P.O. Box Banks

I bought the Post Office box doors on eBay about 5 years ago.  I began to make wooden boxes for them, but they were coming out so lousy that I put the doors away and tossed the boxes.  But, after making the keepsake box with all the finger joints, I was motivated to try again.
Here are the doors:

I cleaned them up a bit, I thought they were brass, but looking at some areas on the inside that were untarnished shows that they're copper, and if I got some really strong cleaner, I could have them shining like new pennies.  But I didn't want that, so I cleaned them but left the patina.

I cut the finger joints using the router table:

I stacked four pieces, which raises the risk. A mistake will ruin them all at once!

Joints cut:

It takes some fussing and trimming to get them to actually go together:

Then there is the rounding and sanding:

Then a slot is cut to fit in the back piece:

I also made the base pieces, and did some sanding and staining:

After gluing the pieces together, I glued in spacers that will actually hold the doors.

I also cut and sanded all the ebony pegs I needed, and set them in.

The base is screwed on:
                                            

The spacers have to be adjusted to accommodate the doors, they are not really square.

I made some coin-slots out of ebony, and set them into the top.

To get the recess the correct depth, and flat on the bottom, I used my Stanley 271 mini-router plane which I picked up that very morning at the old-tool swap meet.

Then I sanded the ebony piece and glued it in:

Then I screwed in the doors, which is kind of a hassle because there isn't enough room to fit in a drill or screwdriver.  But somehow it gets done.

I took some glamour shots:

The request was for a keepsake box, a medium-sized box with a tray inside divided into eight compartments.

I decided to make it in the Greene and Greene style, and use mahogany.


I cut the pieces for the inside tray and the walls of the box.  The tray uses a locking rabbet joint, which can be made with a few table-saw cuts.  The finger joints on the outside pieces were cut using the router-table.

Here is the dry-fit:

I've had a bit of a bad time with finger joints in the past.  Previously, I had tight-fitting fingers, and everything sanded well, but glue squeezed all over the place, and it was a real pain to clean up, especially on the end-grain part of the finger joint.  And when you think everything is perfect, you put on the finish, and some more glue-spots reveal themselves.

This time I decided to sand and finish the pieces before gluing them together.  I had to tape off all the glue surfaces before staining.

After staining:

The more clamps, the better:

The finger joints are reinforced with screws, and the screws are hidden by ebony squares.

The rails that would hold the tray were glued into the slots:

Next, I started on the lid.
I have an old box of veneer, it was cut about 100 years ago.  The ads in the newspaper padding the veneer were for new cars!

I glued two pieces to the front and back of some thin plywood.  Again, the more clamps, the better.  Thick plywood on the outside distributes the pressure, and the aluminum foil is to prevent any stray glue from gluing the thick plywood boards to the project.

                                   

Clamps off:

Cut to size:

The veneered piece sits in a frame connected with bridle joints.

I made a jig to hold the strips of wood vertically, and push them over the blade.  It slides over the table saw fence.

Dry fit:

The joints sanded, and a slot cut to accept the panel:

The glue surfaces taped, and stain applied:

The lid glued together:

Hinges installed:

I still had to finish the tray. I first cut a slot to hold the bottom piece, and glued it together.

I put some rosewood strips on the top edge of the tray for trim.

I stained the tray, and cut the dividers from 1/8 in thick stock.

I made little tabs out of ebony that would hold the dividers in place, but still allow you to remove them.

I made a little brace to help me glue the tabs in the correct spots.

I used spray adhesive to glue velvet to some thick cardboard, and put that beneath the dividers.

Before I shipped it out, I took a few glamour shots!