Extremely Average

I was going to start work on another tiny box when I decided to flip through some of my woodworking magazines. I had a craving, though I couldn’t put my finger on it. It was much more than the desire to get into the shop and do some woodworking, it was as if I was craving chocolate. When one craves chocolate, it is a very specific craving.

Hand Planed Stick

I was craving chiseling. I really wanted to use Manfred some more. My 3/4 inch Lie-Nielsen chisel is such a joy to work with and I was looking for some gratuitous chiseling. So I flipped the pages of Woodsmith, vol 28/ no. 167, and there it was; it almost jumped off the page at me. Roland Romito, of Broadview Heights, Oh, had sent in a design for a Fence Alignment Gauge. The bracket which holds the piece of wood had a lovely square hole in it. Roland simply cut a grove into to pieces of wood and then screwed them together.

Rough Cut Stick

This makes sense, as he didn’t have Manfred to help him out. I however saw this as a great opportunity to cut a through mortise, something I dearly enjoy. I wanted to cut the mortise immediately, but I knew not the size, so I had to prepare the long stick first. A piece of scrap hard maple seemed perfect for the task. I fired up Jeff the bandsaw and he was happy to cut me off a piece.

Have I mentioned that I love my handplanes lately? Well I do. I grabbed the Stanley 4 1/2 and cleaned up the teeth marks. It was so easy, so satisfying, I almost forgot to stop and take a picture. The first image is of the ‘After’, the second is the ‘Before’ I did the other side. I could have taken an ‘After’ of the other side too, but as soon as it was done, it meant I was moments away from chiseling. So I didn’t!

I took the same piece of hard maple and used my stick to draw the mortise. I didn’t need to be too exact, as I intended to cut it a little bit small and then open it up to get a good fit. This worked really well. The piece of wood was about 1 inch thick. While I was working my way though the wood, I noticed how much easier it was going, compared to the first through mortises I had cut on Teri and Tracy the saw horses.

Mortise

I imagine that it was easier for several reasons. One was that I had a much better chisel. I would also think that part of it was improved skill on my part and a great mallet.

So here is a picture of the mortise as I was cutting it. I love woodworking. Each and every aspect seems fun to me, but there is something about chiseling out a mortise that is so basic and pure, that it feels as if I am connecting with the past. I again give Manfred high marks, as he performed wonderfully. The final test for Manfred will come when I use him and Donna for some dovetail work, but that will not come before I finish my Fence Alignment Gauge.

So I would say that it has been another very good day in the shop.

Across town he drove.  It had been a week since he last checked his mail, as he hated the long drive to the post office.  The traffic in Martelle can be killer.  Once on his 3 tenths of a mile journey, there were 2 cars he had to wait for at the stop sign!

Today though, our hero had put it on his list, and he was determined to cross it off.  He also had another motivations, truth be told.  It had slipped his mind, but a gentleman had mentioned something about sending him some old woodworking magazines.  How this could have slipped his mind, it a discussion for another day, but it had.

He put the key into box 71, turned it, and the tiny door popped open.  There were the expected bills and advertisements, and a notice from the postmaster that a package was waiting behind the counter.  “Yippee”, he thought to himself.

He was pleased there wasn’t a line, as he could step right up and present his claim for his package.  The postmaster looked at the little card and said, “You aren’t going to like me very much.”

“That is an odd thing to say.”  He thought, and then she handed him the box.  It was very light, and one end was torn open.  All the contents had been removed before it made it to the post office.  There was a little form letter note from William J. Herrmann, Senior Plant Manager.  It said they were sorry that my package was damaged and that they regret it and hope that this incident didn’t cause any inconvenience to me.

(Note:  I became weary of writing in the 3rd person and I have decided to abandon it for the remainder of the post.  Sometimes that happens.  I think that you all knew I was talking about myself, so who was I fooling anyway?  Nobody!  So now back to your regularly scheduled blog.)

