Planing thin stock

Reader Ray, asked the following:

I'm looking at one of the plans in your Basic Box Making book - the jewelery box - to find out more about dividers. You use 1/8" stock and that would seem good for the box I want to make. My thickness planer recommends 1/4" as the thinnest cut for material. How do you get material that thin? I've done a quick check at the local stores and they don't have anything like that in stock. I don't want to buy a thickness sander - although it sounds like a great tool.

Lay a piece of 3/4 inch plywood on the table of the planer and attach a cleat at the under side of the board. Use it as a support under the planer cut. Wax it so that the wood slides smoothly on it. At Marc Adams School of Woodworking, the planers are equipped with melamine boards for this purpose. The melamine provides an extra smooth passage for thin wood through the cut. I also rip thin wood on the table saw, and depending on the sharpness and quality of the blade, I can get a pretty smooth cut requiring little sanding. If using the planer to get 1/8 inch stock be sure to support it as it enters and exits the cut. I lift up on in developing some curvature which develops a tension that helps it to not be lifted by the blades during the cut. In the photo, a cleat on the underside of the board secures it in place on the planer table.

let it begin with schooling

As many of my readers know, my first published articles and books were about box making, and still, after over 30 years as a professional woodworker, a portion of my annual income is from making small boxes to sell through gift shops, craft fairs and galleries. I got the following email on Friday describing the potential for box making in schools...

I teach woodshop at a public high school in St. Paul, MN and wanted to write you and tell you that your box making book is taking my school by storm. I recently was told to teach a reading based woodshop class where the students had to read as much as cut wood. The students found it boring to begin with but when I introduced your DVD and the first section of your book to them, including the introduction, my attendance went up and stayed up and the students loved the simple design of your lift lid box. I am just finishing up my first set of boxes today and I have students, whom I don't know, coming by and they ask to build one!

Thanks so much! It's easy to teach to students with enthusiasm! Your book made it possible.

Box making is such a wonderful way to become engaged in woodworking. The amount of materials required is small. The amount of storage space for materials and materials handling is small and far more predictable. You can learn every form of woodworking skill by making boxes, using every tool in the wood shop and learning what it and you can do. In box making you can make expressive heirloom objects that motivate students to learn.

tapered sides

Today I began work on a very small walnut chest of drawers with sides that taper toward the top. "How does one make sides that taper toward the top?" You ask.

It is simple, as shown in the photo above. A block of wood attached with double stick carpet tape under one end allows the wood to pass unevenly through the planer, taking off more at one end than the other. It takes several passes through the planer to get this result.

more on proportion

A reader, Ray asked about the thickness of box sides relative to the proportions of the box. The boxes I make range in wall thickness from 5/16" up to 5/8"depending on size and the particular look of the box. There are no hard and fast rules, but you have to admit that a small box made of thick stock seems rather absurd as there is little available space inside.

Normally, I just make boxes. You get a feel for proportion after you've made a few as to what works and why. A bit of time at a craft show or gallery will give you a lot of information. Check out another box maker's work, and make your own evaluation as to how you would do things either alike or differently.

When I teach, students will invariably ask about proportion, usually leading to discussion of the golden mean or Fibonacci sequence. I ignore most of that regarding it as irrelevant. I have discussed proportion previously on the blog and you can find those posts here.

I prefer to think about these things: Where will it be put? What will be put in it? Who is it for? How will it be used? Those are far more important factors than an artificially derived set of proportions, and so far I think things have worked OK. In addition to the who, what, when and how, your choice of hardware often dictates the thickness of box sides. For instance 10 mm. barrel hinges require thicker sides. But hinges like those fine hinges made by Brusso work best if they are mortised on three sides, and thus require box wall thicknesses of 7/16" or greater.

I have a new article out in Woodcraft magazine, June/July, 2010 about the mixing and matching of woods. The article is illustrated with a number of my boxes from earlier publications and some of my furniture as well.

Kästen und Schachteln: perfekt konstruieren und bauen

My book, Complete Illustrated Guide to Box Making has been translated into German and published in a hardbound edition. Kästen und Schachteln: perfekt konstruieren und bauen by Doug Stowe is now available for purchase in Germany. The title translated into English means Boxes and boxes: design perfectly and build. Perhaps one of my German readers will help by explaining the difference between Kästen and Schachteln. The book is published by HolzWerken.

holddown for sled

Dean sent the photo above illustrating an exquisite solution to getting a secure grip on parts while cutting miters on the table saw sled. Thanks, Dean. I know many other readers will be heading to their hardware stores or ordering from Rockler.com, Woodcraft.com or other woodworking tool providers.

rugged or beautiful?

Jim asks,

"I have two of your books and I like them very much. My question is about durability. I want to create boxes that are very rugged and durable so they last for at least 108 years. So far, my thinking is that a plywood bottom is not the most rugged bottom for a box with dimensions of 10” x 13” unless you use plywood thicker than 1/8”. Would 1/4” plywood sustain a 250 lb. force from a foot being accidentally placed in the middle? Maybe 3/8” or 1/2” would but then the sides could be compromised by the trench for the plywood. I don’t know. But, I’m thinking that a solid wood panel that covers the entire bottom with an overhang around the edges would be the strongest. What do you think?"

Jim, the most fragile parts of a box are the corner joints and the dado cut into the sides to house the top or bottom. Plywood has been around since the Egyptians, but I'll agree that 1/8" is be thinner than what I would use on a 10" x 13" box. 1/4" plywood should offer sufficient strength except in the case of deliberate abuse.

I make my boxes under the assumption that people will offer them reasonable care. Is there a reason you have to suspect that your boxes will no be offered care? There is a balance point. Most of the things you find treasured in museums are not there because they were ruggedly built, but because they were exquisitely crafted, meaningful and beautiful.

My suspicion is that a box showing the maker's interest in skill and beauty will last longer than a box showing the maker's interest in its rugged longevity. We make things to be passed into the hands of others for safe keeping or disdain. There are lots of things that can happen to a box on its way to 108 years. Like the landfill?