpaper.

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Hinging

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The hinges used on the course were quite special and expensive (see fine box site).  However easy they were to install, the cost for me was prohibitive on normal boxes and so I used ordinary small hinges for mine.

The final box in cherry with cherry veneer and snakewood stringers for contrast. 

 The box was sanded up to  320 grit (be careful not to cross contaminate if you have very contrasting coloured wood), oiled 4 times, 0000 wirewool between coats and finally waxed.

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Useful links

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http://www.fine-boxes.com/ Andrew Crawfords boxmaking site

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fV-_-iH4YQ Tablesaw Jig for spline cutting