Bound for Chicago

Ready To Go!

     Well, I was able to keep to the timeline and the box is now packaged and ready to bring to the post office first thing in the morning.  I tell you, this is one big cigar box!  I'm anxious to find out what its intended purpose will be.  To get this job there have been 18 Etsy convo's (that's what communication is called on Etsy) but it has worked out.  This is a paint grade project made of Baltic Birch plywood and Maple.        
     As usual,  it was built as a solid cube and then cut apart on the tablesaw.

Trimming the "Flash"

     The process I use is to cut two opposing sides completely through and then lower the blade to leave just a thin sliver of wood for cutting the other two sides.  The prevents the box from closing over the blade and creating a snipe at the end of the cut.  This sliver of wood is easily cut with either a utility knife or saw.  Then, all that remains is to plane it smooth.  That pile of tape is what was around the perimeter of the box to make the glue clean up easier.
     In the previous blog I mentioned trying the method of making an integral  dust check by cutting a groove before assembling the box and that worked well.  In the picture above you can see the step on the inside of the lid.  Here is a picture of the box and lid where it's easier to see how the dust check works.

View of Dust Check

     A slight chamfer was planed on the dust check to relieve the edges before glueing and pinning it into place.  Probably the largest lift off lid box I've made to date.  Next comes the shipping.  The shipping weight is 10 pounds so I was sort of apprehensive.  When I gave the quote I figured about half of that weight.  Turns out that USPS priority mail with an expected Wednesday delivery is about $40.00. For comparison, FedEx is asking $102.51 and it gets there the same day except they guarantee delivery before 12pm.  I know which one of those would be my option.