How To Make A Wooden Box
The cuts were made with a table saw, and was assembled with nails and glue. I spent about four dollars on wood and three dollars on hinges so the whole project cost less than ten bucks. Throughout this page we will cover picking out the wood for our project, cutting our board to size, assembling our box and putting the lid on it.
All woodworking projects are easier when you are starting with nice wood. Even if you are just making a simple box, it is helpful to have straight wood without cracks. I bought this 1 x 6 at Lowes and went through the stack for about 10 minutes before I came away with this nice speciman.
It's extremely straight and perfect for my wooden box. I am convinced that one of biggest problems beginning woodworkers face in their early projects is faliure to properly square their blades and guides when they cut their wood. This can lead to corners that won't line up properly and out-of-square projects. Even a simple wooden box goes together much easier when all of your cuts are square. You can see here that I am checking my table saw blade to make sure that it is at a perfect 90 degree angle from the table.
The same should be done with guides and fences. The length of the bottom and the height of the sides is up to you. I didn't spend more than a couple of minutes deciding the size of my box. Here, I have just drilled some pilot holes through the ends so it will be easier to nail my ends to the bottom.
Not only does it help prevent splitting the wood where the nails go through (since they are so close to the edge of the wood), the pilot holes help hold the nails where I want them while I'm hammering. This is where that pre-drilling of the ends comes in handy. I line it up, and in a few taps I have then ends on.
Now that our ends are on it's time to measure for the sides. It's easy to see where our measurements will be taken. The sides will be the height of the ends and the length of the bottom plus the ends. Here you can see I've put the back on and only the front remains. I pre-drilled the edges of the sides just like I did the ends on the bottom and I put a little bead of glue on the edge of the ends and bottom where they meet the sides. I line everything up and carefully tap in the nails. Now it's time to measure for the top. The top is going to completely cover the ends and the sides. Ok, now you've totally closed up the box. Hey, did you like my lense on box making,
Brush egg wash (1 beaten egg with a tablespoon of water in a bowl) and sprinkle sesame seeds on it (sesame seeds are optional). Put on parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Once finished put on a cookie tray to cool off.
I learned a few new things about the Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron at the preview of the exhibition of her photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum - which opened last week. The Julia Margaret Cameron Exhibition is on display in Room 100 (the Photographs Gallery) at the V&A until 21st February 2015 - open daily 10:00 to 17:45. FREE. If you're going to one I'd recommend you also see the other as well. However a number of the reviews listed at the end are by people who "did the double".
Within two years Cameron had sold and given her photographs to the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) and in 1868, the Museum granted her the use of two rooms as a portrait studio. Henry Cole, Julia Margaret Cameron, c. Victorians - artists, thinkers and scientists. I found one of the most difficult things with this exhibition was trying to keep in mind the difference between Cameron's own photographs and those of the typical Victorian photographer.
