Since I posted images of the reeded door vanities I built, I’ve received several calls and emails from builders and cabinet makers asking for details on how I built the reeded doors. I thought it might be easier to write a short article detailing the construction to refer to any future queries.
The first step was to joint and plane many 4/4 quarter-sawn white oak. They needed to be 3 1/4″ wide and a length appropriate to the height of the doors. These blanks were then resawn at the bandsaw and to yield two pieces, one 5/16″ thick and the other 1/4″ thick. I grouped the pairs and kept track of them by marking the ends.
I then prepared the 1/4″ MDF blanks that were to be the core of the lamination. They were ripped to 3 1/4″ wide and the same lengths as the QSWO (quarter sawn white oak).
The QSWO and MDF were then laminated together using my vacuum bag.
After the lamination, the blanks were ripped to exactly 3″ wide. This measurement was critical as it corresponded to the width of the molding knife pattern I planned to use later. The blanks were then laid out to form a pleasing pattern taking into account the grain and wood color. This order was then marked on the ends of the blanks. Biscuit slots were then cut on the edges of the blanks to aid in the alignment of the blanks during glue-up. All the biscuit slots were registered from the top of the 5/16″ thick QSWO face, which was the face that would be reeded.
The blanks were then run through my Williams and Hussey molding machine using their reeded casing knife 229-CP. It is 3″ wide with 3/16″ beads. I had prepared some 3″ wide MDF blanks when ripping the laminations to 3″ wide and used these to make sure the blanks were centered exactly to the molding knife to ensure the “hills and valleys” of each blank lined up nicely to the next.
The top layer of the lamination was 5/16″ thick QSWO to allow for the loss of some of that thickness when the blanks were run through the molding machine.
The blanks were then glued together. I took a lot of care to make sure they lined up perfectly and that the resulting panel was flat.
After glue up the panels were cut to the final size and a beaded molding was applied to the edges.
I received a commission recently from a designer. Her clients had an Étagère which they were not happy with. The piece was too tall for the room in which they had it displayed and so they wanted to know if it was possible to cut it down. I met with them and the designer and we decided that the modification was possible. The goal was to re-size the piece, while making the joints near invisible and also maintain the structural integrity of the piece.
From Wikipedia:
An étagère is a piece of light furniture which was extensively made in France during the latter part of the 18th century. It consists of a series of stages or shelves for the reception of ornaments or other small articles. Like the what-not it was very often corner wise in shape, and the best Louis XVI examples in exotic woods are exceedingly graceful and elegant.
As you can see from the image below the piece was very tall, 88″.
My initial thought was to make a cut below the second lowest shelf and then move the feet to the underside of that shelf. From the standpoint of hiding the joint that would have been the simplest way. However there were a couple of details on the upright just above the bottom shelf which needed to be preserved, so it was decided that each upright needed to be cut in two places, once just below the third lowest shelf and once just below the second lowest shelf. Then the second lowest shelf would be discarded and the lowest shelf moved up one section.
In theory it was a very simple plan. Eight cuts and then glue it back together. In practice it required a lot of thought, problem solving and attention to detail in order to accomplish the cuts and then rejoining the pieces, all while achieving the goal of invisible joints and maintaining the structural integrity of the piece.
Once I got the piece to my workshop, I set it aside for a couple of days while I thought carefully about each step. The photo essay below shows how I went about making the modification.
I opted to make the cuts using a flush cut saw. I could see no way to make the cuts cleanly and safely using a power saw of any sort. While a power saw can make a quick cut, in this situation I just saw to much potential for things to go horribly wrong really quickly. The first step was to tape around each upright piece to support the wood fibers as much as possible during the cut and ensure a clean cut with little to no tear out. I also taped some pieces of Formica to the underside of the shelf so that the saw did not scratch that surface. I needed to make the cut as close as possible to the underside of the shelf in order to maintain the length of the upright piece. The thin kerf of the flush cut saw would also help achieve that goal.
The Étagère is an expensive and beautiful piece of furniture, so needless to say the first cut was make with some trepidation. However, once I had started the cut I was committed!
