flag box/SMC advert

[Brendan Zimmermann]

Made this last week for a friend. Just had it sitting in the corner waiting to be picked up and I guess I shot this photo of it to test out a camera lens I just received.

http://www.stonehousetap.com/images/DSC_1011.jpg

[Chris Padilla]

Looks nice! :)

[Jason Tuinstra]

Nice. What's the detail on the bottom? Just curious. And what lens did ya' get? We caught that stealth gloat.

[Mike Heidrick]

Is there a good plan for flag cases? Any with a flag and a certificate?

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Looks nice! I've been meaning to make one for my father's flag. He died over 10 years ago and it's just been sitting in a closet. I'd like to know more about the miters. What angles are they and how did you cut them? They look air tight.

[Brendan Zimmermann]

I didn't look for plans until after I built the box but there are some out there. Here is a link to a SMC thread I found: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=54078

The Flag I got had been sitting around for a while and wasn't folded as tightly as I thought it should be so I made the dados holding it a little deeper and the glass doesn't display the full 10 star pattern the ones in the factory ads do.

The details at the bottom are inlays. 12 spots made with 1/4" cherry dowel set 7/8" apart representing the 12 major conflicts since and including the revolution. And the center inlay is walnut turned to a slightly larger diameter to remind of the cost of wars not yet fought (All American Woods).

The miters are simple angles but hard to cut. Top is a 90 degree and the two bottom angles are at 45 degrees. The miters on the bottom I tried 2 ways. I first tried using my tenoning Jig on the table saw with the blade tilted to 22.5. That worked but not well. Then I tried my miter saw with a 90 degree fence (square cut Ply) taped to the table and the blade angled to 22.5. This worked better but I'm going to try to make a jig to allow easier and possibly safer setup. There was something a little wonky about doing it this way. If anyone has a better suggestion I'm all ears. These miters are long and hard to get correct. To close the joints up the two sides need to be pretty DNA, again hard to do with the long point getting in the way. Making a triangle, all three sides interact with each other so slowly trimming and fitting from the easier miter on top was the key I think. Looks easy but I was surprised how much head scratching it caused. I think I have another one to build and a couple new ideas. If that one works I'll try to make some drawings up.

The lens is a nikon 17-35mm 2.8 and I'm afraid it isn't much of a gloat since i had one a few years ago and sold it only to miss it so much I had to rebuy. (same price though)


Thanks for the compliments
Brendan