It had not caused any inconvenience, but it made me a little bit sad.  Not because I didn’t get some great woodworking magazines, but that someone would be so mean as to take them.  It was obvious that the box had been opened along one seem and the magazines removed.

There is an old saying about it being the thought that counts, and in this instance, I think that couldn’t be more true.  I am really touched that the gentleman from NY would take the time to box up and send me some of his old magazines.  Even though the box was empty, it really did make me feel good.  So I say Thanks!

As for the post office, they suck, but we all knew that.  It is a bloated bureaucracy which is really bad at their job.  I don’t care if they go to 5 days delivery, I don’t care if they raise their prices, as I will use FedEx to send anything that needs to be sent.

Maybe one day, the person who stole my wonderful and thoughtful gift, will find this blog, read about the magazines and feel bad.  Perhaps the next day, as they lay in a pool of blood, slowing dying from the gunshot would given them by a fellow worker, during the annual ‘bring your gun into work’ day at the post office, they will be clutching one of the magazines and they will realize that Karma was watching!

“What if I…” he thought to himself, as he bounced a small paper ball off the wall of his cubicle.

But before he could continue with his daydream his boss, a very stern, and often angry cat named, Mr. Fuzzy Pants, shot one of his trademark glares at Bob.  Bob cowered behind his computer and tried to work.  He was not the research in the R & D team today.  He was just search.

Everything had been so different since Dec 21, 2012, and he often wondered if it would  have been preferable if the earth had ended.  Everyone was more than a little relieved when it appeared that Mayans had been wrong, and life had not come to an end.  When some of the animals started to talk though, there was a lot of head scratching.

Cows and Pig were still just animals, much to the relief of the bacon cheeseburger eating crowd.  Cats were an entirely different story.  They started to speak, sometimes in Latin, and while pet owners often did their bidding before Dec 21, now that their pets could verbally order them about, made life slightly unpleasant.  When Mrs. Huffy’s Maine Coon, applied for and later received the management position at Foster Technical, which Bob had been hoping for, it made life completely unbearable.

All over the world, middle and senior management was being replaced by tabbies and other assorted members of Felidae Felis.  The only benefit which Bob could see, was the mandatory nap time around 10:00 and 2:00 each day.  Other than that, the change of focus had been hard on him.  He had been working on a new prototype of a 3d screen phone, when Mr. Fuzzy Pants had shifted him to a ‘string based’ project.

So he tried to focus, but he was coming up blank.  As far as Bob knew, it had been quite some time since the last major break through in yarn technology.  He thought about the creative process.  Though Bob felt that the likelihood of a discovery was slim, he still took it seriously.  Well at least for another 20 minutes, until he would be saved by the afternoon nap.

Mr. Fuzzy Pants let out a meow, and then said, “Bob, get back to work!”

Today in the Shop

I felt a lot like Bob.  I wanted to work on something, but I didn’t know what.  The dovetail box I had started a while back, sat there needing a bottom, so I thought I might make it one.

As I looked over my pile of practice wood I had an idea.  Not a great idea mind you, but an idea none the less.  I thought I would make a base for the box.  Something sort of cool looking, or maybe not.  I couldn’t be sure.

The idea was to cut a mortise out that would hold the box.  Manfred was excited to get some use and I was looking forward to it too.  I drew a mark around the box.  The first step was to route out most of the space.  This is the first time I have tried using my plunge router base in this fashion.

It was much easier than I had thought it would be.  The box fits and now I just need to trim off the sides and sand it up, and I will have a somewhat silly looking base.  I am quite sure that my goofing around yielded a rather bad idea.

So I may have to go back to the drawing board.  But that is just fine.  I started without any real expectations, and wasn’t disappointed when I finished without a base that excited me.  I did get some good router practice.  Manfred is a really amazing chisel and each time I use him, I realize the value of such a high quality tool.

Sometimes it is just fun to mess around.  I am calling today research.  I do wonder…What if I …

The tiny oak box has been completed. Well, as much as I intend to complete it. It took me 5 days, though I didn’t really work at a fevered pitch, it was still much quicker than the 3 weeks of the first box. Here is a breakdown of how I did.

