{"id":2612,"date":"2013-02-08T15:58:07","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T20:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/?p=2612"},"modified":"2021-09-19T18:52:19","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T22:52:19","slug":"carving-on-a-dovetailed-box-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/carving-on-a-dovetailed-box-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Carving on a Dovetailed Box"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-carving-med.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2613\" alt=\"photo of carving\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-carving-med-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>It&#8217;s been a long road. My serious woodworking interests started when I came through the door marked &#8220;small boats.&#8221; Since then, I&#8217;ve passed through many doors, each offering new interests and challenges. None included or required dovetail joinery. Until now&#8230; That&#8217;s one reason why I have been rehabilitating saws lately.<\/p>\n<p>Oh yes, carving still holds my main interest, but carvings need a purpose. Not being one to construct elaborately carved furniture, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-1-med.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2614\" alt=\"photo of box - lid  prominent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-1-med-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>I find smaller forms more appealing. Hence, the boxes. But&#8230; dovetails? Really? (You know, small boats have neither straight lines nor square joins &#8230; nor dovetails.) OK. OK.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m learning from yet another master. Paul Sellers is in the midst of a boxmaking series at his <a href=\"https:\/\/woodworkingmasterclasses.com\/\">Woodworking Masterclasses<\/a> online school. While I find his classes excellent, Paul is one who always produces perfect results. So rare are his mistakes that he seldom advises how to correct them. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-2-med.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2615\" alt=\"photo of dovetailed corner\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-2-med-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>My learning comes more from (alright, mostly &#8230; maybe totally) making mistakes and learning how to fix \/ avoid them, and I&#8217;ve learned over the past weeks that there are elebenty-seven different ways to ruin a dovetail joint. (Nope, no pictures!)<\/p>\n<p>Without further jabbering, here&#8217;s the first dovetailed and carved box that&#8217;s worth showing:<\/p>\n<p>Body: 4&#8243; by 7 1\/2&#8243; by 2 1\/4&#8243;<br \/>\nBase: 3\/8&#8243; larger all around<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-3-med.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2616\" alt=\"photo of dovetailed corner\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-3-med-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nBody: New Zealand pine<br \/>\nLid: Wisconsin basswood<br \/>\nFinish: Shellac and paste wax<\/p>\n<p>It is similar to the example Sellers has been teaching, but I&#8217;ve made it my own with the carved lid. There are a couple of other variances too.\u00a0 Sellers cuts the groves for the lid with a tenon saw. That results in a grove that goes all the way through the end of the box and then needs tedious fitting of plugs to close the holes.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-4-med.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2617\" alt=\"photo of dovetailed carved box\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-4-med-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a> I made mine a stopped groove, like a stopped dado. This one I cut with only a chisel and knife, an experience I won&#8217;t repeat. More learning. A Record 044 just arrived from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.supertool.com\/oldtools.htm\">Patrick Leach<\/a> in today&#8217;s mail.<\/p>\n<p>Sellers also cuts the rebates on the lid (for the slides) with a tenon saw. I cut mine with an ancient Stanley #78 moving fillister plane that I call Mr. Fussy. It does the job, but takes about 4 times longer to set up than just using a saw. Doh! Yet more learning.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-beading.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2618\" alt=\"photo of cutting the beading\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/box-4-beading-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the last little bits of learning with this project was creating the beading on the top edge. Some time ago, I did beading <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/2010\/1067\/\">on the lathe&#8217;s timbers<\/a> with a scratch stock. An even simpler tool, smaller too, produces results faster. Another bit of Seller&#8217;s wisdom is a simple screw in a block of wood. The crisp edge of a single slot screw makes a great cutter. Then, hit the outside corner with a light chamfer. Fast. Easy.<\/p>\n<p>The box collector in our household has already claimed this one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s been a long road. My serious woodworking interests started when I came through the door marked &#8220;small boats.&#8221; Since then, I&#8217;ve passed through many doors, each offering new interests and challenges. None included or required dovetail joinery. Until now&#8230; That&#8217;s one reason why I have been rehabilitating saws lately. Oh yes, carving still holds [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-boxmaking","category-woodcarving","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8108,"href":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612\/revisions\/8108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bob-easton.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}