Once each cut was made on the upright I clamped a scrap piece of plywood over the cut to act as a sort of “splint” and hold that section together while I made the subsequent cuts.
The bottom shelf and uprights cut loose and waiting to be reattached. The piece of blue tape was put on the shelf before I started the cuts and marked the front of the piece so that I could maintain the correct orientation when reattaching it to the main section.
The next thing I needed to do was to make a jig. This always makes my wife smile, as she maintains that my day is complete if I get to design and fashion a jig! My plan was to route holes in the upright in order to accept a dowel. The dowel would ensure the structural integrity of the piece once glued together. The holes in the two pieces needed to line up perfectly and my goal in achieving this was to register the jig from the same two surfaces of each upright. The one thing complicating it was the overhang of the shelf, and so I needed to cut a groove in the jig so that it wrapped over the overhanging shelf. I then needed to ensure that the hole in the jig that would guide the router bit was as close to the center of the upright as possible. My hope was that if it was off a tiny bit, then the fact that the jig was referenced off the same two surfaces on each piece would compensate for this and the two uprights would still line up perfectly. This part of the theory, which sounded great in theory, could only be tested in practice, which added a bit of tension to the whole procedure.
The guide hole lined up with the center of the upright piece.
The plunge router ready for action.
The first hole successfully routed in the underside of the upper section.
The router and jig set up on the first of the upright pieces on the lower section.
The first hole successfully routed in the upright of the lower section.
Once all eight holes were drilled I needed to turn my attention to cleaning up the underside of the shelf on the upper section. There was a small section of the upright still remaining. This was due to the thickness of the formica that I had used to protect the underside of the shelf. In order to get rid of this I removed the top plate of my jig and clamped the jig to the upright once again.
I then registered the router bit to the surface of the shelf and used it to clean up the 1/16″ or so of upright remaining.
The resulting surface. Clean and flush with the underside of the shelf.
Lastly I needed to ensure that the cuts on the uprights of the lower section were clean and at a perfect ninety degree angle. If the cuts I had made using the flush cut saw were at a slight angle then it would be impossible to achieve an invisible joint. I also needed to make sure that each upright was exactly the same length so that the piece stood upright. Once again I used my jig without the cover plate. I also used a piece of wood registering from the lowest shelf to the underside of the jig in order to cut each upright to the same length. I set everything up in order to remove the bare minimum of wood and so maintain as much of the length of the upright as possible.
The upright after being routed. Clean edges and a perfect ninety degree cut.
Then it was off to the lathe in order to turn a dowel to the correct diameter out of a piece of straight grained hard maple.
After cutting each dowle to length I cut a couple of thin slots in each one. This was to allow the excess glue in the mortise a place to escape when everything was clamped together.
The dowels in place …
… and the test fit. It looked perfect. I was equal portions of relieved, ecstatic and mildly surprised at this point. The blue tape is in place to protect the surfaces from any residual glue squeeze out during the clamping.
No pictures of the clamping procedure. Anyone who has done a glue up knows that there is no time to grab the camera for a quick snap shot during a glue up. It went smoothly, primarily because I have learnt from bitter experience to always do a test glue up and have all the clamps ready and conveniently positioned long before I open the bottle of glue. I decided to use Titebond Liquid Hide Glue for this. As well as a longer clamp time it also seemed an appropriate glue to use for a fine piece of furniture such as the one I was working on.
The Bessey clamps are such a pleasure to use!
With the glue up complete, I closed the workshop for the night and came back the next morning with great anticipation to see how it had all come together. After removing the clamps and tape I tested each joint and it seemed that the structural integrity of the piece had been maintained. I was also delighted to find that the joints were near invisible. Someone would have to look long and hard in order to see that the piece had been cut down. The image below shows one of the joints.
A couple of shots of the modified Étagère. This was a pretty challenging project, involving many of the things that are so enjoyable about woodworking. Creative thinking, problem solving, care and attention to detail.
The first step was to lay the parts out in the order in which they would be assembled.
