My bride a while back asked me to make her a letter writing box, of which I did an internet search and observed some letter writing boxes and/or reproductions of the same dating back a century or more. 

They primarily had a two compartment type construction with the one near the back of the box to contain ink well, writing quills, etc. and underneath the hinged lid, storage space for writing paper, envelopes, stamps, etc.  My bride also wanted a ledge around the perimeter to keep paper and/or paper pad from sliding off the lid.

Above pix of the completed letter writing box except for the final polishing of the lid.  The color/hue of the curly maple wood is a good bit darker than in the pix and guess the flash washed out the color some.

PERSONAL SAFETY AND LIABILITY ISSUES

My goal will be to keep Safety paramount because hand and power tools can do serious bodily harm and death if not used properly, therefore these pages are solely for entertainment purposes only from a personal liability standpoint.  Please read the Legal Stuff page for additional information concerning liability issues before going any further.  Safety glasses and hearing protection is a must although I do forgo the hearing protection many times; my bad!

DESIGN IDEAS

I decided to design a simple letter writing box without the rear compartment that would hinge at the rear and the base height would taper from two (2) inches to one (1) inch at the front with the length 14.25 inches x 9.75 inches in width x 1 inch stock thickness.  The lid frame for the letter writing box would be one (1) inch thick with the same outside measurements as the base and have a recessed panel of curly maple about .298 inches thickness.

The corners would be forty-five (45) degree miters and dowels and/or splines added to the corners for strength and "curb appeal."

This was a project that I did not fully think ahead and ended up doing it the hard way; in other words, "Working harder not smarter" as I will try and explain as I add pixs with narrative comments.

GETTING STARTED

After sorting through some cutoffs aka unallocated wood from the end table legs, I selected four pieces about 3 inches wide x .298 inches thick about 18 inches in length and glued them up using Titebond Ultimate III wood glue and Bessey bar clamps.

I failed to take a pix of the clamp glue up, but here is a pix of the curly maple top panel being sanded prior to cutting to the final length and width.

I used the table saw with a sled to cut the taper for the side frame members and the top insert.

Yesterday was one of those days that seemingly everything either went wrong or had to struggle to stay on track........grin if you must.  I routed a rabbit slot in each inside member to accept a piece of walnut plywood that was around .200 inches in thickness.

As stated earlier, with the tapered side members, making a forty-five (45) degree miter cut, I had to use the wedge (scrap piece) of wood underneath the side frame members to get the proper angle cut for a ninety (90) degree vertical compound miter joint.

Also, I would have been better off to make the base and top lid together as a single unit and then simply saw the top lid loose from the base as I did with the secretary boxes......my bad on this one for sure!

I used 1/4 inch diameter dowels for the mitered corners and used my dowel jig manufactured by Dowelmax in Canada.

The Dowelmax drill jig does an excellent job when you need dowels instead of biscuits, etc.

The Dowelmax jig comes with spacers for various thickness materials.

The above base is ready for finish sanding and staining.  I prefer using Behlen medium walnut stain, but didn't have enough on hand and no one on the internet has the product in stock.  I ordered a similar product manufactured by Mohawk which should be here in a few days.

I used a .250" width 4-blade carbide tipped slotting cutter in the table router to make the rabbits in the lid frame members and did a double pass increasing the rabbit width to a little over .298 inches for the lid insert panel thickness.

The rabbit was about .5 inches in depth and then used the custom made forty-five (45) degree miter sled to cut the angles.  I had to use the tapered scrap wedge to get the proper angle to match the base.  Installed in the table router is a 1/2" radius round over carbide tipped bit.

GLUE UP

With all the pieces dry fitted together, I used a band clamp to pull the corners together.

I stained the bottom panel prior to glue up using the Behlen medium walnut which is more reddish in color.

SPLINES INSTALLED IN THE CORNERS

After the glue dried overnight 03-30-2020, it was time to install walnut splines in the corners.  I had a piece of walnut material left over from another project which was around .135 inches thick which matches my crosscut saw blade cut.

The spline cutting jig was used with the crosscut saw blade (.135) inches in width and cut splines in the corners.

I had to rip a thin strip .135 inches +- from a piece of scrap aka unallocated walnut molding using the table saw.  I changed the blade to the thin kerf rip saw blade and used a home made tool to replicate nearly identical width cuts.  I like the thin sawed material to be on the side away from the table saw fence for increased safety.

