http://www.woodreview.com.au 27PROJECTThe wood was machined extra thick so there would be
generous offcuts to use later as clamping cauls. I rarely
work square and my offcuts are often turned into clamping
cauls or sanding cauls.
The next step was to create the side profiles. My full-sized
drawings gave me the radius for each box – fig.1 shows
the middle sized box. I created jigs that would work in
conjunction with my bandsaw circle cutting jig (fig.2).
My circle cutting jig has a platform with a sliding arm that
runs perpendicular to the blade. The sliding arm has a
piece of dowel that acts as a pivot. I centre the pivot at the
centreline of the blade and use a stop so the sliding arm is
set for the radius to be cut. The jigs I made to create the
side profile were mounted on the dowel in the sliding arm.
Photo 3 shows the jig in use.
Although I had to create the side profile early in the
process, it’s typically easier to work with squared parts.
For ease of use in subsequent operations I temporarily
re-attached the offcuts to the box sides using hot glue
tack welds.
Cutting the mitres
Once the side profile was cut I moved onto creating the
mitres. Processing these small parts on the tablesaw would
be dangerous without the control offered by a jig. I created
a jig for each of the three sizes that allowed me to run
the part against the fence, register it against a stop and
hold it securely with a hold-down (photo 4). I should also
mention that I bond sandpaper to my jigs in the location of
the hold-downs to prevent vibration while machining.
Box joinery
Since these were small decorative objects I chose to use
biscuits to join the parts. People will often scoff at biscuits
and claim they are not true joinery. I would argue that
biscuits are actually small floating tenons and are a valid
joinery option in certain applications.
I have my biscuit jointer mounted to a platform that I
can clamp to my bench (fig.3). This setup gives me much
more control during use. Additionally I have a variety of
jigs that I use with it, including one for biscuiting mitres.
I registered the part against a 45° support faced with
sandpaper and an end stop.
After the parts were slotted I added a spacer under the
biscuit joiner and was able to cut a second slot so that each
intersection ended up with two biscuits.
Routing grooves for the base
I made a jig for the router table to hold the parts while
running grooves for the box bases using a straight bit.
Another jig was used to rout the roundover at the tops
of the box sides (photo 5). Each jig could accommodate
the different box sizes and each had sandpaper and a
hold-down. Photo 6 shows one of the sides with the base
groove and top round-over completed.Before routing the grooves I veneered an oversized panel
with a contrasting burl veneer to complement the box
sides (photo 7). I cut the bases from the most interesting
parts of the panel, maximising the amount of burl visible
on each. I made the panel first so I could test the fit when
routing the groove for the bases.- Raw to refined: ‘This is how I start – usually with a tree that I
had milled.’ Kelly sits in one of her drying sheds, adjacent to
the same redwood burl material used for the finished boxes
she now holds.
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