The cutting of the pieces, was much improved. The accuracy was better than the tiny walnut box.  Because I was able to do it with Jeff the bandsaw, I didn’t need to use my router table to clean up each cut. This made the process much simpler. I also did a better job of cutting the groove for the bottom.

The bottom is not an improvement, the fit is slightly worse than the previous box. I can’t really give a good explanation as to why I took too much off with one of the cuts, but I did. I used a 1/8″ bit for router the bottom and a 3/4″ bit for router the top. The 3/4″ seemed to work better. For the next box I think I will use the larger one and probably a better result.

The glue up went fine, until I broke the belt clamp. This was during the stage where I connected the two halves which I had previous glued up. My crazy system, which isn’t worth describing, of clamping after the belt clamp disaster, was rather lame. It resulted in a two really poor fit.

Overall it is a slightly worse box than the tiny walnut box. I am not too disappointed though, as I really don’t care for oak, and like everything I am doing now, it is all practice. So I may start another box, same style, same methodology, and we will see if I can get everything right.

As I look at the tiny oak box, it is possible I could simply pull the offending joints apart and then glue them up again. I may do that, I might not. I haven’t decided. It really isn’t that important that this box become spectacular. This may seem strange to some and I don’t know how many woodworkers approach the early stages of their woodworking.

There is one part of me, which wants to keep the boxes as they are, as a record of where I was as a woodworker. There is something valuable in having the blunders available, to use as a measuring stick. I do know this, I am enjoying my hobby.

The mission had been planned down to the last detail.  Every possible outcome has been considered and a solution carefully drafted for each.  The Captain knew the plan forwards and backwards.  He was ready.  His team would consist of a selection of Marines, Navy Seals, Green Berets and Jedi Knights.  The best pilot in the known universe was selected to drop them at rendezvous point Bravo Alpha Tango, a system of caves in Afghanistan, where it was rumored the enemy was hiding out.

The morning of the assault was calm, almost too calm.  There wasn’t even the vaguest hint of a breeze.  The men were briefed and the pilot was given the coordinates to the drop zone.  They went over every detail, packed their parachutes, double checked their gear and boarded the plane.  The flight was a to be a long one, all day in fact.  They would arrive late in the evening.  The Captain would be waiting at the rendezvous point.

The pilot, a consummate professional, never questioned his orders.  He followed the flight plan exactly as it had been given to him.  When they were 5 minutes out, he got on the mic and told everyone to get ready for the jump.  It would be one of the highest altitude jumps most of the men had ever taken.  The first 500 feet would be through cloud cover and then they would plummet to the earth and deploy their shoots, bringing them to the rendezvous point, where they would meet up with the Captain, who would be waiting to give them further instructions.

As with most missions, even for veterans, the pulse quickens, the mind becomes sharp and ready for action.  So it was a huge disappointment when the team landed at the county fair in Paducah Kentucky.  The tractor pull was about to  begin when the team floated into the infield, to the delight of all in the stands.  They received a standing ovation.  The men were thankful that they camouflage face paint, as it did a really nice job of hiding their anger and embarrassment.

The Captain, who hadn’t been terribly careful with the coordinates he had given the pilot, was at the rendezvous point, where he was taken out by a small band of farmers who mistook him for a goat thief.  His body was never recovered.  In truth, the military, upon learning of his blunder, never really looked for him.

Details are Important

It has been pointed out, correctly I might add, that I haven’t done a good job of explaining my processes.  This is true.  I have always been under the assumption that everything I am doing, is already known by the woodworking community.  I assumed that nobody would want the specific details of my methodology, as I am new to this, and when it comes to woodworking, a dullard.

Because I have received several requests to give more details,  I am going to try to do a better job tonight.

The task at hand, gluing up the tiny oak box.  I will be gluing sides one and two together and sides 3 and 4 together.  This worked really well last time.

