I’m a novice woodworker who has accumulated a pile of “scrap” (cherry, sepele, maple, etc) that I plan to work into small boxes. I have made a few boxes with hinged lids, but want to make some smaller, thinner walled boxes that can’t accommodate a hinge.
I’ve seen many boxes with sliding lids or lids that fit into the body by a rabbet cut into the underside of the lid. I also seen many boxes that use a thin strip on the inside of the lid that extends into the body to fit the lid.
I’m considering moving those thin strips to the outside of the lid, so that the top essentially fits down over the body of the box, much like the humble (old fashioned) shoe box. Is there some functional aspect that will make the fit of lid a problem? Something that I’m over looking in this approach?
Replies
Wood movement and joint separation would be my concerns. When you say thin I'm thinking ⅛" or so which given that it will be and end grain joint I don't know how you keep the joint tight. Plus it seems like overly complicated construction. I would rabet the side panels top and bottom so that they nest. Since I don't know exactly what you envisioning you may have a solution to this.
The tighter you make the fit of the lid parts that grasp the box sides, the more likely there'll be a problem due to wood movement. However, you don't have to give such a lid much waggle room to obviate any wood movement problem. Boxes are small and so will be any wood movement. A very slightly slack lid is not going to spoil the box.
I've made a couple of dozen boxes with lift-off, rather than hinged, lids in the last year, to contain all sorts of hobby parts, both mine and those the ladywife uses in her many sewing, embroidery and lace-making activities. I generally prefer to put something on the bottom of the lid that'll fit inside the top rather than over it's outsides. This gives a thinner lid, which looks less clunky.
In addition, something to locate the lid on the box by abutting the inside walls of the box means the "something" can be an absolute minimum. I have quite a few boxes in which the lid-bottom has only four round plugs, one per corner, that locate in the inside top corners of the box. These are also simple to "ease" should things ever get a bit sticky - just file a tiny amount off the round plug where it meets the inside box wall corners.
I also like to make tiered lids for some styles of boxes. The outside can be two or three layers, each becoming smaller as it's placed on the one below, to form a symmetrical ziggurat. The bottom of the lid can have another layer that fits the top of the box opening, less a teeny bit for waggle room. Such lids are weighty and don't easily come adrift.
I'll try to take some pics later, then post them.
Lataxe
I built a small box to hold some of my router bits and wanted to come up with a fun/unique way to affix the top. I ended up using four square pegs, each one centered on one side of the box, and four corresponding square cutouts in the top. It looks a little funky but works great.
Some pics of boxes and their tops.
The first is a maple tea box, with two slats on the inside of the lid keeping it in place when it's sat on the box. The ziggurat design with the slats add weight so it stays put.
The second walnut card & dice box uses a half overlap lid to keep the lid in place. It's a bit like a handshake.
Lataxe
Two more.
The first is a yew odds & sods box, with small squares to keep the box lid located. The slat is reinforcement of the seam between the two very thin book matched parts making up the lid.
The second in a sapele workshop box to hold various metal handles, with an afromosia lid held in place with those four round plugs that fit the internal corners of the box.
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All these are utilitarian boxes made from scrap to practice box-making and to hold various doo-dwats serving other hobbies.
Lataxe
Hmmm....thanks all. Sorry that I didn't elaborate in the initial post; I was just trying not to overly complicate the question. The box in question is made from sapele odds n' bits. It's a box for my wife to use to store seed packets. The material is planned to a bit over 1/4". The box will be about 8 x 12" and quite tall at 6'. I'm running a divider down the length to divide the space into two long rows.
I've glued up the box, but not fitted the bottom or lid. The bottom will rabbet in, but I think I'm going with the top to fit "shoe box wise" after all. I live in Northern CA - about 15 miles from the coast and frankly, I've never been bothered by wood movement in any project to date.
Appreciate all your thoughts. Have attached a couple of photos of previous boxes to hold sets of petanque boules.
The additional info definitely helps. Since you have already glued up the idea of rabets is out, just too much trouble after the fact. So the thin strips of wood is the logical next option. While it certainly would be possible to afix them to the top, I could see this causing the need for a bit more jostling of the lid to put it in place, given its contents. I would recommend putting the strips on the bottom they would then tend to hold the seed packets away from the box edge thereby making it easier to place the lid.
8x12 inches (") and 6 feet (') tall?
Opps !...
" vs ' ....those pesky little marks do matter now, don't they.
Yep, I can see where strips to the inside of the box would work well...back into the shop tomorrow. We'll see which option wins out.
I have made a number of curved top boxes with hidden hinges as shown in the two photos. If you look carefully in the first photo, there is a ball bearing (~1/4" OD) fitted in two small depressions in the back edge of the top and the end panel. In the second, there is a 1/8" pin that is inserted through the end panel and into the edge of the top. Both approaches have performed well for me.
Them's nice wee boxes.
I have much oak "scrap" from the larger stuff, including some steam-bent ladderback chairs struts that'll never sees a chair now, as we have sufficient bum-perches of various kinds. Perhaps the curvers can be wrangled into curvy lids?
Lataxe
starkw1 - I like the brass pin idea. Might steal it, but use a brass or copper rivet so that the sticks out.
User-7410314.
You could also completely hide the pin by drilling the hole in the end panel from the inside and not all the way thru the panel.
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