Skip’s Memory Box

I needed something special and handmade for my nephew and his wonderful bride. We had stopped by to see their new house and to get an idea for a piece of furniture. They were already furnished, so my wife suggested a Memory Box. This project was featured in Woodsmith vol 29 #174.

Joinery is dadoes on the front and back to the bottom and the ends are doweled. The jigs had to be spot on for drilling the dowel holes. I used 5mm barrel hinges for the top and made a drilling jig to fit over the parts being drilled. The dadoes were cut from the center out on both sides so a center hole would match the top and bottom. The jig was then registered to the ends of the top and back. The jig had to be oriented to each piece correctly to assure correct alignment of the hinges.

The top was shortened for clearance with the Cocobolo sides. For this I used playing cards placed at the stop (previously set to cut the pieces to length) on my TS crosscut slide, then doubling the cards for the opposite side. It was a lot easier than just measuring.

Since the top is curved, I made several lengthwise rips with the blade set at an angle tangent to the prospective curve on each side. Final curvature was completed with a lot of hand work. Due to the nature of the different grain orientations, sanding was the best option.