# New Tools / New Project. Nested boxes build along?



## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

*New Tools / New Project. Nested boxes build along…*

I’ve finally gotten my new tools set up to dimension wood. This includes a delta 10” contractor saw with an Incra rip fence and crosscut miter sled, Jet 6” jointer (with a byrd cutter head) and Dewalt planer. To test out all my calibration and settings I’m taking on an elaborate project for a friend of mine who knits. This will be a storage box for her needles and accessories. It will feature a few new things I have not done before; Nested boxes, dividers in the boxes, glued up panels for the floors and top. Also the joinery will be comer post dovetails. But I’ve done plenty of them in the past. 

When I bought my jointer off a gentleman moving to Florida he was generous enough to give me a few nice planks of Mahogany that we did not feel like moving. These planks will end up being the box sides and top. For the floors, dividers and corner posts I’ll use some maple I’ve acquired while setting up my machines. And I figured this is a safe bet in case I screw up. I can just run to Home Cheapo and pick up more if need be. 

Here’s the raw wood:










Here’s a sample of the needles and cables that the box will house:










Let’s get dimensioning. 

The outer box will have a height of 4”. So to start things off I rip the Mahogany planks to 4.25”:










This will make life easier to flatten the large side on my jointer. BTW, I a huge fan of my new Grr-Rippers. They make things accurate and safe while ripping. 

Next I mark up the side to be flattened with some chalk. 










Now it’s time to hit the jointer. Note the new DC also. The Delta 50-760 has been perfect for my small basement shop. 










Oh and here’s a photo of the recent upgrade. A byrd helical; cutter head:










Needless to say the new cutter head works like a dream. After one light pass the chalk shows a high spot at the end of the board:










After a few more light passes the one side is flat and smooth:










Now it’s off to the planer to get the final dimension of .5”:










After a few light passes I’m close enough:










Now it’s back to the jointer to true up one edge:










I’m not making a panel (yet) but the results are good enough for a glue up:



















Next it’s time to test out the calibration on the Incra rip fence. I set the fence to the final dimension of 4”;










Putting the jointed edge against the fence I rip the boards to 4”:










Well 4.002”. Close enough!


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

After ripping all the boards I need (Mahogany and Maple) I stack them side by side and see how accurate things look:










I’m using a Forrest Woodworker II blade and the results are just as good as the jointed side. 

Next I rip the parts for the inner box. This box will be 2” high. Here’s a shot of the Grr-Rippers making this task safe and accurate (not to mention fun):










Next stop is the router table. Stay tuned for more!


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

Nick,

I always look forward to your posts. Both your WW skills and photography skills exceed what it takes for an excellent "how to" lesson for everyone here.

Nice Job once again! Can't wait for the rest of the shots


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

Ok time to set up the router table. I’ll be using a new Freud ½” 14 Deg dovetail bit:



















Made in Italy! How bad can it be? But I am curious to see how it compares to the Whiteside bit I’ve used in the past.

1st up is some Poplar to set the bit height:










After some tweaks the fit is hand tight (no hammer needed) yet firm:










Next it’s time to calibrate the Incra fence to the center of the board. For this I use a piece of Poplar that I ripped to the same size as the final pieces:










You know things are right when you can flip the board and the bit fits perfectly into the cut:










The 1/1000” fine adjustment of the Incra fence come in handy for this. 

Next I make a round of cuts in Poplar test pieces to verify all my settings:










Things are looking good. This also gives me a reference to look at as I cut the real stuff. 

Now it’s time to figure out how long I need to cut my box sides. I know I want the final box dimension to be 12” x 12”. The corner post will add about 1/8” to each end of the box side:










So I need to cross cut the box sides to 11.75” (11.75 + .125 = .125 = 12”). Now I get to try out my Miter 5000. The clamps work great for keeping things stable. And the sacrificial fence works great for keeping tear out at bay:



















Also once things are calibrated the stop is very accurate. It locks in ever 1/32” just like the Incra fences:










The results are VERY repeatable cuts. And you can go back to that exact setting later if need be. Stacking all the boards together I get the illusion of a single block of wood:










Time to start routing the real thing. A poplar backer prevents tear out:



















After a few rounds of light passes things are looking good:










My 1st impression of the Freud bit is I like it! It seems to cut smoother than the Whiteside. But maybe that’s just because it’s new. 