I then laid out where the opening for the tissues would be and also drew some decorative circles to indicate where the embellishments would go. The center of the 6″ circle falls directly at the intersection of two sides and the top. The center of the 4″ circle falls at the intersection of two sides and the center of the 5″ circle is offset from the intersection of two sides.
The idea is to have the turned embellishments wrap around the sides and top of the assembled box. The layout for the embellishments that fall on two faces is not that critical, however if the embellishment falls on three faces then it is critical that the center of the circle is exactly at the intersection of the three faces, or the embellishments will not flow around all three faces.
I started with the 4″ circle and put double-sided tape on the back of the two faces that it fell on.
I then stuck the two pieces on a 12″ plywood circle which was attached to a face plate. I lined the two pieces up so that the center of the circle was at the intersection of the two pieces.
A couple of notes about the plywood backing. I used two pieces of 3/4″ plywood laminated together and rough cut to 12″ diameter. The double thickness helps to stiffen the piece and reduce vibration and flex at the circumference. The laminated plywood was then screwed to a face plate mounted to the lathe and turned true. It is important to use a face plate with set screws and tighten the set screws to the lathe spindle once the face plate is mounted on the lathe. If you don’t use set screws there is a danger of the plywood continuing to turn after the lathe is shut off, and it will then unscrew itself from the lathe!
Once the pieces are in position I like to apply pressure to the double sided tape for a couple of minutes. I place a scrap piece of wood over the parts and applied pressure with the tail stock. I also applied pressure to the corners of the scrap wood with some clamps. A couple of minutes under pressure makes the double sided tape stick much better.
After removing the clamps, scrap wood and tail stock, I turned the lathe on at a very slow speed and standing off to one side slowly turned up the speed. I let it run for a couple of minutes and then checked to see that the pieces were secure and had not moved. Once I was satisfied they were secure I turned a hemisphere in the center and some further embellishments with a texturing tool and skew.
While turning I kept the speed fairly low, around 1000 rpm.
Don’t skimp on the double sided tape.
Apply pressure to the tape for a couple of minutes to increase the adhesion strength.
Rotate the plywood before turning on the lathe to make sure nothing comes into contact with the tool rest etc.
Keep your hands and fingers behind the tool rest!
Take care removing the parts from the plywood. Slow, gentle and constant pressure will cause the tape to slowly give.
This was the 5″ circle which was offset from the intersection of the two sides. I added a scrap piece of maple to help counter balance the offset weight.
Last, I turned the embellishments that would flow over two sides and the top of the tissue box cover. It was critical that I align the center of this circle with the intersection of the three pieces. I also added a scrap piece of maple in the one corner to counter balance the weight and also to help provide support to the cuts I was making.
I then moved to my scroll saw and cut out the opening in the top for the tissues.
The five parts laid out again.
I laid some clear packing tape across the four sides, flipped them over, applied a thin bead of glue to the four sides, then rolled the parts up into a box …
… and taped it together. The tension created as the tape is stretched when rolling the sides up is more than sufficient clamping pressure for this assembly.
I then applied a thin bead of glue to the four bevels of the top …
This week I will be covering the cutting of the four sides and top for the tissue box cover I am making for my wife. The panels are laid out so that the grain will be continuous around the box and the cuts are made on the crosscut sled with the blade set at 45 degrees.
The top and sides are first cut slightly oversize. They need to be clearly marked. I have labelled the pieces with chalk, 3 will butt to 3, 4 will butt to 4 etc. As a lot of the work in this project is set up, I deceided to make two tissue box covers at the same time, hence the A label indicating it is the first of two boxes.
The first cut made on each of the side is the vertical or upright joint on the left. This establishes a 45 degree miter cut that runs at right angles to the base of the cover.
The same is done on one of the sides of the top piece.
A stop block is clamped to the fence of the cross cut sled and the vertical right hand joint is cut on each of the side pieces. While the stop block is in this position, cut the other three sides of the top piece. The top is square and it is important that the length of each side of the top be exactly the same as the width of each side.
The stop block is now moved and each side piece is rotated 90 degrees and the horizontal joint cut. This also establishes the height of the tissue box cover.
