My first band saw box!

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:59 pm

I've been dying to use my bandsaw ever since getting it and now that it's running, I had to make a bandsaw box this evening! This was sort of a test/practice/prototype rushed to get done before the LOML called me in for supper. So, it could have been sanded down a bit more (you can see the sanding marks in the pictures) and some other imperfections fixed, but I had a blast making it!

It's about 4.5" at the widest dimension to give you some sense of scale.

The wood is red aromatic cedar (I think). I used the disk sander to give me six flat (and somewhat square) sides. Then cut with the bandsaw following Nick's tutorial. Except I got the front & back and the left & right sides reversed. I should have cut the front and back first so the seam would be on the side.

Anyway, glue-up was the hardest part! Tape helped a lot. Then I used the disk sander again to get the sides flush and smooth and put a little bevel on the edges. I wiped on a few coats of Watco Danish Oil, gave that a few minutes to dry, then put on a few coats of Johnson's Paste wax.

I just gave it to LOML and she loved it.

I thought it came out pretty well to be a rush job AND my first time to make something with a bandsaw in 20 years!

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:04 pm

heathicus wrote:I've been dying to use my bandsaw ever since getting it and now that it's running, I had to make a bandsaw box this evening! This was sort of a test/practice/prototype rushed to get done before the LOML called me in for supper. So, it could have been sanded down a bit more (you can see the sanding marks in the pictures) and some other imperfections fixed, but I had a blast making it!

It's about 4.5" at the widest dimension to give you some sense of scale.

The wood is red aromatic cedar (I think). I used the disk sander to give me six flat (and somewhat square) sides. Then cut with the bandsaw following Nick's tutorial. Except I got the front & back and the left & right sides reversed. I should have cut the front and back first so the seam would be on the side.

Anyway, glue-up was the hardest part! Tape helped a lot. Then I used the disk sander again to get the sides flush and smooth and put a little bevel on the edges. I wiped on a few coats of Watco Danish Oil, gave that a few minutes to dry, then put on a few coats of Johnson's Paste wax.

I just gave it to LOML and she loved it. I thought it came out pretty well to be a rush job AND my first time to make something with a bandsaw in 20 years!

Heathicus, Impressive, my hurry up jobs always come out upside down and backwards. A tip of the old cowboy hat to you. Jim

wannabewoodworker · Post by **wannabewoodworker** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:22 pm

That is awesome! Now what is a bandsaw box??? Why is it called a bandsaw box??? Why is the bandsaw special to making this particular box shape???

Be advised I am like my handle Wannabewoodworker so all of this stuff is new to me. I can restore and rebuild with the best of them but making sawdust I am still in my infancy.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:01 pm

VERY NICE! first box, Heath! Way to go! You even got supper!

Note to Michael (wannabe..) - Just Google bandsaw boxes and you will get a bunch of information.

wannabewoodworker · Post by **wannabewoodworker** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:22 pm

Just Google bandsaw boxes and you will get a bunch of information.

Char,
That is god advice but anybody can Google I was hoping for some more indepth and personal SSF type of explanation here. Google is so impersonal......................

rkh2 · Post by **rkh2** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:33 pm

Michael

Here is a link to a sawdust session that Nick does showing some things about making a band-saw box and what its all about. Hope this is something you may be looking for.

http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Arch ... _Index.htm

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:46 pm

[quote="wannabewoodworker"]Char,
That is god advice but anybody can Google I was hoping for some more indepth and personal SSF type of explanation here. Google is so impersonal......................]

Well - Sorry about steering you to an impersonal source;) , but there are explanations, videos, designs, plans, all available in a very short search. The sites I saw were put together by woodworkers specializing in bandsaw boxes. They are WAY more indepth than someone (me) could hope to explain on this forum.

wannabewoodworker · Post by **wannabewoodworker** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:50 pm

I did follow your advice and there is a plethora of results that come out of that search. Very cool stuff and makes me want a band saw even more now........DAMN! More money! But they look rather easy compared to some other types of projects.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:48 pm

wannabewoodworker wrote:That is awesome! Now what is a bandsaw box??? Why is it called a bandsaw box??? Why is the bandsaw special to making this particular box shape???

Looks like you have your answer now, but it being a "bandsaw box" isn't about the design, but about how it's made. You start with one solid piece of wood and, with strategic cuts of the bandsaw, end up with a box. Some are complex with drawers or trays or hidden compartments. Mine above was very, very simple. What's great about them is you don't have to fret over the joinery. Joints don't have to be accurate and perfectly square. If your cut is a not quite straight, it's OK because the mating pieces are going to mirror each other almost perfectly. And since it comes from a single block of wood, the grain pattern will continue around to every side. But the best thing about them is they are really easy to make and get great results. The design and features are only limited by your imagination.

------------------------ · Tue Apr 06, 2010 11:32 pm

Hey Heath!
Very nice box. Now that I have a bandsaw, I may have to try one. I myself like a couple of imperfections, they show that it was handmade.
Funny story: I took shop and wood working in high school and college and it was beaten into our heads that everything MUST be perfect. When I started making furniture to sell, the seller insisted that all of my pieces were old looking and distressed. I had to throw perfection out the window. Now I had to create items that the edges didnt line up. Gouges with the belt sander were desirable. My son and I would beat up the furniture with hammers and chains, we would hammer everything imaginable onto the surfaces. We even filled up socks with woodscrews and beat the furniture silly. To this day I have problems with perfection!