Building a Square Casket/Box -Pt1
As I was pondering the construction of the casket for Lisa, my two neurons rubbed together and spoke. They said, “Why don’t you step through the construction of this box with the folks, showing them some of the things you do when building miniatures?” As these two neurons are all I have to work with, there were none available to counter the argument so here we go.
First, the target. Lisa wants to do a casket with four main petitpoint side panels and petitpoint panels on both inside and outside of the lid. Her ideas come from here:
She wants to line the insides and so has asked me to make a divider for it but not to glue it in place. She has feet picked out for her casket and so wants to apply those herself as well.
So, what’s left. Well, I’ve got to build the basic box. I’ve got to hinge the lid. As the finish will be petitpoint I won’t be applying finish. Nothing says you can’t, however, and I’ll talk a bit about that towards the end of this series.
As the box is so small, I’m going to rely upon butt joints rather than worrying about any fancy joinery as strength isn’t really required here. But alignment is important and to make it easy on myself when gluing up the box, I’m going to put a rabbet all around the bottom of the box to accept the side panels and to provide some help with alignment. To make it easy for Lisa to apply internal lid petitpoint and to create a nice interface between lid and box when it closes I’m going to put a rabbet all around that piece as well.
Here’s the basic plan:
All of the pieces are 1/16″ thick except for the top which is 3/32″. The rabbets are all 1/32″ deep and 1/16″ wide to accommodate the side panels. As they say, “Easy Peasy!”
I’ll leave you to your own devices to cut the basic parts but I want to make a comment or two about the rabbets. I cut my rabbets by installing a 1/16″ wide blade in my Preac table saw. With fence adjusted properly I can run all the pieces through the saw, generating the rabbet on each side. In this photo, a side panel is below the pushblock I’m holding. This helps to hold the panel tight to the table, ensuring proper rabbet depth, and it also keeps my fingers far from the blade.
This is certainly the easiest way but if you don’t have a Preac table saw, the alternative is not much harder:
1) Cut a 1/32″ piece the size of the box bottom.
2) Cut another 1/32″ piece that’s 1/8″ (two times 1/16″) in both dimensions.
3) Glue piece 2) in the exact center of piece 1) and you’ll end up with a 1/32″ deep rabbet all around. This is the bottom piece.
4) Do steps 1), 2), and 3) the same for the lid except use 1/16″ thick wood in step one.
We don’t do hard at Wood’n Bits. Just lots of square cuts here.
Next time we’ll talk about assembling the box. Have your parts ready. If you have any questions thus far, you know where to find me.
Cheers — Larry
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Actually, Lisa has a new idea for the inside of the lid. I will install a mirror and stitch the surround for it – the trick will be to find something thin enough for the mirror. I also want to comment on finishing the wood. After finishing my first casket, I realized I forgot to do anything about finishing the wood that was not covered with stitching. This time around I think I will give this box a coat of shellac. And as I think about this – it probably is a good idea to do something because with time, acid from the wood may harm the stitching – I am sure Larry has some ideas on this.
Lisa