A little Tiger Myrtle and Olive:
Building a mitred pencil box with a shooting board
A
few months ago a good friend of mine surprised me with a couple of
pieces of Olive wood after hearing me say I admired the figure and
texture of the wood, but how difficult I found it to come by. Thanks
again Ian!
One of the pieces was self-selecting as it was
large enough for the handle of a marking knife. It became this one
..
The
other was a small board, quite cupped, however I managed to rescue a
section, handplane it flat, resaw it, and created a book matched
piece about 10" long, 4" wide and 1/4" thick. This I
ear-marked for a lid of a box.
I enjoy building boxes as a
quick-fix when a longish furniture build begins to become work. My
family and friends have several each. These days they run and hide if
they see me carrying one. So I decided this one was for me (I don't
have any), and it would be a pencil box for my desk. I had just the
piece of wood for this.
A couple of years ago I brought back a
suitcase of wood from a visit to Tasmania. Mostly Huon Pine (very
precious), some Sassafras, and a little Tiger Myrtle. The light Olive
would be highlighted best by dark Tiger Myrtle.
This short
project (in all it took about 2 hours, excluding time for glue to
dry) was also an opportunity to finish the Donkeys Ear I needed for
the ramped shooting board I built recently as I had given my last one
to a friend. I think that it is more traditional for pencil boxes to
be mitred. Anyway, I did not want dovetails as they would make the
busy Tiger Myrtle even busier.
Now even before I added the
Donkeys Ear, the shooting board needed a modification (does this
happen to you - start one thing, then you need to do something else
first, and something before that ...?!). The initial mod was to add a
rail, ala the Stanley #52, which would prevent the plane moving away
from the edge of the work piece. These mitres must be planed
accurately otherwise the joining edges will have gaps. It is
difficult enough to hold the work still; it is a complication when
the plane moves as well. So this is what I did ...
Set
up with the LN #51:
Set
up with the LV LAJ and hotdog handle:
Details
...
The
completed Donkey's Ear ...
Note
that the fence has non-slip (salt sprinkled over varnish).
More
details. Dovetailed support at rear (for fun), and secured to the
main fence with a bolt. The fence has micro-adjustability, the board
has levelling feet underneath, so the Donkey's Ear is adjustable in 3
dimensions.
In
use ..
Actually,
I deliberately did this the long way. Generally I first saw the
mitres with a mitre box. The Myrtle is medium hard and I simply
planed away the waste.
Once the ends of the board sides were
mitred, the pieces were taped together from the rear (in lieu of
using clamps), and glued. The jig used here was one I learned from
Andrew Crawford (on a box-making course of his). It is the best way
to ensure everything is square. I use it for drawers as well. No
fussing with measuring diagonals.
And
the result (9 1/4" long x 4 1/4" wide and 2 1/2" high)
...
The
front:
The
base is Kauri Pine from New Zealand:
And
a close-up of the Olive wood figure ..
Regards
from Perth
Derek
June 2011