With the width jig in place and properly adjusted to the stock thickness required, all you do is slide the table saw fence each time a cut is completed against the stop that is behind the saw blade.  You can get precision cuts without sacrificing personal safety in my humble opinion.

It is best to use a zero table saw insert to keep the thin strips from being pulled into the saw base.

I have the width of the spline at .140 inches and used my 6 x 48 inch belt sanding machine to remove a few thousands of an inch for a proper fit in the spline slot.

I will wait until the glue sets and tomorrow, the Lord willing of course, will trim and/or sand the excess spline material from the base and the lid and get everything sanded waiting for the stain and the hinge set I ordered.  I didn't want to use a high dollar Brusso pair of solid brass hinges on this box.....too frugal!

TRIMMED SPLINES AND STARTED SANDING

The glue dried enough to trim the splines and got some sanding done after I routed a radius around the top and bottom edges except for the back of the base and top where the hinges will mount.  I also routed some relief to the outside bottom edge of the lid, but again not the back.   

STAINING

While waiting for the hinges to arrive, my bride wanted a dark walnut stain on the letter writing box and I located some aniline water? based stain, of which I have had for maybe twenty years when I built my resophonic guitar......still a pack rate for sure! 

I figured I could get away with using only one rubber glove and now I have ebonized looking fingers on my left hand.....grin if you must.  Tried Mineral Spirits, Naphtha and Mohawk lacquer solvent and the lacquer solvent worked the best, but didn't remove the stain 100 percent!

I need to steel wool the box down since I believe the stain raised the grain some.

The curly maple grain pattern is beginning to pop out; not bad for unallocated aka scrap wood.

HINGES ARRIVED

The pair of solid brass hinges arrived around mid-day and made a "flipping story stick" for the router table which controls the length and width of the mortises in the lid and the base of the box.

Above flipping story stick mentioned above with the hinge in place and pencil marked a line around it where stock will be removed on the table saw and sled.  The length of the flipping story stick is the same as the width of the box and set the hinges 2 inches from the edge of the story stick.  You set the router table and make the route for both the lid and the base and then flip the stick over and re-set your router east to west stops for the other hinge.

Above pix, I am notching out the actual size of the hinge leaf.  This "stick" will be used to set the router table east to west and the width of the route.  The router depth is set to the thickness of the hinge leaf.  I used a scrap piece of pine wood and the slot in the left side of the stick has nothing to do with the jig.....grin if you must!

Router table stops set and ready to route the cavity for the hinge leaf.

After routing both the lid and the base for the hinges, I used a self-centering drill guide made just for # 5 flat head screws and the length of the 7/64 inch bit was already adjusted and pre-drill the holes for the hinges.  I pre-drilled a hole in some scrap pine wood and it worked ok.  I have used the brass screws that comes with the imported solid brass hinges and they are junk, meaning they will easily break off in the wood unless your drilled hole is on the larger size.

I should have known better to use those cheap screws that comes with the hinges and the first one I used broke below the tapered flat head and wasn't able to get the screw out.  Therefore, I drilled another hole in the hinge leaf adjacent to one where the screw was broken off in the wood.  I used a 82 degree countersink and opened up all the holes in the hinge leaf to match the larger # 6 screw which was 1/2 inch in length.

You can see the size comparison of the screws.  The upper right is the screw that came with the brass hinge set from Rockler Woodworking, LLC.  As stated, those screws are junk!

I went back and opened the hinge router flipping jig stick to give me a little "play" in the hinges and applied a touch up stain to the area after routing.

You can see the left hinge hole where the screw was broken off in the wood.  Another option would be to drill the screw out and fit a 3/8 inch diameter dowel in the base and re-drill the pilot hole.

FIRST COATS OF LACQUER APPLIED

I have some left over musical grade instrument lacquer and thinned it down about twenty-five (25) percent to apply several light coats waiting at least 1 hour between coats. 

I sprayed the inside of the box first and let it dry awhile and put a tapered wedge at the middle of the back inside member and closed the lid to keep lacquer from sealing the lid to the base.

After several initial coats, I will let the box cure out a few days, buff it down with a Scotch-Brite pad and then start building up some finish coats.

The letter writing box will be SN 83.

The ole CAT HVLP Lynx model spray gun and pressurized fluid container aka cup  is getting a workout.

Web page created by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 03-31-2020 and updated on 04-02-2020, 04-04-2020 and 04-07-2020.