Build thread: Mahogany bandsaw box

[dwminnich]

Well, another Spring, another niece graduating from high school... means I get to play in the shop!

I decided to try my hand at a bandsaw box, and after some thought settled on mahogany for the carcass with birdseye maple veneer on the drawer fronts.

Here are a few shots of early on, and I'll post more as I progress.



Approximate dimensions are 11" tall, 10" wide, and 5.5" deep.





--dave

 

[llucas]

Dave
Really neat design! I look forward to seeing this one materialize.

 

[dwminnich]

Thanks, Luke.

Well, the drawers are cut out, shaped, and fronts & backs are reglued. 3 of 4 have been veneered... The fourth one was, too, but I screwed up and clamped it against a piece of steel to press some air bubbles out, and the moisture from the glue reacted with the steel to stain the veneer. Couldn't sand the stain out without sanding through the veneer, so I cut it off and have redone that piece.

I'm planning to use Danish oil on this, and can't think of any reason that shouldn't work with the veneer... Does anyone have experience to the contrary?


--dave

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

Awesome. I can't see the attachment in your 2nd post. I really like the design.

 

[cyclopentadiene]

These are fun to build but an exercise in sanding. Hopefully your design is such that you can sand the inner portions with an oscillating spindle sander.

 

[dwminnich]

These are fun to build but an exercise in sanding. Hopefully your design is such that you can sand the inner portions with an oscillating spindle sander.

Yep. In fact, this box provided just the excuse I needed to pick up that Rigid oscillating sander I've had my eye on.


--dave

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[KenOfCary]

I have used Varnish Oil (similar to danish) on Oak Veneer plywood with excellent results - even fumed it along with the rest of the piece and it took the fuming and oil just like the rest of the wood. Since veneer is just thin wood it does what you'd expect it to do, act like wood. You should be good with the Danish Oil and I think it will make an excellent choice for this piece.

Coming along nicely, BTW. This is a project I want to undertake one of these days. I have some Walnut that might be suitably thick. So I'm very interested how it comes out and any lessons learned. Don't ya hate those lessons.

I think it was somebody's tagline here that said "Nature is a hard teacher, she gives the exam first and the instruction after" or some such.

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

How did you get the original blank? I am looking for glue lines to see how you got such a big chunk of wood, but I can't see any. I am assuming this ins't one big piece of wood.

 

[dwminnich]

So I'm very interested how it comes out and any lessons learned. Don't ya hate those lessons.

I don't know, Ken... Figuring out how to recover from those "lessons" without scrapping a project is half the fun! ☺

This is the first of this sort of project I've done (bandsaw box), and I knew it was an ambitious one. The main lesson so far is that cutting a tight curve in a thick workpiece is significantly different than in a thin one. Given the chance I'd practice on a dummy piece of the same material and the same thickness before I start. Some of the curves in the drawers are a little loosey-goosey, and the gaps are too big. Some of that will get taken care of as I fit the drawers, but I'd like a do-over on the top-right corner of the bottom drawer.


--dave

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[dwminnich]

How did you get the original blank? I am looking for glue lines to see how you got such a big chunk of wood, but I can't see any. I am assuming this ins't one big piece of wood.

You're right, it's a glue-up. The blank is made from three 10"x12" pieces of 8/4 mahogany... If you look closely at the top surface of the box in the second picture you can just see the seams, although there's a pretty good grain match. That was one of the reasons I went with a generally straight-grained wood.


--dave

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[dwminnich]

Got the final drawer veneered and ready for final sanding. Since I plan to flock the insides of the drawers with a dark brown, they are smooth enough already (150 grit on the spindle sander). However, I'll probably take the exterior of the drawers and the case through several more grits, although that means hand-sanding, since the finest sanding drums I have are 150's.

I guess it's also time to decide what sorts of pulls to make for the drawers, too. I keep going back and forth between some simple pulls in a contrasting dark wood (I've got some nice cocobolo scraps that would work well) versus something more artsy.





--dave

 

[ste6168]

Got the final drawer veneered and ready for final sanding. Since I plan to flock the insides of the drawers with a dark brown, they are smooth enough already (150 grit on the spindle sander). However, I'll probably take the exterior of the drawers and the case through several more grits, although that means hand-sanding, since the finest sanding drums I have are 150's.

I guess it's also time to decide what sorts of pulls to make for the drawers, too. I keep going back and forth between some simple pulls in a contrasting dark wood (I've got some nice cocobolo scraps that would work well) versus something more artsy.


View attachment 16035View attachment 16036


--dave

This is awesome! Great work so far, cannot wait to see it progress even more.

 

[chrisnohr]

Well, another Spring, another niece graduating from high school... means I get to play in the shop!

I decided to try my hand at a bandsaw box, and after some thought settled on mahogany for the carcass with birdseye maple veneer on the drawer fronts.

Here are a few shots of early on, and I'll post more as I progress.

View attachment 16026View attachment 16027

Approximate dimensions are 11" tall, 10" wide, and 5.5" deep.





--dave

I went with a generally straight-grained wood.

 

[sawman101]

Now that's a band saw box!

 

[dwminnich]

Well, I got the drawer runners made and glued in tonight, which helps a lot with the spacing of the drawer openings. These runners are roughly 3/32" thick...I didn't measure, just eyeballed it. The front and sides are feathered to minimize any catches with the drawer. The goal here is to center each drawer vertically in the opening. It's a subtle difference, but I think it helps with the shadow lines. Here's a shot of a typical runner, and then an after shot showing the tweaked spacing.





I also got the drawers sanded to 320, which is as far as I plan to take them.


--dave

 

[Raymond]

DO you plan to have the drawers stand proud or flush? Have you decided on the pulls yet?

 

[Mark Johnson]

Really nice looking. How many hours do you have in this?

 

[dwminnich]

DO you plan to have the drawers stand proud or flush? Have you decided on the pulls yet?

The drawers will actually be slightly recessed.

I experimented with several different shapes for the pulls, and settled on this one. It's a trapezoidal shape with a slight negative bevel.






--dave

 

[dwminnich]

Really nice looking. How many hours do you have in this?

Mark, not counting design time, I've probably got 10 hours in it at this point, but I haven't been keeping close track of it.

I did get the Danish oil applied today as well, but I don't have pictures yet. That really made the grain pop!

Now I need to let the finish cure and then I'll flock the drawers and the bottom of the box.


--dave

 

[dwminnich]

Well, it's almost done. Got the drawer pulls attached and put a coat of wax on it, and I think it's turned out OK. The only thing left to do is apply the flocking to the drawers, and I'll try to finish that tomorrow night. That'll be a little nerve-wracking, since I haven't used flocking before, and it's one final opportunity for a "lesson", as Ken referred to them earlier ☺. That'll be just in time, as we fly out Friday for the graduation. You'd think that one of these times I'd allow myself some breathing room, just in case!






--dave