Here's the back. The grain doesn't flow perfectly from one box to the next, but it's nearly perfect. The key for the back is to use quarter- or riftsawn lumber with tight, straight grain.
I love making boxes. I can’t explain it. I just do. And I like to challenge myself when I make them. So, when I decided to make two small boxes that sit together on a tray, I wanted to figure out how I could get the grain not only to wrap continously around each box individually, but also around both boxes taken together. Happily, I figured it out. The box, I think, turned out very nicely. But what was more satisfying was figuring out how to do it. The moment of clarity when the solution came to me is one of my best moments in the shop. It was pure euphoria. I’m sure someone else has done this before, but I’ve never seen it. It was something original, and I figured it out. I doubt I’ll ever experience it again. But I’ll keep trying. At any rate, take a look at the drawings above to learn how I did it.
I haven’t mentioned joinery, etc. For these boxes, I cut the groove for the bottoms and the rabbet for the tops before Step 3.
Note: Technically, the grain wrap around both boxes is not a true four corner match, because where the two backs meet the grain doesn’t match. However, if you pick your board wisely, it will be darn close enough. A quartersawn board with tight grain is best. Riftsawn boards also work well. Flatsawn boards do not.
Also, apologies for the drawings. I’m not an illustrator by any stretch of the imagination.
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Here's the back. The grain doesn't flow perfectly from one box to the next, but it's nearly perfect. The key for the back is to use quarter- or riftsawn lumber with tight, straight grain.
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Step 1. Start with a board that's long enough to make both boxes. How long is that? Add together the length of the front and one end from one box to the same from the second box. In this case that's 4 in. + 2.5 in. + 3 in. + 2.5 in. for a total of 12 in. Be sure to add in the thickness of the blade's kerf, so that you don't lose length when cutting out the sides. The board should be thick enough to resaw to make 2 boards that can be finished to the side's final thickness. In this case, the sides are 1/4 in. I started with a 3/4 in. thick board.
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Step 2. Resaw to make two boards. Then mill them to final thickness. As is the case any time your resaw to create a four corner match, the two new faces become the outside of the box. To improve your corner matches, remove as little material as possible from the new faces. I typically clean them up with a hand plane, then plane the other side until I get to the final thickness. Don't worry about removing equal amounts from both faces.
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Steps 3. Now cross cut the two boards. This cut is important, because it creates two sets of boards. From one set you get one of the boxes, and you get the other box from the second set of boards. I mark them so that I can keep track of how the boards where oriented before I cut them, which enables me to keep the grain properly aligned.
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Step 4. Now cut out the sides for each box. The order in which you do this is everything. The drawing above shows exactly how to do it.
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Here's the front. You see that the grain flows across the fronts of the two boxes. You can also just make out that the grain wraps around the corner on the smaller box.
Comments
Thanks for the tip Matt. I guess this is a case of sub-divide and conquer. Want three or four boxes? Just start with thicker stock.
Hi Matt, thanks a lot for sharing how to do this beautiful boxes.
Shall,
To make more boxes, start with a longer, not thicker, board. However, a quick run through my head comes up four boxes as the max for this technique. But I could be missing something.
Matt
That's pretty cool!
For me, that would be a problem that would be a problem who's solution I would see immediately or, MUCH more likely, never figure out!
The trick now is going to be to find this blog entry 3 years from now when I want to do something similar!
Matt,
I was actually thinking two things at the same time and things got muddled.
By using a board twice as thick you should be able to get four boxes that could be placed in a 2x2 array so that grain matches occur in the X and Y directions instead of just linearly (as noted by the "+"s below).
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If, as you say, there is a maximum of 4 boxes obtainable linearly then you should be able to get a 4x4 or 16 box array by using an appropriately thick board. Of course, this is all in my head and I'd have to sit down and sketch it out to verify it.
Steven
This would not be a big article in the magazine, but it would be a well-received article. There a lot more of us with the skills to build this, than there are with the skills to build one of the antique furniture reproductions that often appear. (I do, of course,recognize the value of those also, in a magazine the caliber of yours.)
Very nice, thanks for sharing. I too have an affinity for box making and always appreciate hearing what others have done. I have yet to do the matching grain by re-sawing and your drawings helped me greatly in understanding how it's done. -phil
Hi Matt,
This is unrelated, but I'm trying to figure the best way to make under mount wood slides for a set of map drawers, 34 inches wide and 28 inches deep. Any Ideas?
Thanks
Randini
Wonderful
too good
this is amazing
this is appreciated
well done..keep it up.
Creative work
wonderful work
wonderful work
creative
Just saying thank you for all you share
Love its structure
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