Boxing - Round 2

Danger Boy and I ventured out to a local lumber yard to pick out the maple stock we need for the hanging wall cabinet…alas, they did not have anything less than 10/4 that was over seven inches wide.  I found that surprising given the amount of inventory they had on hand.  Any fellow Minnesotans out there with a good hardwood supplier recommendation would be greatly appreciated.  It looks like I’ll need to spend time later in the week making some calls.

We did get to log some time out in the shop though.  The stock for the next round of boxes has been sitting on the bench for a few days now.  I’ve set aside some Cherry, Wenge, Birdseye Maple and Australian Lacewood for the next batch.  There should be enough lumber here for 18 to 22 boxes.

One of these pieces of Lacewood has some nasty looking surface checks.  If those turn out to be problematic, we’ll end up with a count of 18 boxes.

I’ve had these pieces of Birdseye Maple on the lumber rack for quite a few years now.  The eyes are really tight and the pattern has some interesting variations. 

Here’s a shot of the Wenge boards (and the Cherry sneaking in for some camera time.)  These little slabs are part of a small collection that I’ve been hanging onto for some time.  It’s all quarter sawn and is really nice to work with. 

As I was laying these pieces out to determine how many boxes they would yield, I decided to throw in a wild card…a little slab of Zircote!  That’s how we roll in the Second Wind Workshop.  You never know what will happen!

I’ve got a stash of little slabs of this very hard, amazing grained wood, and I’ve been waiting for a good opportunity to work with it.  This little piece will only yield one box, but it’s the one I’m most excited about.  The wood itself is incredibly dense and almost completely solid like ebony.

The box sides are two and a quarter inches high, so I ripped these boards to about two and a half inches.  I’ll still need to true them up a bit on the jointer and planer so I’ve given myself a little margin to play with.

Once I’ve squared the boards I’ll resaw most of them in half to get down to a 3/8” thickness.  The Cherry boards were already milled to 3/8” from a previous project.  You can see the difference below.  All of the other boards will be split and should yield two 3/8” thick boards from each slab after cleaning them up on the planer. 

I’ve also started laying out some options for the lids.  I’ve got some left over Zebrawood pieces and some Bubinga slabs that I’m considering.  I’ll have to experiment with various parings to determine what I like best. 

I’ll also incorporate the corner splines on these boxes, so I’ll need to pick accent woods for those as well.  If possible I’ll try to use the same wood used for the box lids.

As I work my way through the various stages of completion I’ll be attempting to work on a couple other boxes.  I’ve got a design in mind for these Padauk panels, and I’d like to experiment with these Marblewood shorts.

Many of the steps along the way will use the same tool set-ups.  Let’s hope that this multi-tasking doesn’t throw off my groove!

Pete