1. Step Alpha:  Affix blue tape to the inside face of side two.  (I numbered them in a clockwise order)
2. Step Bravo:  Clamp the piece to the workbench, with a bit of wax paper underneath.  The edge of the clamp is lined up with the edge of the bevel cut.  In this instance, I have actually lined up the opposite side.  This was a case of me being way too lazy to move my camera to take the picture from the other angle.  The point is that by lining up the face of the Jet clamp with the edge, it is possible to use that face to clamp the other piece in place.
3. Step Charlie:  After repeating step Bravo for piece 4, it is necessary to do a dry run.  Pieces 1 and 3 will be clamped in place to make sure that the joint is flush and looks fabulous.
4. Step Delta:  Put tape onto pieces 1 and 3, to help with catching glue squeeze out.
5. Step Echo:  Add some wood glue to piece that is not clamped yet.
6. Step Foxtrot:  Slide piece into place and tighten clamp.
7. Step Golf:  At this point you are finished, so you should probably grab your putter and do a little bit of practicing while you admire your glued up pieces.

That is how I glue up my tiny boxes.  The next step will be to take the glued up pieces and combine them with the bottom piece.  But that will have to wait until these are dry.  Thanks for popping in to the ole blog.  I hope that was a better description.

Henry couldn’t see the endgame.  It ate at him like a parasite.  This case, the only one he had been working for weeks, was gnawing at his soul.  He felt that the end was near, that the final pieces to the puzzle were about to be handed to him.  And then what?

Big Mike was recovering, but still in the hospital.  Luna and Sylvia had their fathers in the wind, and he knew they would stay there until Tommy and the DA were safely behind bars.  He was looking at his cards and he didn’t like the hand he was holding.  But he did have an ace in the hole, and he hoped that would be enough.

He got up from the kitchen table, and started to pace.  Tomorrow he will drive over and pick up Luna and go poke around ‘Stowe It Forever’ gifts.  He felt that every step needed to be clear in his mind.  He picked up the book from 2007, ‘Basic Box Making’ and flipped through the pages for the 10th time.  He wasn’t sure what would be the key would be, but it had to be in the book.  So he tried to understand everything he could about box making.

Henry thought to himself, “When this is over, I think I will make some of these boxes.”  Then he shook his head, he was getting distracted.  He had compiled a list of steps and was not thrilled that it was a list of one.  He was much more comfortable being able to see 3, 4 or 5 moves ahead.  But this wasn’t a game of chess, though he liked the metaphor, it was a deadly game, beging played with the lives of people he had gotten to know and care for.

Henry chastised himself for caring.  The 3rd rule of being a private detective, “Don’t get too close to the client.”   Rule one was to not negotiate on fees, and rule two had something to do with domestic abuse cases.  He couldn’t remember rule two very well, it wasn’t his own, but was passed down to him by his mentor.  He shook himself again, as rule four lept out and smacked him across the face, “Always stay focused.”

Rule four was killing him.  “Ok Henry, stop worrying about finding the rest of the code to decifer the journal.  It will be there, you will figure it out, no matter how difficult or subtle the clue might be.”  It wasn’t a rule, but Henry believed that self confidence was important.  Perhaps he would make it rule 2, since he never remembered it anyway? His internal voice continued, “Assumig we find the rest of the key, or some of it, what is the play?”

Rule four continued to take a beating as Henry started to nibble on one of the cookies Luna had left.  They were so yummy.  He was sure that there must be some sort of clause, for rule four, which allowed for a temporary loss of foucs in the event of an emergency and yummy snack.  The pacing continued.  The cookies continued to disappear along with the milk.  He couldn’t bring the future into focus, no matter how hard he tried.  All the thoughts were spinning like a bunch of lights at a carnival.

Outside the wind was up and starting to bang on the neighborhood.  It would have sounded forboding to Henry, but he couldn’t hear a thing.  His mind was lost in the case.  Three cookies and a glass of milk later and he had the book back in his hand.  What would he need to find, where would the next piece be hidden.  He imagined that there would be something in a box, but he wondered, if that was too simple.  Maybe there would be a bookshelf, perhaps made by Stowe, which would have the clue?  He stopped pacing and laid down on the couch.  He put his arm over his eyes and while he tried to follow rule four, drifted off to sleep.

