Galoots Assembled,My next project in my suite of traveling furniture and
accoutrements is tomake a shaving box. As my inspiration, I have a Great
Uncle=E2=80=99s 19thcentury shaving box. Pictures are posted at _http:/-
/galootcentral.com/index.php?option=com_copperminevis&Itemid=2&place=
thumbnails&album=682_(http://galootcentral.com/index.php?option=com_cop-
perminevis&Itemid=2&place=thumbnails&album=682)
or_http://tinyurl.com/8a8r6r8_ (http://tinyurl.com/8a8r6r8)Details to go
with the photos:The box is 9 =C2=BC inches x 5 =C2=BC inches x 2 3/8
inches. The sides of the boxare 7/16 inch thick. The bottom of the box
is a scant 3/16th inch thickand the top is a scant 1/8th inch thick. The
lids to the two compartmentsinside the box are 3/32nd inch thick and the
interior dividers forming thevarious compartments are 3/32nd =E2=80=93
1/8th inch thick. With the exception ofthe of the somewhat off-kilter
diamond shaped inlay in the lid, all of woodappears to be the same,
although I don=E2=80=99t know what it is. The two liddedcompartments
each have a tiny turned knob; the smallest of the two knobs is3/16th
inch at its widest and appears to be made of horn. The larger knobis
9/32nd inch and I think is wood; at least it=E2=80=99s not translucent
as is thesmaller knob.All of the hardware is iron, and with the
exception of the two hinges inthe rear, is attached with pins rather
than screws. The hinges areinteresting in that they appear to have been
designed to hold the lid open at anangle. These hinges are two-piece in
that they consist of a typical leafhinge and under one leaf of each
hinge is a flat piece that sticks out in backand appears to be designed
to rest against a protrusion on one leaf of the hinge. I=E2=80=99m not
describing this as clearly as I want to, so I=E2=80=99ll uploadsome
closeup images of the hinges. I find it interesting the one of the
hinges has the flat piece installed toward the top of the box, and the
other hinge is installed with the flat piece installed toward the bottom
of the box. The mirror frame is attached in some way at the top so that
it pivots inand out. I can see no evidence of hinges, so there must be
pins into holesdrilled into the sides of the box. The frame holding the
mirror is mitered at the corners. At the two bottom corners of the
mirror frame there is a1/16th inch spline visible. The splines are not
of the same size nor arethey inserted in the same plane on each corner.
There does not appear tobe a similar spline at the top corners of the
mirror frame. The mirrorframe, like the sides of the box, is 7/16th
thick. The frame is 3/4 inch wideon the front side. The mirror is set
into a rabbet so that the mirrorsurface is 3/32nd inch from the top
surface of the frame. The width of themirror frame in back is 5/8th inch
Lightweight brown paper was glued onto theback of the frame. At this
point, here are my questions. 1. Ideas about what wood this might be
made of? Ditto the diamond inlay? 2. How does one make thin pieces for
the compartment dividers and lids =E2=80=94in this case 3/32nd inch
thick? I=E2=80=99ve never planed wood that is thatthin. 3. As you can
see in the photos, the joints at the corners of the boxneed a slot that
is 1/16th-3/32nd inch wide, I wonder how that was cut? The bottom of the
cut is quite flat, not as if it were cut with a saw. As always, thank
you for your help and support.Cheers,John John M. Johnston "There is a
fine line between hobby and mental illness." Dave Barry
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On Jun 24, 2012, at 7:18 PM, Sgt42RHR@a... wrote:
> My next project in my suite of traveling furniture and accoutrements
> is to> make a shaving box. As my inspiration, I have a Great Uncle=92s
> 19th> century shaving box. Pictures are posted at
> (http://tinyurl.com/8a8r6r8) [major snippage] here are my questions.>
> 1. Ideas about what wood this might be made of? Ditto the diamond >
> inlay?> 2. How does one make thin pieces for the compartment dividers
> and lids
> =97in this case 3/32nd inch thick? I=92ve never planed wood that is
> =that> thin.> 3. As you can see in the photos, the joints at the
> =corners of the box> need a slot that is 1/16th-3/32nd inch wide, I
> =wonder how that was cut? > The bottom of the cut is quite flat, not
> =as if it were cut with a saw.

