68 Australian Wood Review
PROJECTmark the length of the hinge (photo 14). Don’t bother
with measuring with this kind of stuff. A referential
measurement will give you the best results.I wasted out the majority of the mortise with a chisel then
finished it off with a router plane (photo 15). This will
ensure flat hinge mortises which will in turn allow the
hinges to function smoothly. I then laid the lid onto the
box, leaving it a bit oversized so I could trim it up after the
hinges were installed. Again, the easiest way to locate the
hinge locations on the lid was to simply reference the first
hinge mortises I cut in the box (photo 16).Finishing it off
I decided to try something different for the box closure
and used two cut nails and a piece of leather (photo 17).
I docked the nails short because to get the nail head size
I wanted, the nail length would have been way too long.A few strokes with a hacksaw sorted out the problem and
a bit of epoxy holds the nails in place. The box was then
finished on the outside surfaces with some more wax.With the box finished it was time to see how things
looked in their new travel home (photo 18). The box
holds everything I need with some room to spare. If
you have stuff to contain, I highly recommend building
yourself a wooden box and leaving the plastic on the shelf
in the store.Photos: Vic Tesolin(^1617)
18
Vic Tesolin is a furniture maker and former editor
of Canadian Woodworking mgazine. He is also
woodworking/technical advisor for Veritas/Lee Valley
Tools. Vic’s book ‘The Minimalist Woodworker was
published in 2016. See http://www.minimalistwoodworker.com
13 14 15
- Locate the outside of the hinge with a marking gauge...
- ...and the inside of the hinge with a knife.
- The router plane gives you a flat hinge mortise.
- Use a knife to transfer the hinge location from the box to the lid.
- A bit of leather and more nails keeps the box closed.
- A simple elegant home for the tools I use the most.