What is Twitter Anyway

Psst…have you heard…Twitter is all the rage!…it is the newest way to network…you should check it out.  All the cool kids are doing it…

That jumbled mess is 140 characters in length.   Twitter is one of the many social media platforms that are changing the landscape of the internet.  One is able to ‘micro blog’ in 140 character blasts.  That is all you get little buckaroo.  You may think it is a complete waste of time, you may be right.  Of course, you may be sadly mistaken.

Oh don’t get me wrong, mocking those who obsess over social media platforms like Twitter is good sport.  It is almost as much fun, as it once was, to tease those who used that silly thing called the internet, or who sent letters electronically with that weird email stuff.  I for one believe the internet is a fad.  I mean really? Why anyone would use electronic mail, when it is so easy just to drop a letter in the old mail box, is beyond me.  And the US Post Office is so incredibly efficient.  It will never catch on.

Why Use Twitter To Build Business

Penny Jar by Brian Meeks

Now it is a brave new world; a savvy business person will consider their potential market to be much larger than the old neighborhood.  The market is truly global.  As an example, just earlier today, I was on Twitter when I received a tweet about a new blog post which had been just posted.  I read the post and found out about a great site for buying thin bits of exotic lumber.  I love woodworking!  Delswoodcraft is in Denver Colorado, and I am in a tiny house in Martelle Iowa.  I would not have found them, were it not for Twitter.  I will be buying lots of stuff from their site, because their prices are exceptional.

It is possible that the light bulb may have just gone off?  Though it is also possible that it hasn’t, maybe you don’t sell lumber.  Maybe you don’t sell anything.  Twitter isn’t just about networking for business.  People share hobbies and interests and generally like to hang out.  So sometimes it is just about meeting someone new.

Let’s just say, hypothetically, that you are the tiniest bit interested in trying Twitter now.  Nobody needs to know, I won’t tell.  You have even gotten brave enough to jot down a possible twitter name.  Once you get set up, you will need to find some people to follow and some to follow you.  Again, it is about building a network, for business or fun.

Building a Twitter Follower Network

There are definitely some best and worst practices.  It takes time and energy to build a network of reasonable size.  Of course, the larger your network is, the more you are able to benefit.  There are lots of people out there who have amassed large numbers of followers, but many of those followers are junk.  They are people who are not listening to the ‘Master Twitter Guru’.

You want to build relationships.  You want people to follow you who are engaging, will carry on conversations, and will help you build a strong network.

1. Do ReTweet: You will see RT often.  This stands for Re Tweet.  It simply means that someone has tweeted something which another person has Re Tweeted.  If you have a new product out and you tweet a link to a wonderful picture of it, it would be delightful if a few people would RT it and spread the word even further.  So it is also a good idea, if you see something you like, to RT it for your new friends.  This is a big Do!
2. Don’t put in your Bio “Follow Me and I will Follow Back”: This is how one builds thousands of junk followers, who don’t care about you, your product, your hobby, your life.  They won’t talk with you, or build a relationship.  They will fill your twitter stream with garbage and make you want to bang your head against a goat.
3. Do, on occasion, ask for your Twitter friends help: If not done too frequently, it is quite acceptable to send a DM (Direct Message) to a twitter friend, and asking them if they would mind checking out your new blog post and tweeting it.  In moderation this is fine.
4. Don’t Follow every single person who follows you: There are many people out there who have bots that follow people if a key word is used.  If you tweet “I just had a great round of golf, shot 3 strokes better than last time.”  You will likely get several golf people who follow you.  Look at their page and see if they have lots of Followers but are only ‘Listed’ a few times, they might be a spammer. (As a general rule, I won’t follow anyone who has a number of listed below 5% of their followers.)
5. Don’t beg for RT’s: Some people, usually one’s who were not loved by their parents and were spat on by the homecoming queen, will always start a tweet with “Please RT:  My new blog post, Top 10 Reasons I Cry Myself to Sleep” Truth be told, If I saw the begging in their stream, I wouldn’t have followed them in the first place.  I would have likely just blocked them straight away.  If they had really followers, their friends would RT anyway and there wouldn’t be any reason to beg.

