Yet Another Chisel Box

This isn’t anything unique, but for me it is a chance to get better at mitered dovetails, so I figured I’d post some build pictures. I keep my chisels on a rack at the back of my bench. I really like having them handy, but if I get busy and they sit for a month or two they’ll start getting tarnished. I decided to build a little box to keep them in when I’m not actively using them. This box is sized to hold my regular-sized bench chisels. I have a few other chisels that will probably get another box fairly soon, but I wanted to keep this one a manageable size.

I really liked Derek’s box with a sliding lid. I decided not to make the lid with a mitered lip, so this one is just mitered on the bottom and at the back on the top. I’m using up some cherry I already had and using plywood for the bottom. I haven’t yet decided whether the top will be cherry or maple.

The current arrangement.

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I didn’t take any pictures of cutting dovetails, I have to slow down and double-check myself when laying out miters, but the process isn’t really any different than cutting regular ones. I did take extra time to make sure my parts were dimensioned precisely and the ends were square, to help with laying out the miters and to ensure a 45 degree miter would end precisely at the corners. I ran the grooves after cutting the joints, but before I pared the miters. One of these days I’ll make a jig for holding narrow drawer/box sides when I plow grooves, but for now using a clamp in the vise works OK. These were too narrow to clamp on the bench top.

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The last few mitered things I’ve made I just layed out with a knife and combination square, then sawed and pared carefully with a chisel. I decided to make a paring block for this, and am glad I did. It makes the paring much more precise and quick. Plus, planing end grain is satisfying!

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It took a little bit of extra fitting and sawing the miters with a dozuki saw to get everything to close up, but it generally went together well. I’m going to let this set up, then clean up the corners and get started on the lid.

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Got it out of clamps, made, and fitted the lid. I still need to put a couple of coats of shellac on it and make the internal dividers, but the box is finished. I had a piece of maple that is wide enough, so that became the lid. I think this is pushing it for a solid lid of this type. I left some room for expansion, but a frame and panel lid may be more appropriate when it gets thus wide. I’m also curious how much it will bow as it goes through the seasons.

Once I got the lid close to thickness, I started off using a rabbet plane to make the cross-grain rabbet at the back. I decided I’d be at it all day, so used a chisel to knock off most of the waste, then used the plane for the final bit. On the edges I can get into a decent rhythm with the plane, so they go pretty quick. I left the board a little thick, to do the final fitting on the inside of the lid after making the rabbits a consistent depth. I should have gotten closer to final thickness, since I ended up fiddling for a while before I got it to move well in the grooves.

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I put a little round over on the front of the lid to match the box, then used a couple of gouges to make a thumb catch. I put a chamfer around the edge of the panel. The panel sits just proud of the box, and I can use it to help the lid start sliding. The tongue in the back gives just a bit of resistance when I start to open the lid. I think I’ll get shellac on everything and wax the edges of the lid. If I’m still not happy with it I’ll take a little more material off.

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I’ll make some simple drop-in dividers out of plywood. I also need to pretty up these chisels, now that I’ve got a place to keep them. One or two have the shiny factory finish on the handle, I’ll use a card scraper to take that off, then put BLO on them. A couple others have a little bit of finish on the brass that should come off with mineral spirits and elbow grease. I think I wiped the handles down with a rag with BLO mixed with varnish, and the varnish ended up on the metal. Finally, a few of them have rust just getting started and will benefit with some cleaning up with mild abrasive. It’s jobs like that where I wish I had a grinder with a buffing wheel, but I’ll make one evening this week a chisel clean-up session and should be able to get them all touched up in one sitting.

Nice box Bill

Did you glue in/on the plywood bottom?

Yes - normally I leave even plywood bottoms loose, but I decided to glue this one in place.

Ok - last update. These were just some simple butt-jointed dividers. I glued them up outside the box, then slid them in before putting a coat of shellac on. So, they won’t come loose, but will be easy to remove if I decide to repurpose this box down the road. All I have is some garnet shellac, which I don’t love on the maple top. I’ll probably get some blond shellac and put a couple more coats of that on. I scraped and sanded the chisel handles to remove the old finish, then used some green buffing compound on a 3M pad to clean up the brass and the base of the blades. I’ve got one coat of BLO on the handles today, and I’ll do several more over the next week or two.

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If you store the chisels bevel down it will lift the edge off the wood, possibly preventing rust from moisture in the wood. Also it makes the chisels slightly easier to pick out of the box.