To test the accuracy of the joints it is a good idea to do a dry run prior to glue up. The four sides are laid out in order against the fence with the show side up. Some tape is stretched across the pieces …
… and the box is rolled up and taped closed.
The top piece is then taped in place. All the joints look good, so I can proceed to the next step which will be embellishing the sides and top with some wood turning. I’ll cover that in the next post.
A flat panel door can be defined as a door in which the panel has no bevel or hip raise. It can still be considered a five piece door, as it consists of two stiles, two frames and a panel. The stiles are the vertical members of the frame, while the rails are the horizontal members.
The first step is to mill the wood for the stiles and rails of the doors. I am building three doors for some base cabinets. All three doors are the same size and the cabinets will be painted white. I am using poplar for the frame of the door and 1/4″ plywood for the flat panel. The stiles and rails are 2 1/2″ wide, 3/4″ thick and I cut them an inch or so longer than what I needed. While I was preparing the wood I also took the time to make some scrap pieces the same width and thickness to be used for test cuts. You can also see my set up block in the picture. You can also see my raised panel router bit set. For this project I will only be using the two bits on the left, the monster raised panel bit will stay in the box.
Mount the bit for cutting the profile on one edge of the stile and rails. I use my set up block to adjust the height of the router bit, although I still plan on making some test cuts in scrap wood. The profile in both the stiles and rails will be cut with the face side (the outside of the door) down.
A close up shot of my set up block. I keep this in a drawer right next to my raised panel router bit set.
The fence is then moved so that it is flush with the bearing of the bit.
After routing a profile in a scrap piece of wood, I use the rail section of my set up block to see if the two surfaces meet flush on the top surface. I got lucky this time and the fit was perfect 🙂
I then routed the profile on one edge of all the stiles and rails. Remember the cuts are made with the show side down. For this project it was not that important as the doors will be painted, but if you are not painting the doors you will want to take care to chose the best side of each stile and rail and then to route it with that side down.
I then took the stiles to the table saw and used a cross cut sled cut them to length. To calculate this length I measure the height of the door opening and added 1 /4″. My crosscut sled was not quite wide enough to enable me to use its stop block, so I used a fence clamp and a block of wood as a stop block.
The next step was to calculate the length of the rails. I wanted the door to overlap the door opening by 5/8″ all round. The depth of the groove in the stiles was 3/8″. The width of the stiles was 2 1/2″. So the length of the stiles needed to be:
(Door opening width) + (2 times 5/8″) – (2 times 2 1/2″) + (2 times 3/8″)
To many years in school dealing with the metric system means that I suck at working with fractional inches, so I always reach for my handy ProjectCalc Plus at times like these!
The router bit for routing the sticks in the rails is mounted in the router table and set to height using the set up block. Again the fence is positioned so that it is flush with the bearing.
Remeber those scrap pieces of wood. Route the profile in the end of one of them. When making this cut it is important the the rail be kept flat on the table face down and that it remain at 90 degrees to the fence. It is also important that the cut be backed up to prevent tear out as you are routing end grain. There are a number of commercial rail coping jigs that will allow you to achieve this easily. I don’t have one, although every time I build some doors I promise to buy myself one. So what I normally end up doing is to cut a piece of 3/4″ plywood or mdf, making sure that one corner is a perfect 90 degrees. Then I use that sacrificial piece of plywood to hold the rail square to the fence and to back up the cut.
Satisified that the set up of the router bit was correct, I made the coping cut in all of the rails. Remember to make this cut with the face side of the rail down!!
Calculating the size of the panel is pretty simple. Measure the frame opening, then add for the 3/8″ groove all round and then subtract to allow for expansion. With a solid wood panel you would want to subtract at least 1/8″ all round. With the more stable plywood panel that I’m using I subtracted 1/16″ all round. The groove is 1/4″ wide so the undersize 1/4″ plywood fits pretty loose in the groove. However with a couple of coats of paint it should fit just right.
Test fitting the panel.
I like to paint the panel before gluing the door together. That way if there is any expansion of the frame then there won’t be any unfinished part of the panel exposed. This is probably more important with solid wood panels, but it is a good habit to get into.