So there are some ideas for getting started on Twitter.  It takes a lot of work, but one can build up a great network.  As a bonus, here is one more tip, don’t follow anyone who has anything about MLM in their Bio, for they will hound you like a Hare Krishna at the airport.  That should get you going.  Happy Tweeting.

There has been a bunch of national news about the Damn breaking in Jones County Iowa.  The thriving metropolis, of which I speak often, Martelle is in Jones county.  I am happy to report that we are not near the flood.

The blog is a bit late tonight because I just lost track of time.  I am working on the bottom and the top for the current box and I was  having such fun, I just lost track of time.  That happens sometimes in the fast paced world of tiny box building.  The bottom now fits though it isn’t much of an improvement on the last bottom I did.  I think I will need to continue to refine my methods.

On the plus side, I was smarter about the groove which was cut in the sides, so that works quite a bit better.  The top is not done yet, but is close.  I just need to make the 12 degree cuts and route out the bottom.  This was also an area which I need to improve upon, from the last attempt.

In other news, my blog got some much needed work done on it today.  I spent about four and a half hours going through each and every post.  I believe I found around 1000 spelling errors.  The regular reader will undoubtedly consider that to be a much lower number than they would have guessed and in truth, I make no claims that I have gotten them all.

The main point of my scrubbing was to change the way I included the Google Analytics code for my posts.  I had been doing it incorrectly and as such, have been unable to get the Feedburner subscription plug-in to work.  For it to work, one must be able to burn a Feedburner feed, which I couldn’t do because of error messages.  This scrubbing fixed the problem, which is a huge relief.  Hopefully by tomorrow I will have the subscription thingy working.

That is all for today.  I am going back to the shop. 

Today I started another attempted tiny box. The last box started with using my manual miter box to cut the pieces. This left cuts which needed to be cleaned up on the router table with my Freud chamfer bit. Today I decided I would see how Jeff the bandsaw might do.

Jeff is a 14″ Powermatic bandsaw, who wasn’t a part of the team when I began the last box. His table tilts to 45 degrees, so I decided I would let Jeff make the cuts. When I was trying to decide whether I should buy Jeff or not, I read a lot of forum posts. There was a comment that mentioned one needs to check the angle of the table, when doing such cuts. This seemed like sound advice.

Before I could make this cut, I switched to the correct blade. I have bought a better quality blade for rip and cross cutting, and Jeff was wearing the resaw blade. With the new blade installed and Jeff’s table tilted to 45 degrees, I ran a piece of oak across his hungry teeth. The piece of oak is similar in size to the walnut, so I reasoned that it would be a good piece to use to set up Jeff for a precise cut.

I cut two 3 inch box sides and when I put them together they looked perfect. But I wanted to be sure. So I used my try square and found out that they were slightly off. The angle was probably about 90.37. Ok, I just guessed, but I am sure it wasn’t off by a full degree. If I really could eyeball something to the nearest 100th of a degree, well that would be a super power, and I would be spending my nights fighting measuring crime.

Because it was such a small amount I loosened Jeff’s table and just moved it 1 metric smidgen, which is coincidentally equal to .37 of one degree. I re-cut the two pieces and check them. The results made me do a brief happy dance.

With two pieces for a tiny oak box cut, it seemed like I should go ahead and cut two more. When I had all four I put them together and they didn’t quite fit correctly. I was confident that the angles were 45 degrees so I asked myself, “What do you think you would like for dinner? You seem to be getting hungry.”

I was getting hungry and after a break for a quick snack, I returned and asked myself another question, “If the angles are not correct, then what would cause the joints to not fit well?” The first thing that popped into my head was that one or more of the piece lengths may be off.

