Stress-Free Mitering a Box

[nuhobby]

Howdy!

While I'd done some small boxes totally on the tablesaw in the past, these days I just use the circular blade for the rabbets and dados. Then I cut the corner miters roughly on the bandsaw, a nice thin-kerf method that wastes very little wood, so the wood-grain can "wrap the corners" nicely on the boxes.

To true-up and exactly length-match the rough pieces, I move to the Disc sander with tilted-table, running it almost silently at 900rpm on the PowerPro:

Sanding_Miter.jpg (97.67 KiB) Viewed 4722 times

Then I can glue-up 2 joints at a time, leaving myself an opportunity to insert the box-bottom after initial joint-squaring has been established. I just use tape to "clamp" these parts. Later my box-bottom will be plywood-based so I can glue it solidly and have no worries of this box ever coming apart:

Taping_Miters.jpg (107.8 KiB) Viewed 4722 times

Happy woodworking!

Chris

[nuhobby]

Now all is done except final smoothing and finishing.

Here, a years-old dumpster-dive piece of cherry cabinet facing is cut to size, rabbeted on the bottom, and later profiled on the top surface:

OPR Cherry Rabbets.jpg (96.7 KiB) Viewed 4580 times

Here is the exposed interior of the box. The bottom is a shop-made laminate of walnut veneer and Baltic birch plywood. The whole thing is solid like a bell:

Mitered Box Open.jpg (113.23 KiB) Viewed 4580 times

Here is how it will look when lidded:

Mitered Box Closed.jpg (108.7 KiB) Viewed 4580 times

Happy woodoworking!

Chris

[Bruce]

Nice work.

[dick1911]

Very nice! I like the idea of using the bandsaw to do the rough miter and finished with the disc sander.

Thanks for the pics

[rjent]

that is pretty slick! Nice looking box ...

[charlese]

I like your special technique system.

Very nice looking box.