New Box

Hi all,
Sorry it's been so long since my last post but I've been busy putting the finishing touches to our new back garden. I have also built a 6 foot by 3 foot garden gate because the one we had was as rotten as a pear. The new one is very sturdy and would take long boat full of vikings to knock it down

Anyway, in my last post I said I'd show you the progress I was making on a new box that I'd just started. I'm pleased to report that I finished making the box and I'm very happy with it. The design needs a bit of tweaking but all in all I'm pleased.

The top and the bottom of the box are made from a hardwood called obeche, which comes from Africa. It is light and has a fine grain which is just what is required because I am going to do some pyrography on it. The four sides are made from 6mm x 45mm strip pine from B&Q, again it is cheap and, because it is already planed all around, I figured it would be easy to work with.

The thing that makes this box different from the ones I've made before it the lid. It is hinged, but doesn't have hinges in the usual sense. I have tried using very small hinges on these boxes and  it's a nightmare to fix them to the box so that the lid closes properly.

If you look closely at the box in the picture you will see that on the corners at the back there is a little raised portion. Through there I have drilled a small hole and inserted a thin metal rod straight through into the lid. The lid pivots on these two pins as can be seen in the photo below.

You will notice that the lid is cleverly standing up by itself. This was achieved by sanding the back edge of the box at an angle so that it was allowed to open just past the vertical.

I can also report that the pyrography process is well underway. I was hoping to have it finished in time for this post but it wasn't to be. I still have one side left to do, but it is going well. It is a little bit different from my usual work and I'm looking forward to showing it you in my next post.