Nice project. Small, but nice. In an effort to start toward some
answers:
        1) I also don't know, but I wonder how hard it seems to be.
           =46rom the colorand grain in the pics, it looks like it could
           be maple if hard, or pine if soft. I'm guessing hard. If you
           have Hoadley, a hand lens, and some endgrain, you should be
           able to find out more.
        2) I've hand planed quite a bit of Shaker box material to about
           that thin, in both maple and cherry. I suggest that you
           figure out your grain direction before trying to go very
           thin, then keep track of it, because soon the edge grain will
           be too thin to read. Keep the piece of stock as long as
           possible while planing, as you will need to clamp the near
           end and plane away from the clamp when it gets too thin to
           butt the far end up against bench stops. The lowest thing I
           have for that is the orange-headed Jorgensen bar clamps, but
           whatever stays out ofthe way of your plane best will work. In
           the final stages, scrapers are your friends, again working
           away from the clamped end. Only when you have enough thin
           area on a long piece of stock do you begin to cut out your
           little partitions and dividers.
        3) The corner joints look to me like they were cut by some sort
           of machine. If you was me I think I would try one thick or
           two thin dovetails at that point, rather than try to
           replicate your model on that detail. HTH Tom Holloway
           <http://furfortfunfacts.blogspot.com/>

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>
> On 6/24/2012 7:18 PM, Sgt42RHR@a... wrote:
>>       1.  Ideas about what wood this might be  made of?  Ditto the diamond
>> inlay?
> It looks like Maple from here and the insert could be walnut or 
> mahogany. I have seen the boxes made from all kinds of wood, Cherry 
> Walnut, mahogany and more.
>>      2.  How does one make thin pieces for  the compartment dividers and lids
>> —in this case 3/32nd inch  thick?  I’ve never planed wood  that is that
>> thin.
> Plane it in a longer strip, then scrape it to size.
>>      3.  As you can see in the photos, the  joints at the corners of the box
>> need a slot that is  1/16th-3/32nd inch wide, I wonder how that was  cut?
>> The bottom of the cut is quite flat, not as if it were cut with a  saw.
> Use a back saw. the fine set on it will look flat when the box is put 
> together.
>
> The pins that hold the mirror was most likely put in before the mirror 
> was put in the frame. I have seen one that hand 'L' shaped pins on the 
> back of the mirror frame that would let the user take it out of the 
> box, and hang it up by a loop on the back
>> As always,  thank you for your help and support.
>> Cheers,
>> John
>>   
>> John M. Johnston
>> "There  is a fine line between hobby and mental illness." Dave  Barry
>> ------
> I have been asked by a vender of reenactment stuff to make some 
> shaving boxes for him. (Why? this guys don't shave.) It is very 
> similar to yours, but with a slot for a sharpening stone and a mini 
> strop. He will be furnishing the stone and the brush container and the 
> soap cup. We'll see if he comes thur with stuff.
> -- 
>   
>   Richard
>    
>   Take a look at my mess and work.
>   http://www.PictureTrail.com/gallery/view?username=thewizz
>
> "Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good
with ketchup"
>

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Hi, John,

My first thought looking at the photos was "Maple, maybe birch," but
it's pretty much up in the air unless you get a clean freshly-cut view
of the endgrain.

I've made a number of bookbindings in a medieval style using a spine
piece about the size of your dividers, also various tools of similar
size and thickness. With short, relatively narrow pieces like this,
planing them flat is (I would guess) a lot more straightforward than for
the long, wide pieces Tom Holloway was describing for Shaker boxes.
Although the pieces are thin, they are not long, which means they don't
go all bendy when you try to plane them against a stop; especially if
you trap the whole piece under the sole of a big plane.