When gluing the door together the panel is not glued into the groove. Glue is only applied to the coping cuts on the rails. The glue should be done on a flat surface so that the door will be flat and it should be checked for square. I really find the square check for tape measures useful when checking for square.
In closing, and before you head out to the shop to start making a set of doors, I invite you to review a previous post on router feed direction and bit rotation.
A while ago I wrote about how I made an end grain cutting board. One of the difficulties was trying to visualize what the final pattern was going to look like.
Well I was looking around on The Wood Whisperer blog and came across a link to a great piece of software that really helps with the design of both end grain and edge grain cutting boards.
The program, CBdesigner, was written by “jayman7” and you can download it here.
I will be making some more cutting boards as Christmas gets closer and this program will make it a lot easier to come up with some new designs.
This is the process I use for building an end grain cutting board like the one below. I made this using maple and cherry. I started with 2 pieces of maple and 2 pieces of cherry. Each piece was 3″ x 30″ and approximately 3/4″ thick. You can use thicker boards if that is what you have and the boards do not have to be equal thickness. The thicker the board you use, the wider the lamination’s in the cutting board will be. This will also affect the final length of the cutting board.
You can click on any of the images to see a larger version.
From one of the cherry boards rip two boards, one at 2 1/8″ and another at 5/8″. Do the same with one of the maple boards.
From the second cherry board rip two boards, one at 1 5/8″ and another at 1 1/8″. Do the same with the second maple board.
Lay them out as shown in the next picture : 2 1/8″ cherry, 5/8″ maple, 1 5/8″ cherry, 1 1/8″ maple, 1 1/8″ cherry, 1 5/8″ maple, 5/8″ cherry, 2 1/8″ maple. Glue them together using Titebond III. I use Titebond III because of it’s water resistance properties.
Once the glue has dried, flatten the board by running it through a planer.
Crosscut one end of the panel square. Then set up a stop block so that you can crosscut the panel into 1 1/8″ pieces. If you want the final cutting board to be thicker, then you can crosscut the panel into 1 1/4″ pieces, however you will have less pieces and so the final cutting board will not be as long.
As you are crosscutting the panel you will reach a point when the panel is deeper than it is wide, and is no longer safe to crosscut. At this point, remove your cross cut sled, set the fence and rip the panel.
As you crosscut the panel, take the pieces and stack them in the same order, flipping them 90 degrees so the end grain is exposed. I ended up with 24 pieces.
Now take each second piece and flip it end over end to get the pattern.
Carefully transfer the pieces to your clamps taking care to keep them in the right order.
Take each piece, except for the piece closest to you, and flip it 90 degree. All the pieces should now be laying face grain up, ready for you to spread glue on. Again I use Titebond III.
Once the glue is spread, flip the pieces back up one at a time, taking care to make sure the pattern lines up nicely. Clamp the glue up. I used some cauls on the sides to help with lining the pattern up. Take care that the pieces are all sitting at the same height, the more care you take with this the less sanding you will have to do once the glue dries! I glued all 24 pieces at once, but was rushed to do it in the glue open time. It would be better to glue 8 pieces at a time and then to do a final glue up of the resulting three sections. Whichever way you do, take the time to do a dry run so that you are familiar with what you need to do during the glue up and have all the necessary clamps, rollers, hammer etc on hand.
I’ve shown a lot of pictures of the glue up to try and make it clear what to do.
Once the glue is dry the cutting board needs to be sanded. Hopefully you have a drum sander, if not you can use a belt sander and random orbital sander. I used a belt sander the first couple of boards that I made. Trust me when I say using a drum sander is a lot more fun! Whatever you do, don’t try and flatten the board using a planer. End grain does not plane well. You will ruin the board, the planer will kick it back at you and you will scare the hell out of yourself, even if you don’t get hurt. Trust me on this! Use a belt sander or a drum sander.
Once the board is smooth take it back to the crosscut sled on your table saw and trim the edges.
Final sanding can be done with the random orbital sander. If you find any small knot holes in the board, simply fill them with 5 minute epoxy and sand it flush.