Next is the maple for the corner post material…


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Really nice photo shoot Nick. Keep it up.


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

Time to cut the dovetails in the corner post material (Maple). This is done at the same bit height with the board flat on the router table:










The Grr-Ripper set to this configuration allows for a nice mix of down pressure and side pressure against the fence. After one pass things are started:










After light 1/16” passes the 1st dovetail is cut:










As I was cutting the 2nd dovetail I noticed the Grr-ripper sliding slightly as I would feed the wood. Then I remembered the big honking stabilizer plate has a “hook” to grab the trailing edge of your work piece. So I set it up:



















That made a HUGE difference. Now I can feed the piece with perfect pressure and rate. I’ve done this operation many times before but never with this level of control and precision (not to mention safety). 

After a bunch of light passes the cuts are done:



















An initial dry fit shows we are looking good! 










Next the corner posts get glued on.


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## Julie (Sep 11, 2004)

Nickbee, I really enjoy your posts. They are very inspiring.

If I could ask two quick questions...

- Do you connect the two Grripers together or just butt them up against each other?
- What is the manufacturer of the measuring device you use, are they all similar or is one better than the other (it looks handy)

~Julie~


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

Thanks Juile! 

My fences on the the router table and saw are made by Incra. I can't say enough great things about them! 

The grippers are 2 separate push blocks. When ripping a long board you "leap frog" them to feed the board. This take some practice at 1st. But once you get it you can feed the board at a constant rate without stopping.


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

If you read the Incra instructions on this joint this is the point where they have you cross cut the corner post material to .5” for gluing to the box sides. The problem is that even with the awesome woodworker II blade there is still some slight tear out at the dovetails. This tear out would be seen in the final joint. 

So as an alternative I glue up the comer post material with some overlap that gets sanded flush later. 

Here’s the glue up:










After curing the excess gets cut off with a little intentional overlap (about 1/32”).



















Yes the blade guard has to be removed for that cut. But the clamp on the miter 5000 allows me to keep my hands very far from the blade. 

Next comes sanding the comer posts flush with the sides. I’m happy I have this 44” aluminum sanding bar left over from my model airplane building days:










After things are flush I give the side a quick mineral spirits wipe to check things out:



















Because of the color variations of the maple the contrast is not as stark as I expected. But things are still looking good. 

Oh and my game plan to end up with 12” sides worked out!










Now it’s back to the router table to cut more dovetails in the corners.


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

A stop is used on the router table when cutting the next set of dovetails:










This needs to be set so that the cut will be covered by the thickness of the box side. So I use a piece of poplar to verify the setting:










Here you can see the box side butted against the test cut. And how the cut is completely concealed:



















Time to start cutting the real thing:










After lots of light 1/16” passes the cuts are done:










I’m liking this Freud bit. As good as my cuts have been in the past I don’t remember them being this sharp:










A quick dry fit shows things line up nice:










The dovetails will not fit flush yet. A rabbet needs to be cut in them 1st. But since sometimes that means tweaking the bit height slightly I’m going to cut the dovetails in the 2” high nested box 1st. Stay tuned for more.


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

I’m working on the dovetails now for the smaller 2” high box that will fit inside the taller 4” box. 

