Another Air Force Retirement Gift

Those Air Force guys and gals get all the coolest gifts. I'm working on another retirement gift, and this one is particularly full of awesome-ness.

I made the shell of the box, as well as the top and bottom panels. Then - the top panel was sent off to be laser engraved with all the artwork.

The only way to make a box like this is to wrap the grain all the way around it, so that it matches on each corner.


This box will eventually have a coin ledge inside it, so I fabricated one, and tested the fit,

measuring carefully, so that when I eventually cut the box apart, I cut in the right location.

Here, I dry fit the box together, to make sure everything fits. If I'd spread glue and then assembled this, I would have been a world of hurt - this box didn't fit together at all! I ended up having to trim it down two times, in order to get the corners to close.

I was careful with the glue, and cleaned up the excess with a chisel before it had completely hardened.

Once dry, I marked the location of the lid

and then set the fence on the saw for the cut.

People are always surprised to see a box glued up as a solid cube, and then cut apart. But it's the best way to ensure that the grain matches, and that the top and bottom corners match perfectly.

Here, the box is re-assembled - you can't even see the seam, can you?

Now you can.

A little routing on the top and bottom softens the appearance of the box.

I love the look of this no-mortise hinge, and since I had a couple of different sizes, I set them on the edge, to decide which looked best.

Yup, this is the one.

I'll set the hinges tomorrow, and hopefully, it'll be ready for oil.

Meanwhile - speaking of the Air Force - here's a picture of an old friend that I'm very proud of - thanks for your service, Hillary! The last time I saw you, you were still in high school - now you're married and deployed - you be safe, Hilly!