Your board is now ready for a finish. However, if you want to “kick it up a notch” head over to your router table. Set up a 1/4″ round over bit in the router table and round all four sides, top and bottom of the board. Use a scrap piece of wood as a backer board to help minimize tear out. Also, if your router is variable speed, slow it down to help prevent burning the wood. Cherry is particularly prone to burning.
To round over the corners, I stood the board up on end. I nailed together a simple jig to which I clamped the board, to help keep it upright and at 90 degrees to the router fence.
To route some finger grooves on the sides of the board you need to chuck a 1/2″ core bit in your router. Set the height at 3/8″. Remember our board is just over 1″ thick and we will be routing a groove on each side. If you set the router bit to high, the grooves will run into each other. Set up some stop blocks on either side of the bit. Take care that the stop blocks are the exact same distance left and right of the bit. This is important because we are routing a groove on both the top and the bottom of the board. If the stop blocks are not set at the same distance either side of the bit, the grooves will not line up on each side of the board. Make a test cut on a piece of scrap to confirm your set up. You can see on my test cut how the ends of the groove on the top line up with the ends of the groove on the bottom.
If you are not familiar with this type of “plunge cut” on the router table, then practice on some scrap. Ruining your board at this point will really make you grumpy and irritable!
If all goes well this is what you should end up with on each side of your cutting board. The board is now fully reversible, you can use either face and pick it up easily regardless.
I finished the board with Butcher Block Mineral Oil. Poke around on the internet and you will find tons of information and debate on which finishes are food safe. From the research I’ve done, I feel that any finish is safe, provided that it is fully cured. This can take weeks in the case of some finishes. I chose an oil finish over a film finish because of the ease of repair of the finish. I’m assuming the board will be used and after a year or so of cutting will be pretty beat up. With the mineral oil finish it will be easy to run the board through the drum sander a couple of times and then apply some more mineral oil.
When applying the mineral oil, pool it on one side of the board. You’ll be amazed at how thirsty the end grain is! Keep on pooling it and spreading it around. After 5 to 10 minutes if you hold the board up and look on the underside you will see the mineral oil has started to come out that side. Pretty cool stuff. Flip the board over and pool some more oil on. After about another five to ten minutes the board should have stopped soaking up the mineral oil and you can wipe off the excess. I used 4 fl. oz on this board.
The finished board measures approximately 11″ x 15″ and is just over 1″ thick.
I am making four pen boxes, two from hickory and two from oak. I find it more efficient to make a production run of a number of boxes than just a single box. These four boxes took me two hours to make, not including the finishing. Short of breaking child labor laws you can’t make these boxes for less than what you buy them. However, they are a fun project and enable you to use special wood for pen boxes which you can’t get commercially.
You can click on any of the images to see a larger version.
The hinges used are the 7mm barrel hinges. Two 6x3mm rare earth magnets are used to keep the box closed.
Prepare your stock first. You will need two pieces of wood 2 1/2″ x 6″ x 5/8″ for each box.
The key to the hinges is to get the holes lined up on the base and the lid. I’ve seen a number of different ways to achieve this, and either most of the ways are to complicated or I’m not that smart, but this is what I came up with.
I chucked the 7mm bit in my drill press and set the fence 1/4″ back from the center of the bit. I also set the drill depth so that the hole would be a hair deeper than half the length of the hinge. It’s a good idea at this point to drill a couple of holes in some scrap, insert the hinge and check that the two pieces of wood are flush.
I wanted the holes to be 3/4″ from each end of the box. I cut a set up block which was 5 3/4″ long. I then placed the set up block against the left hand side of the bit and attached a stop block to the fence.
Place the set up block on the right hand side of the bit and attach a stop block to the fence.
The drill press is now set up for a production run of drilling.
Take your stock and choose the best face of each piece, this will be the outside of the box. Arrange each piece as the finished box will look and then “open” the two pieces as if you were opening the box. Mark the two pieces with a triangle. You will now easily be able to see which side of the piece is the inside of the box and along which edge you need to drill the holes for the hinges.
