Finger Jointed Keepsake Boxes

Projects which have finger joints or box joints, have always intrigued me. I've tried to make them previously using homemade jigs, but could never get them to consistently fit properly. My router table is based on
The Oak Park/Router Workshop design and uses their table top, so I decided to try their very reasonably priced box joint jig. See link at the bottom of this page.

And here's the results with that jig - perfection,,, and with only a minimum amount of set-up and testing on scraps to insure a good fit. These 4 boxes made great Christmas gifts for my wife Rita, daughter Andi, and 2 granddaughters Shelby and Sydney.

Poplar Box Stained with Golden Oak

Ash Box Stained with Golden Oak

Cherry Box - No Stain, Just Deft Polyurethane

Poplar Box & Cherry Box
Not stained - Just 3 coats of Defthane Polyurethane

If I still had my photographic studio in operation, I'd be able to take photos which would do these attractive boxes justice, but it's all gone now so you'll have to trust me. LOL Seriously, they all turned out really nicely.

With a Good Box Joint Jig it's Easy!
The white fixture is the jig. This one, for use with a 1/2" bit, has a 1/2" wide protrustion (fence) on which the last cut made in the work piece rides. There are other jigs for 1/4" and 3/8" bits. The distance from the bit to the fence is set to equal the width of the bit. After some very short setup and testing, you really can't miss - idiot proof just the way I like it! Two sides are cut at the same time as you can see, but a jig can also be easily made which will cut all 4 sides at the same time making the process really fast. Spiral upshear bits are the bit of choice for this process.

I'm using scraps to demonstrate this jig.

The joints are an absolute "perfect fit". I made 4 boxes of different woods - 1 cherry - 1 ash and 2 poplar - of varying sizes for Christmas gifts for members of my family. The tops and bottoms are of the appropriate stock planed down to 1/4" on my invaluable planer, and then glued onto the assembled sides.

Gluing Stage
This is an in-progress shot of the cherry box during the glue-up stage, before any sanding. With all those surfaces for gluing, these will be very strong joints!

As Norm always says, make the fingers a bit proud, in other words a bit long. Then once the glue is dry, sand the "proud" fingers flush to the sides for a perfect fit with imperceptible surface variance. This job is best done on the type of bench top sanding station shown below, with both stationary disc and belt sanding capabilities.

Sanding Station
This is a Delta sanding station similar to the one I used to complete these boxes. It's both a belt sander and disc sander & was definately beneficial when used on this project and will be on many others woodworkers of all levels will make. Please click this small picture to find out more about it.

After gluing the tops and bottoms to the previously assembled and glued sides, the box was cut into 2 pieces on a band saw. The tops were all rounded over as were some bottoms. Then on some boxes, the meeting edges were rounded over on the front and sides, with a 1/4" roundover bit to facilitate opening and for a more pleasing appearance. The cherry box has no rounded over edges where the top and bottom meet. Slightly different router treatments were given to various edges of each box - some were left plain - for variety as you can see. It's purely a personal preference which edge/side gets a treatment. Almost any edge treatment will add to the beauty of your project.

Hinge Installation
I like to install the hinges at this point prior to finishing. Small brass hinges were purchased from my local
Lee Valley Tools outlet. Appropriately sized pilot holes for the screws which attach the hinges were carefully drilled and the hinges were installed. As soon as a satisfactory hinge installation was completed, the hinges and screws were then removed and set aside. This operation was done now prior to finishing, so that any marks caused during this process, could be easily sanded out without damaging the then completely finished project - hinge re-installation is very simple and quick!

TIP: When re-installing the hinges, applying a small amount of epoxy to the screw threads helps insure the permanancy of the tiny screw's grip in that tiny hole!

The Interior Trays & Compartments
Following a bit of clean-up sanding, it's time to start fabricating the interior elements such as dividers and trays. I used the same method to make the trays as used in making drawers but in this case, in miniature form.

The rabetts to accept the tray bottoms and sides (which were made all from 3/16ths stock) were only 1/16" deep and were cut on my router table. A small handle to remove the tray was fashioned on my scrollsaw and glued into place. The trays rest on supports on either side of the compartment in which it sits, thereby making another compartment beneath the tray. The hole which you can just see in the back of the box, is for the key to the back mounted musical movement.

Here are 2 of the boxes after they've been stained - the one on the left is the same box as just above,,, made of ash and stained with Benjamin Moore Golden Oak. The one on the right is a poplar box, stained with the same product.

The next step is lacquering with Deft lacquer, and sanding and lacquering etc. etc. until the desired result has been attained.

The Fitting for Musical Movements
Then it was time to measure for, and decide upon placement of the musical movement in each box, which later would be epoxied onto the back/bottom of the box interior. Once these "installation holes" were made, the movements were set aside and actually would be permanently installed using a good 2 part epoxy after the finishing stage was complete.

Lining with "Suede-Tex"
Some of the compartments of some of the boxes, were lined with felt for a nice interior treatment, but it wasn't ordinary felt. The process is by DonJer and it's called Suede-Tex and I guess it would be called a type of flocking. This process has just 2 steps. First, you carefully paint with the adhesive undercoat, only the area you wish to be covered with felt.

Then, within 15 minutes and by means of the included pump action "blowgun" applicator. the felt fibres are blown on or applied, with your project housed in a cardboard box. You just partially fill one tube of the applicator with the fibres and then pump. When the applicator's 2 tubes are slid together or pumped, the fibres fly out through the small holes in the end, sticking to the basecoat. After waiting a full 24 hours for drying, the now dry surface is lightly brushed and blown to remove any unstuck fibres which can be used in future applications. The fibres only adhere to the project where you painted the basecoat.

The really nice feature of this product is that there are no edges of various cut pieces of felt which you must mate to make a neat job. Using this product, you will end up with a seamless, apparently perfectly fitted "felt" lining wherever you painted the basecoat. DonJer's Suede-Tex is a very fast, easy and beautiful means of lining your box projects. It is available in just about any colour you might want, and cleanup is with mineral spirits or paint thinner.

Here's a link to Lee Valley Tools who sells this product.

The Installation of the Musical Movement

It's a good idea to have previously put a bit of masking tape over a part of the area to which the musical box will be epoxied. Then after the flocking has been applied, that small piece of tape can be removed, thereby leaving an area uncovered to which the epoxy will easily adhere.

Making sure the movement's key mounting bolt and the hole line up, epoxy the movement in place and let dry for 24 hours. "Light" clamping pressure is required to assure a good adhesion but only clamp lightly so as not to harm the musical movement.

There is a large selection of songs for the music box you're making
which can be purchased at many suppliers.

GET YOUR OWN BOX JOINT JIG
After mastering the box joint with this great Oak Park jig, I just know more box joint projects of varying sized joints will be on the horizon. Here is a link to the Oak Park catalogue webpage, where all of this material is available for purchase. http://ca.oak-park.com/catalogue.html .

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