A few things to note. I figured out the dovetails on the smaller box so the tails and pins are the exact same size as the taller box. There is just 1 tail instead of 2:










I also figured out the size of the nested box to be about 1/16” smaller than the inside of the larger box. This will allow for a slight clearance all around when fitting the boxes together. In this mock up you can see the gap between the smaller box and the dovetail of the larger box:


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

Now that all the dovetails are cut some need a rabbet to sit flush. For this the parts are held upright against the fence:










After some light passes the rabbets are cut:










Now I can mock up the corner post dovetails:










And a quick check shows the smaller box will fit inside the larger:










Whew… Next it’s time to make the panels for the floors…


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

OK time to glue up my 1st panel. For the larger box floor. Joint one large side of the maple, then plane to 3/8”. I want to end up with a square 11.25” x 11.25”. So I rip the 4 parts 1/32” over dimension after jointing one edge. Then 2 light 1/64’ jointer passes on the other side bring the 4 parts to the right dimension:



















One note here. A tip I read in wood magazine said to joint the edges with alternating faces against the jointer fence. This will cancel out any deviation that the jointer fence is off from 90 deg. Seemed to work well.

Using a few jointed sticks to keep the panels on the same level things get clamped. 










So far so good. Soon I’ll be gluing up with 1st large box. But next a dado need to be cut in the box sides to accommodate the floor.


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

After about an hour of clamping I take the panel out of the clamps to clean up the squeeze out. Since I don’t have a proper scraper yet I use a paint scraper. Which works surprisingly well:










Then it’s a round of sanding:










The joints are looking good:










The panel is cross cut to dimension:










Now it’s time to cut the dado in the box sides. For this I use a ¼” spiral up cut bit:










Taking light passes I open the dado a little at a time. The incra’s fine adjustment is great for this:










And the dados are cut:










Some mock ups show things are looking good:




























The swirls in the maple match the mahogany nicely. This was a pleasant surprise.


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

Time for the glue up. Here the 1st two sides go together:










A clamped square makes sure I end up with a box and not a parallelogram. 

Then the 3rd side gets glued. The 4th side is dry fitted at this point for alignment purposes:










Then the box floor can be installed. Note the foam weather striping. That will keep the floating floor centered yet still allow for wood movement:










And the 4th side gets glued:










Before starting the glue up on the smaller box I do a quick mock up to see how things fit:










The boxes fit together great but it dawns on me that the inner box might be difficult to remove. The dividers are going to fit loose in the box so pulling on them will just remove the dividers. Mmmmmm Time to contemplate some kind of “handle”. So it’s off to the mom & pop hardware store to pick up a new router bit:










A ½” round nose bit. Then I layout the approximant location and size of the handles. They will end up being about 3” long to accommodate 4 fingers:










Then I set up the router fence with stop blocks:










Now it’s time to cut. Yes this requires dropping the work piece on a spinning router bit. With some practice on scraps this becomes an easy technique:










And the 1st of 4 handles is cut:










After some light sanding to soften up the edges the small box is ready for glue up. 










Stay tuned for more!


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## Timonjkl (Jan 9, 2009)

wonderful I have been wondering about the incra sled that is impressive will it repeat 45% and 22.5 without calibration between uses easily?


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

I have not done much with miters yet. But the was it "locks" in there is not calibration needed after it's set to 90 deg of the blade.


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## Timonjkl (Jan 9, 2009)

Thank you for the reply. Your work is beautiful as is your photography


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Great work and great pictures Nick. Harry should be floating around the ceiling about now.


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

After both boxes are glued some initial sanding with 150 paper brings all the joints together:










The boxes fit together great with a nice 1.32” gap all around:



















Now it’s time to work on the lid. I start with what’s left over from the plank I used to make the small box sides:










The large face is flattened on the jointer:










Then the boards are brought to .5” thick on the plainer:










After jointing the edges and ripping them we are ready for the glue up:










One side of each joint gets glue:










And everything gets clamped:










After some light sanding and trimming the lid it set to dimension and ready for machining:










Now it’s time to contemplate a handle. For this I’ll be attempting my 1st sliding dovetail. 