Drill the left and right holes in the lid.
Drill the left and right holes in the base.
Chuck a 1/4″ rounder over bit in your router table, adjust the height and set the fence flush with the bearing on the bit. Rout the end grain of the box first. I use a square piece of scrap plywood both as a backer board and to hold the piece perpendicular to the fence while routing.
Rout the long grain edges of the base and lid.
Now is a good time to dry fit the hinges and check that the base and lid sit flush to one another and the box opens and closes easily. You can see in the picture below how part of the hinge is now exposed and how the roundover allows the base and lid to rotate and open.
The next step is to rout a groove in the base and the lid to accept the pen. I use a 3/4″ core box bit. The first time I made these boxes I used my router table and lowered the box onto the bit using start and end stop blocks. It was pretty scary and I messed up a number of pieces! I now use my hand held plunge router and the jig in the picture below to hold the piece.
The jig is made from some scrap 3/4″ plywood. It has an adjustable fence on the left. I adjust it so that the bit will route the groove along the center line of the piece. There are two stop blocks clamped to the fence to start and stop the cut. The adjustable block on the right holds the piece securely. I clamp the whole jig to my router table to hold it secure. Place both the base and the lid in the jig with the holes for the hinges on the right hand side. That way if the groove is not perfectly centered on the piece the base groove will still line up with the lid groove. Set the depth of your plunge router so that the final depth of the groove will be 1/2″. I’ve found that a 3/8″ groove will not allow the box to close on a Jr. Gent or Statesman. Set the stop blocks so that the start and end of each groove are the same from each end of the piece and that the groove will be long enough for the pen.
I have a home made base for my router which has one straight side. I use this side up against the fence of the jig.
Rout the grooves in the base and the lid. Because of the depth of the groove it is best to do it five or six passes.
Now would be a good time to check that the pen will fit in the groove and the box will close flush.
The last thing left to do is to drill the holes for the rare earth magnets. One magnet in the base and one in the lid will hold the box closed nicely. The rare earth magnets are really strong for their size. I use a 6x3mm magnet. I use a 1/4″ Forstner bit as it is the closest bit I have to 6mm. Chuck the bit in the drill press and set the fence so the hole will be about equidistant from the groove to the start of the round over. Set the depth a hair deeper than the thickness of the rare earth magnet. Drill a piece of scrap to test the hole is the right depth. Set a stop block 3 1/4″ from the center of the bit.
The base and lid are now ready for sanding and finishing. I find it easier to sand and finish the boxes before I glue in the hinges or the magnets.
A few tips about gluing in the hinges:
Don’t use CA to secure them. It will drip down and glue the hinges shut. Don’t ask me how I know this!
Use just a drop of 5 min epoxy. If you use to much it will overflow the hole and glue the hinges. Don’t ask me how I know this!
Do a couple of dry runs inserting the hinges in the base and lid before you apply the epoxy. Don’t ask me how I know this!
After you have epoxied the hinges in, open and close the box a couple of times before the epoxy dries. This will ensure the hinges are aligned properly so that the box can open and close. Don’t ask me how I know this!
A few tips about gluing in the magnet:
There is a right side and a wrong side to each magnet. One side will attract another magnet and the other side will repel another magnet. Make sure you have the sides with the attraction or your box will not close. Don’t ask me how I know this!
Edit 05/01/2011 A readers comment: “To make sure I got the rest of magnets the right way around in the remaining boxes, I arranged the magnets in pairs, stuck together, and then used a perminant marker to put a small dot on the outside edges – i.e. the edges that go into the holes. It was then easy to identify the ‘right’ side of the magnets.”
Put a drop of CA in the hole in the base and set the magnet in the hole. Wait until the CA has dried, orientate the box so the lid is now flat and then glue the magnet in the lid. Don’t try and glue both magnets in at the same time, the CA glue will drip out the hole, the magnets will try suck each other out the holes and it is pretty much a nightmare. Don’t ask me how I know this!
As you can tell, I’ve ruined a few boxes trying to glue the hinges and magnets in. Just take it slowly and do a few dry runs.
