I made a box from a single piece of wood using only our hand tools
There were a lot of steps for the lid (these can be skipped if you don’t want a box with a lid)
Start with a piece of wood 5X Longer than it is wide (7X longer if you want a lid)
Use a marking gauge to mark off one square that is the same height as it is wide
Cut it square with the help of a tenoning saw and a bench hook
Repeat until you have 5 (or 7 for lid… or 9 if you are having fun and have the wood)
Use the Thickness of your wood and a marking gauge to make your joing thickness (we are aiming for finger joints)
Mark roughly 1/3 and 2/3 along the joint
Use a square to line these marks up on both sides of the piece
Clamp piece
Cut out the first piece
Realise you cannot cut straight and clean up with a chisel
Repeat on side 2 cleaning up as needed
Use the marking gauge and the first piece to mark the second half of the first joint.
Cut the teeth out of the joint with a saw cutting slightly in from your marking to make sure the gap isn’t too big.
Clam the piece down with an sacrificial piece underneath, using a chisel knock the teeth out. My method makes a wall and cuts down. Some people prefer to work back from the outside to the wall
Check how close the joint is
Tidy up until they fit together
Measure the other end of your first finger using the marking gauge and a square
Repeat process for first finger
Make 4 sides for your box
Fit them together
Check your base is still the right size
Next I used a plough plane (learn what one is from Rex https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVssyHgqsf8)
Find a blade that is the closest possible that isn’t thicker than the walls of the box
set the blade in the plane to just below the fence
Set the depth stop
Set up the piece, making sure to clamp on a sacrificial piece.
Cut and turn until all 4 sides are done
Practice fit
If at this point you are making a lid, repeat the base trimming with the lid.
Trim inwards on the base/lid as needed.
Turn the box into a porcupine (glue and clamp)
Plane down the high edges
Sand next (with glue if your joints are as bad as mine)
If you are not making a lid skip to the finishing section
For the lid:
Make a mark with the marking gauge where you want the lid to go
Mark this depth on all four sides of the box
cut the corners with a saw
cut ever gentler angles from the corners until they are flat (ish)
Repeat until the top falls off
Use the big sanding surface to square the parts that meet
use the marking gauge to make a square baton
Plane the edges if it looks like mine
Use wizardry to work our how deep the lid pocket is
mark where the main box sits on the baton, add the pocket depth
cut off the top, just above the line, test fit
Sand as needed until it sits flush ( a shooting board could be used)
Use the test piece to get your height for all of the batons
cut to height then cut the other 3 batons
Test fit
sand until it closes
sand a chamfer on all of the batons. This should go from the height of the baton to the height of the box line
Glue in (I used sacrificial pieces to protect the work)
make sure it closes
sand through the grits ( I started at 100 and worked up because of earlier sanding ) clamping the lid in place so it’s where I want it to sit
Danish oil and blue towel to apply (I didn’t have microfiber like a good woodworker)
apply until it looks damp taking off excess
wait for it to dry