Here’s the stock. The maple is larger but the final result will show the same amount of maple and mahogany:










The dovetail is cut in the Mahogany:










Now the dovetail is cut in the maple taking light passes:










The last passes are cut a few thousandths at a time until the perfect fit is achieved:


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

Then the stock gets glued:










After cross cutting the handle stock is ready to go:










Now I was going to design a nice sweeping curve using sketch up. But I decided to keep things simple and used a varnish can instead:



















Now it’s off to the drum sander to sand the curve:










The proportions of the handle look about right on the lid:










And the side view of the dovetail is cool:










Next I cut the mortises in the handle and lid to accept a floating tenon later:



















Now it’s time to round the edges of the handle with a ¼” round over bit:










And the handle is ready to go. Here it is with a mineral spirits wipe down:










The side view is interesting. The black marks of the end grain look cheetah-ish:










Next the lid gets a rabbet to fit on the box and a beveled edge. Stay tuned for more…


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

After a day went by it turns out the Mahogany panel I made for the lid warped a good 1/16” To the point where it was not going to sit well on the box top. So I decided to make another from maple. Turns out I like the contrast of the maple top anyway. And so far it’s staying flat. Here’s the .5” thick panel trimmed to size:










Next it’s time to cut a rabbet in the top so it will fit into the box. For this I use my ½” upcut spiral bit:










A 1/8” deep rabbet is cut with multiple light passes. The last few passes are done in small increments until a good fit is achieved when putting the top on.:



















Next I use a 45 deg chamfer bit to give the lid’s edge some shape:










Again using light passes I cut away until things look right:



















Now I go over to the plainer and cut down some scrap poplar stock for the handle’s floating tenon:










Then it gets glued and clamped:










After the glue is cured I give the box and lid a quick mineral sprits wipe to check out the contrast of woods:










I like it so far. 

Next I have to figure out the dividers. Stay tuned for more…


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

OK time to figure out these dividers. 1st I dimension the maple parts making them about 5 thousandths thicker than the .255” dado that the Freud box joint blade makes:










Speaking of the Freud box joint here it is:










The blade is installed and set to slightly higher than half the stock. Since the dado is hidden on this joint it’s better to have it cut a little larger for clearance. IF it was too short the parts would not fit together flush. The center of the divider is marked, a fresh part of the auxiliary fence is moved over to prevent tear out, and the part is clamped in place (The guard is moved out of the way in these next two pics to show the set up):










And the cut is made:










If I was to try to assemble the divider now it would not fit together. I read this tip somewhere… The idea is to make the stock slightly thicker than your dado opening. Then plane or sand for the perfect fit. In this case I’m only about 5 thousandths off my final dimension so I final sand the parts for a perfect fit:










And things look good:



















For the hell of it I test the compartment size with the accessories that will be stored there:










Whew…. And then I toss in the inner box to see how it sits. 3/16” clearance:










Perfect for the 1/8” rabbet that fits in from the lid. So far so good. 

Next I need to work on the dividers for the inner box. That will be a bit more challenging since there will be 10 compartments.


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

After lots of calculations and some trial pieces the 5 parts are cut for the top divider:










After gluing and some initial sanding things look good:



















And the needles fit nicely in their compartments:










All the wood parts are done. Now it’s time for some final sanding and finishing. In this case it will 3 coats of Watco Danish Oil…


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## ArkansasGrizz (Jan 7, 2008)

Impressice shop Bob! You've got alot of stuf in there. Very well organized. What size is it? Looks kinda small from the pictures.
Dave


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Welcome to the RouterForums family Dave.


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## CanuckGal (Nov 26, 2008)

Nice tools and a very nice job on the boxes! Excellent write up as well! Thanks!


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## Lonely Raven (Mar 11, 2009)

Wow, beautiful work and excellent documentation! I feel like I just watched a TV show on how to build a nested box with dividers! 

I'm leaning towards the Incra system myself. So I'm glad I found this thread!

I'm going to have to find myself one of those long sanding blocks as well!


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## xplorx4 (Dec 1, 2008)

I do not know how long it took to go through your writeup but it was worth it. That is truly good workmanship to say the least. Good job. Just out of curiosity, what was your inspiration for this project?


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## sean farrell (May 14, 2009)

well done and thanks for the time u spent taking us thru the making of it.Really learnt a lot


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## Mike Wingate (Apr 26, 2009)

Brilliant manufacture and photo essay.


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