Bandsaw boxes

[mklotz]

I needed a small box in which to store some small parts. I decided to try my hand at making a bandsaw box. The result with its drawer pulled out is on the left in the photo below...

The box was made from a single offcut of 2 x 4 lumber. Using the bandsaw I cut two narrow slices off the top and bottom to form what would become the top and bottom of the box. A large U-shaped chunk was then cut from the stock remaining after the slices were made. This chunk would ultimately form the drawer. The slices were glued back onto piece with the U-shaped hole to form the box body.

I cut a slice off the bottom of the U-shaped chunk; it will be the bottom of the drawer. Then the drawer was pierced with four through holes to contain the parts. The slice was glued onto the bottom to form the four resulting compartments.

This process went so well that I decided to see just how far I could take it. The results are shown on the right in the picture. Rather than making a drawer from the chunk, I repeated the process of slicing off tops and bottoms to form a new box. Its chunk was similarly treated until I had three drawers and a small chunk which I pierced. I could have continued the process, I suppose, and made a Matryoshka box but my patience wore thin.

When everything is nested back together, the boxes look like this...

Note how the grain pattern matches on box and drawer.

Wooden boxes to house beautiful homemade tools are desirable. Next time you need a box give this technique a try.