The Box

   I have been thinking about making a jewelry box.   I would use cherry wood.  It would be kind of small.   I want it to have some neat joints on the side.
   For an old guy like myself it could be a little challenging yet I think that some day I will take a shot at it.    Lately I have been reading up on dementia and ways to prevent it.  One of those ways was to keep the mind active.   So maybe I should try to reach out and go for the gusto.    Take the plunge.   Go where no craftsman with my skills has ever went before.   But first, maybe I will do a trial run.  Sort of a practice test.   (If nothing else - we can at least find out if the mind has already left the depot and we can find out what the destination ahead might be.)  
     For the joints on this jewelry box, I want to use what is called box joints.   So before starting that task I just want to focus on making a simple box.   For this test run I am going to use a piece of scrap 1/2 inch thick plywood.

     I am guessing that it has almost been a year since I found myself at the Woodsmith Store in Des Moines, Iowa.    While I was there I saw that they had this box joint jig on sale.   I am not sure of whether I needed one of these or if I wanted one of these, but it was almost time for Pam (my wife) to source my birthday, anniversary, father's day, and Christmas present for year 2023, so to save her that shopping headache I jump in and purchased one of these jigs.

    Using this scrap plywood piece created a mixture of results.   The good thing was that it was just a scrap piece any messed up creations were no big loss.   That was good because it seemed to take me several trials and errors before I finally figured out how to tweak all the settings.    The bad thing is that plywood is made up of several sheets or layers of wood and creating each of these notches on the side would generat a little tear out on the exposed side of the board.

    After while, my camp fire kindling pail was starting to fill up with test pieces.  I finally came up with the end result.  I had two sides and two ends.  Plus I cut a groove along the bottom edges to insert a bottom panel to the box.    As you can see, there are several notes scribbled on each of the pieces to help me keep track of which piece fits in with what piece.   (Notes are good for someone with pre-dementia tendencies.)

     In this little practice run I did put on two coats of an oil varnish on the inside before assembly.    It's turning out to be a small box and I have not had good experience varnishing the inside of boxes once everything was put together.    Another little trick I read about is to apply painters tape to the inside where the joints are going to be.   That way any squeeze out glue will end up on the tape - not on your project.    And of course, I like using a lot of clamps to keep everything square and tight.

The picture to the left gives you a visual of a box joint.   Or at least a box joint made out of plywood.   I smeared some oil varnish on the outside and it did make those plywood layers pop out.

  At first I was unsure as to what to do with this "practice" box end joint creation, but then it hit me.

         I  placed an ear of corn on my squirrel feeder every morning.   They manage to eat those kernels of corn off before nightfall.    My neighbor always asks me if he can have some of the corn cobs that are left over.   When needed,  he soaks them in water before he lights his grill and then throws them on the charcoal to smoke the meat he is grilling.  I'm thinking hickory or apple wood would be a better choice, but he claims it give the meat a great smoked taste.   (To each his own...)   So anyway, I was thinking that maybe he could us a little storage box to keep corn cobs in.

   I'm thinking that I am going to move ahead with the challenge of the jewelry box that I talked about earlier.    Someday anyway.

   But for now, a new idea just hit me.    This box is a kind of small, but if one were to widen it just a little more and make it twice as long with a lid on the top --- you could have a perfect cat coffin.    Hmmm.