There are two sine qua nons: you have to be able to plane against a stop
without securing the back end of the workpiece, and you need a wooden
stop that you can ease out by fine increments so that it sticks out even
less than the thickness of the workpiece.

Take each divider off the edge of a thick piece of wood. Allowing for
the thickness of the bottom and the lid, you may/should be able to use
dividers 1-3/4" wide or less. So start with a short plank of two-by and
plane one edge flat. Cut off this edge to the thickness of the intended
divider plus enough to plane. To plane the other side flat, cut the
piece almost to length. Then put it against the bench stop, push down
the stop with the plane so that it is sticking out the thickness of the
wood, and then push the stop down a smidgen more. Use a big plane so
that the workpiece is controlled under the sole. Lift the plane off the
wood for each stroke, don't scrub it back and forth.

When you put the dividers into the box you will see remarkably small
differences in the thickness of the upper edge. Just correct near the
edge with a fine-set block plane; you needn't correct the whole
thickness, thinning on a half-inch width should be enough.

If you consider absolute evenness a requirement, then I think there are
some luthiers' jigs and fixtures for getting the thickness perfect. And
some are, IIRC, shown in Robert Wearing's books. One approach is to
build side walls for the plane to bottom out on. Another is to build a
jig with a scraper blade, and to pull the wood through with pincers or
pliers. I wouldn't know details of those, though.

Its always an inspiration seeing photos of your work. I hope this
is some use.

Tom Conroy


John Johnston wrote:

"The=C2=A0 box is 9 =C3=82=C2=BC inches x 5 =C3=82=C2=BC inches x 2 3/8
inches.=C2=A0 The sides of the box are 7/16 inch=C2=A0 thick.=C2=A0 The
bottom of the box is a=C2=A0 scant 3/16th inch thick and the top is a
scant 1/8th inch=C2=A0 thick.=C2=A0 The lids to the two compartments
inside the box are 3/32nd inch thick and the interior=C2=A0 dividers
forming the various compartments are 3/32nd =C3=A2=E2=82=AC=E2=80=9C
1/8th inch thick...

"At=C2=A0 this point, here are my questions. =C2=A0 =C2=A0 "1.=C2=A0
Ideas about what wood this might be=C2=A0 made of?=C2=A0 Ditto the
diamond inlay? =C2=A0 =C2=A0 "2.=C2=A0 How does one make thin pieces
for=C2=A0 the compartment dividers and lids =C3=A2=E2=82=AC=E2=80=9Din
this case 3/32nd inch=C2=A0 thick?=C2=A0 I=C3=A2=E2=82=AC=E2=84=A2ve
never planed wood=C2=A0 that is that thin..."


------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 6/25/2012 4:14 PM, Thomas Conroy wrote:

*<snick>*

If you consider absolute evenness a requirement, then I think there are some
luthiers' jigs and fixtures for getting the thickness perfect. And some are,
IIRC, shown in Robert Wearing's books. One approach is to build side walls for
the plane to bottom out on. Another is to build a jig with a scraper blade, and
to pull the wood through with pincers or pliers. I wouldn't know details of
those, though.

*<snick again>*

"At  this point, here are my questions.
    "1.  Ideas about what wood this might be  made of?  Ditto the
diamond inlay?
    "2.  How does one make thin pieces for  the compartment dividers
and lids â€�in this case 3/32nd inch  thick?  I’ve never planed
woodÂ
that is that thin..."

OR, if you want a really cool project that takes up a lot of room, and 
would make you the envy of galoots everywhere, you could make one of 
these ;-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33057984@N.../sets/72157629240869023/

Probably overkill, but hey! Think of the stuff you could make with it!
Don
-- 
The things which are advertised most are things you need least. - 
Notsurewho said that.
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