So I lined them up and looked. The second piece was slightly wider than the others. So I made a pencil mark and returned to Jeff and asked if he minded nibbling off just a tiny bit. He didn’t mind at all. So with the precision of a NASA scientist (not one who worked on the optics for the Hubble when it first launched), Jeff shaved off the requisite amount. The box went together and looked marvelous.

More Happy Dancing (Not Pictured)

So now I could take the piece of walnut and make my first cut. When I did, it was obvious that it wasn’t quite true. This puzzled me. Everything was calibrated and had just worked. I looked at the piece of walnut and I noticed that there was a slight variance. One corner was slightly thicker than the other three. So the piece didn’t lay flat on the table and the cut isn’t quite on the mark.

If I were to guess, many woodworkers would just run the piece through their planer and give it another go. I do not have such a planer. I have hand planes, which I love, but am far from mastering. I have no doubt that I will eventually be able to get absolutely true thicknesses, but at this point, I am not quite that good.

So I think I have moved planer up on my wish list. Since I don’t have one though, I will try to make the fix with the hand planes. I don’t want to screw up this piece of walnut, but if I do, I have 200 board feet of walnut just like it, so it would hardly be the end of the world.

There was one other interesting feeling that emerged from the shop today. When I was changing the Jeff’s blade, calibrating the table, routing the groove, cutting the pieces, and figuring out solutions to my problems, I felt like I was working on a project at a reasonable speed. I felt efficient. Every other project has required me to do a lot of clever thinking to complete a each task, which would have been easier with the proper tool. I didn’t mind this at all, but it is fun to make progress in a quicker than glacial speed.

The sharpening monk master looked at the tiny walnut box.  He turned it over in his hands.  Three of the corners were pretty good, but one of them was slightly off.  The sides needed more sanding to get rid of the scratches.  The lid doesn’t fit snugly.  The bottom is far from perfectly even.  He hung his head, and flipped the box back to the young apprentice and said, “For a first attempt…at least it is the right shape.”  I didn’t want to tell him it was actually my third attempt.

I routed the edges for the lid today.  The tiny piece jig was actually a bit of overkill and I spent way too much time trying to make it work.  When I decided to just use my router table and fence, I learned that for such a shallow cut, it was a better choice.  Though the master was not at all impressed with the tiny walnut box, I still like it.  I agree with all of his assessments and in truth, when I cut the piece of walnut into two pieces, I chose to use the lesser of the two for this third attempt.

When I started this project, it was early in the 18th century.  Actually, it was over three weeks ago.  My woodworking shop has changed considerably since the project began.  I have added Jeff the bandsaw and Manfred and Donna the Lie-Nielsen chisels.  The obvious next step is to take the other piece of wood, use the knowledge I have gained, to make a better tiny walnut box.

The plans call for a two tiny triangular keys to be put into each corner, as a decoration and to strengthen the box.  This step will require another jig, or an add on for the tiny piece router table jig.  I think I will see how quickly I can get the box built and then worry about the jig.  So what am I going to do differently this time?

1. Cut a deeper groove for the bottom piece.
2. I routed too far into the bottom piece and this left a slight gap on one side.  I am going to get it close this time and then call on Manfred to finish.
3. To cut the 12 degree angles on the lid, I will use Jeff.  I didn’t have Jeff when I did the lid last time.
4. Do a lot more sanding on the box when it is done, instead of taking a picture and immediately writing the woodworking blog.
5. I won’t spend 3 days putting together a bandsaw.  The omission of this step alone should speed up things considerably.
6. Mostly, I will be able to work more confidentally and quickly.

This is how I expect that most projects will go for a while.  This was my third attempt, and the best yet.  I am slightly smarter than I was before.  I am quite sure that Doug Stowe, who wrote the book, ‘Basic Box Making’, didn’t achieve perfection on his very first box, or his third.  Well maybe hid did by his third, I really couldn’t say.  The point is, though it isn’t as stunning as the one in the picture, it is a step forward.