A Deacon of our church ask me to make another "Home Communion Box" for him. Of course I said yes but, I almost wish that I hadn't.
This was by far the most stubborn small box that I've made in a LONG time. I almost threw it away on at least four different occasions and, if I had had ANY more cherry wood, I would have.
As it was, I had exactly one 1" x 3-1/2" x 48" piece of cherry that my Bro. had given me that JUST was large enough and of course the Deacon insisted that he wanted cherry wood.
So here we go.....
After a visit from the Deacon, we measured the chalice, wafer canister, and small bottle for the "Blessed" wine to get a size for the box. We...He decided that he liked the sliding dovetail top that I often use and I kinda added that maybe I could make the handle instead of buying one.
So, the only metal in the whole thing is two 3/4" long pieces of 1/8" brass rod for hinge pins on the handle that won't be seen.
SO HERE WE GO!
I re-sawed the cherry down to a bit more than 3/8" thick and ran the two boards through the planer to get exactly 3/8" and as usual, the grain was a bit better on one side than the other so, we must keep that in mind and plan ahead for glue-up's.
Yep. the first mistake...At glue-up got two WELL glued-up pieces mismatched....Well, we'll use that one for the back.
I cut the pieces on the table saw to exact width and length....except one side piece was a bit short...Well, we'll use that one for the divider.
Went to the scroll saw to cut the finger joints (it's just easier for me when working on the small, thinner stock than the table saw). This part didn't go too bad.....the fingers that WEREN'T too tight, were too loose....Well, a little filing and filling will fix that.
While at the scroll saw, we will go ahead and do an inlay cross on the front. Made a quick pattern, found a piece of 3/8" maple to contrast with the cherry, stacked the wood and added the pattern, did a few test cuts to get the right angle for a good fit.
Drilled a tiny hole in the top of the stack, inserted the blade, made the cut, dismantled the stack, inserted the maple cross...PERFECT FIT!
Laid the top piece on the bench.....The cross is exactly ONE INCH closer to the bottom than the top!!
Oh well...Go ahead and just finish the darn thing!
Glued it all up and sanded it down. Made a handle and hinge pieces and installed them. Put on a coat of Rude and Crude, three coats of wipe on poly and three coats of paste wax. (Maybe if it is shiny enough, no one will notice all of the mistakes.
)
The job would require a sheet of self sticking felt for the inside. But, while I was buying the felt at Hobby Lobby, I may as well get two sheets anyway. Yep, I used both sheets before it was all said and done.
How many times would you have tossed the whole thing and started over? My guess is at least four times for me.
I,m going to tell the Deacon that if he has any problems with the box to JUST TRASH IT! I don't even want to touch it again!
Rog
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