How do you make small boxes with lids??

[Bill Huber]

I have made a lot of different small wooden boxes with hinges and now I was wanting to make some without hinges.

The type of lid that has a rabbet on the inside and the box has a rabbet on the outside.

I can see how to do the box with no problem I am just having a problem on how to make it on the lid.

Something like this.

305569

[Lee Schierer]

You cut your rabbets before you assemble the sides on the inside. Make the sides one saw kerf plus the amount of overlap you want wider than the finished height. Dado a groove as wide as the over lap on the inside surface and remember the depth and location from the top. Assemble your box. The cut a dado on the outside slightly deeper than the groove you made on the inside, such that the top edge of the groove just kisses the bottom edge of the groove you cut on the inside. This cut should separate your top from the bottom as you make the last cut. Once the parts are separated you can clean up the edges and trim the over lap for best fit and appearance.

[David Helm]

305571This is the profile I machine for top frame. I do an insert (contrasting wood or other items) on the side with the double rabbit. The large rabbit on the other side gives the overhang on the sides.

[jerry cousins]

for the box in the picture i usually build the box as 1 piece - then cut the top off - make sure the alignment is indexed - then i set up a dado router bit for the depth & height. i router the bottom of the box using the outside of the box up against the bearing and without changing the seetting use the inside of the lid against the bearing for the top. the top's corners are rounded so they have to be squared up and with a bit of sanding they fit pretty snuggly.
jerry

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I agree with Jerry with respect to using a router bit, but, for a box that small, you need to have a very shallow cut.

I have also seen people place thin wood inside the primary box that sticks up above the top (after you cut your box apart) so that the top requires no adjustments, it is just a matter of lining the inside of the box with the portion that sticks up. I have never tried this.

Finally, I have made boxes that fit the top in a different way in that the lid is a solid top that has a rabbet cut on all four bottom sides so that the top of the lid ends up sitting down into the box. This type of top comes off very easily. When I have done this, I have had the top stick out a bit from the box so that there is a lip. I created the rabbet using a hand plane.

https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/rabbet-block-plane-w-nicker

Come to think of it, I guess that I did the top and the bottom that way when I did it.

[Bill Huber]

Ok, thanks guys, it looks like I will be making some scrap tomorrow.

Got to try all way of doing it and see which works best for me.

Again Thanks....

[Brian Henderson]

The easiest way is to make an enclosed box, cut the lid off, then add mitered thin stock to the inside of the box itself, such that it is taller than the sides and forms the lip. Nobody will even think it wasn't a single piece.

[Pat Barry]

You could use a router with a bearing to cut a shallow rabbet inside the top and outside the bottom. Then cleanup the inside corners of the bottom box with a chisel. Otherwise I agree with the approach described by Brian and Andrew

[Phil Thien]

You cut your rabbets before you assemble the sides on the inside. Make the sides one saw kerf plus the amount of overlap you want wider than the finished height. Dado a groove as wide as the over lap on the inside surface and remember the depth and location from the top. Assemble your box. The cut a dado on the outside slightly deeper than the groove you made on the inside, such that the top edge of the groove just kisses the bottom edge of the groove you cut on the inside. This cut should separate your top from the bottom as you make the last cut. Once the parts are separated you can clean up the edges and trim the over lap for best fit and appearance.

This is the method I've seen. I've never tried it, though.

But it would seem to offer a couple of huge advantages.

One would be that the top and bottom will perfectly match, because they were previously glued-up as a single piece. If something was a tiny bit out of square, both the top and bottom will still match. You should be able to achieve a piston-like fit.

The other would be a nice grain match.

[Jim Finn]

I have made and sold well over one thousand small cedar boxes and in all my sales over the past seven years I have NEVER had anyone ask me if I had a box that did not have hinged lids. I think they are harder to make and not as functional. All mine are hinged.

[Chris Padilla]

Hey Jim,

Any chance I could get a box without hinges?! :D :D

Happy Friday!!!! TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D

[Joe A Faulkner]

The easiest way is to make an enclosed box, cut the lid off, then add mitered thin stock to the inside of the box itself, such that it is taller than the sides and forms the lip. Nobody will even think it wasn't a single piece.

Variation of this method is to make a small tray to fit inside the box. Use cleats to hold the tray proud of the box so that the sides of the tray serve as an inside frame to the lid. You don't get a snug fit like you would if you used one of the other methods, but you have a hinge free lid that doesn't slide off the box. In this case, another alternative to the small cleats would have been to make the bottom dividers a bit taller and the tray could rest on those rather than the cleats.

Note once you go this route, you can't hinge the lid unless the tray is only a little proud of the height of the box; otherwise, the inside of the box lid conflicts with the tray while swinging open.