Not musical; a watch box make

Sporky

I figure at least some of you enjoy any old make, so here goes.

I have few watches now. I like them; they're pretty and the engineering tickles my brain. But they are not neatly arranged, and it's about time I make something useful, so I am making a box to keep watches in. Three of mine are solar, so it will have a transparent lid.

First step - planning. Some measuring suggested 55mm wide sections, and I have six. Into Rhino3D and I came up with this - I'll work out details as I go, but the dimensions are now set. I'll build it as a sealed box, then cut the lid off and remount it.

  
To the workshop! 

Sporky

Ooh, a lovely bit of (I think) London Plane from the bargain bin at Surrey Timbers. I've had this at least five years. First cut two strips from it.

 
Trim them to 55mm tall all the way along (bandsaw, then planer, then thicknesses). 

 
Next each of those is sliced (and planed etc) into a 9mm section for the sides, and a 5mm section for dividers. I forgot to take a photo of that, but here are the end sides.

 
The to the router table to cut the housings for the 5mm acrylic top and 3mm hardboard base (same slot because it'll have velvet too).

 

Sporky

Next the mitre guillotine to trim the sides exactly to length and put the 45° angle on. This is a lovely, lovely tool, leaves the edges smooth like glass.

 
Ta-da. 

 
Slightly fuzzy on the slots, that'll clean up with a scraper later. Next I have to figure out the dividers. Here they are (plus a spare) cut to size using the chopsaw and tablesaw. 

 
Decided to do mortice and tenon (ish) ends. Test cut into some scrap so I can check fit, then the tenk s done with the router table. 

 
And a test fitting - nicely snug. Cleaning up still needed mind. 

 

Sporky

And then the current state - I'll continue next weekend. 


The hardboard and velvet base will slide in under the dividers. I did also get some tiny cheap hinges:

 
And did some test cuts in some scrap. Fiddly but doable. 

 
You may just be able to see a little dowel too - mitred corners aren't strong, so I'll be pinning the corners after gluing - I prefer that to using keys as its easier, stronger, and less "obvious". 

Sporky

I forgot a picture - this is the set-up on the router table to cut the slots in the sides for the dividers. The two shop-stops set the ends of the cuts, the fence sets where they are along the sides. It's all an Incra set-up; horribly expensive, crap instructions, but once it's assembled and fettled it's really, really accurate and repeatable. Superb dust control too. 

 
The resulting mortices (for want of a more accurate term) - all the exact same depth and length, at exactly 60mm spacing. 

 
The London Plane is very, very pretty. Some tear-out though, the grain is a bit odd. 

Sporky

Next jobs are:

Cut the base to size and glue the velvet on
Cut the lid acrylic to size
Sand everything
Fill any tearout
Apply finish (polyacrylic) except to the mitres
Size the mitres (as in paint them with a 50-50 glue/water solution) 
Glue up
Pin the corners
Cut off the lid
Finish the cut edges
Cut the hinge rebates
Reattach the lid
Possibly pack teeny wedges in the slots under the base
Profit! 

Couple of weekends worth, I reckon. 

Jez6345789

lovely looking forward to the 12 string version ha ha

stickyfiddle

Nice  

I really ought to get some proper storage for watches. They currently live in a (admittedly very high quality) cardboard box...

Sporky

I was just going to make a tray, but Lady BMcH said I should be brave and do new things. I've not done many hinges before, but the router table should make them easier. 

ThePrettyDamned

That is really cool! I like how London plane looks. I've seen some nice guitars with it, very unusual compared to more common stuff. 

Sporky

Quite hard to find these days, I believe. The plank I got isn't even a particularly good bit, but at £20 I wasn't going to miss it.

I think this lot came from Hampton Court. If i remember correctly Surrey Timbers were asked what they'd charge to take away eight or so mature London Planes, and were there before the phone was hung up. That must have been a massive pay day for them.

Kittyfrisk

Nice work, London Plane is beautiful wood. I am jealous of your tools, workshop & skills... dammit!

Sporky

I haven't done anything more, on account of I am very tired and have a mild lurgy. Perchance next weekend will be more productive.

Sporky

Not a lot of progress - today I ground a needle down to a stent, and started on filling the bits of tearout with polyacrylic.

elstoof

Sporky said:

Quite hard to find these days, I believe. The plank I got isn't even a particularly good bit, but at £20 I wasn't going to miss it.

I think this lot came from Hampton Court. If i remember correctly Surrey Timbers were asked what they'd charge to take away eight or so mature London Planes, and were there before the phone was hung up. That must have been a massive pay day for them.

There’s a bit of it knocking around at the moment, a number of planes were chopped around Euston to make way for HS2. Pricey stuff though, the co-op woodwork shop I use has a guy who processes it there

Sporky

Interesting - and Surrey Timbers have a few slabs in. Fairly brutal money...

elstoof

About £3.5k per m3 here 

https://www.fallenandfelled.co.uk/products/london-plane-timber

Sporky

Nice - thank you. Some nice pieces there at prices I can stand... 

Sporky

Did a bit more today.

All the bits cleaned up and scraped, then polyacrylic finish applied, scraped back, reapplied - it'll need a few more coats but the finish will still be really thin.


Cut a bit of hardboard (from an old set of Ikea drawers, I think) for the base - this is about a millimetre smaller in each dimension than the slot it'll go into, to allow for any movement in the sides - and covered it in a thin layer of Titebond, which is then left to go tacky.


Then the velvet goes on, and another test assembly - I've had to shave the dividers down by about half a millimetre to get the ends to sit right. I'm not sure if the timber moved a bit after thicknessing or if I was a bit too accurate measuring -  the dividers need a little bit of "float".


Lots still to do, but it's starting to get there.

Sporky

Also I discovered why it isn't fitting together quite right. These are the long sides.



I've decided to cheat; I've adjusted the dividers to match the curvature of the sides, then they'll be glued into place. The not-straight-ness won't be noticeable in the finished thing. It's maybe 0.75mm over about 40cm.

I've finished the finishing - a few more coats of polyacrylic, scraped back, then a go over with some things I bought years ago that are like scotchbrite pads in different grades, so it's now got a soft satin sheen and just enough lacquer to protect the wood.

Today I will cut the acrylic for the lid, and start the glue-up. I did get the strap clamps set up yesterday, but I might change to using the threaded box clamps instead as they're a bit easier to get square. Not sure yet.

nero1701

Looking good