NOTE: The version of this newsletter sent earlier was incomplete and not the version intended. Please excuse the error.

Jerry


Have you ever thought about how many everyday items depend on the classic box for their strength and functional utility? If you dissect the basic components of almost any form of household, office or workshop furniture, you will recognize the classic box as a major portion of each one’s structure.

Many tables are simply very shallow boxes turned upside down. They frequently have their “box bottoms” extended well beyond the perimeter of the sides, as larger surface areas are usually desired. The tables “sides” act as a framework to support its top, while positioning and anchoring its legs.

While cabinets come in all forms and sizes, they too are based on the simple box.

An office file cabinet is a rectangular box positioned on end with other boxes (drawers) placed on support brackets within the larger box that houses them. A desk is just a table resting atop cabinets placed at each end with a wide shallow drawer between them. Even a chair can be considered to be a basic box turned upside down, as the table, but having a back rest as an extension of the back side of the box, all perched atop a set of legs of appropriate height.

Our furniture at home is also based on the use of the simple box for almost every item you can think of. Just strip the comfortable cloth coverings from the sofa and chairs that help rest your weary bones at the end of a long day and you will find a framework that fits the basic box plan just as does the dresser in your bedroom or the cabinets in your kitchen.

So, how does the frugal woodworker make a box with simple tools and a sure-fire technique?

Why, we use a box, of course!

Well, we CAN use a ready-made box, IF we can find one that is sturdy enough and has been checked to make sure it is accurately made and fits our need for size in several different dimensions. Since our needs vary from project to project we either need a lot of such boxes, or something a bit more basic.

What we really need then is a jig. Something that will help us accurately position and hold the side and end pieces we make while we assemble them into each corner of the particular box needed for the current project. This jig must be made so that it presents two surfaces at an EXACT right angle we can then use as an alignment device to clamp our manufactured sides and ends to as we assemble them into our desired box structure. If we have a good level of patience we can get by with a single fixture, but most of us will probably want several.

I like to use inexpensive “C” clamps to hold each piece tightly against the fixture while the two are accurately glued, nailed, screwed or doweled together. This simple device, when used in conjunction with a flat level surface, will assure that everything is properly positioned during and after assembly.

The need for any precision or special tooling to assure proper engagement of dowel holes, for example, is completely eliminated. Such dowel holes can be hand drilled with any available device while the pieces are properly aligned and clamped together. Then the dowels are inserted with everything intact and the whole assembly is allowed to cure long enough to remain stable.

Nails, screws, or just glue? Same device – same technique. Again, the frugal woodworker has replaced the need for any investment in expensive equipment with something that is cost-free or very easily made. We like to call this, “Mind over money.”

So, how do we go about making such a jig anyway?

I made my first one starting with a piece of ¾” plywood that had a factory cut corner that I was able to verify was at an exact right angle. I proved this by cutting an 18-inch square that allowed me to scribe a line along one factory cut edge while the other one was pressed against a straight edge nailed to another piece of plywood. I then flopped the test piece over and tested the side used to scribe the line to verify that it was still exactly aligned with the scribed line. So, I then knew that the corner was an exact right angle and I did not need a carpenter’s square to prove it. In fact, this very corner has since been used to verify the accuracy of my carpenter’s square after dropping it.

I then fastened the faces of two 1x4’s to the verified accurate edges of the plywood, using glue and a pair of 2-inch by 2-inch angle brackets inside each 1x4. I further strengthened the assembly by adding cross bracing to the top of the 1x4’s, both at their ends and at their juncture.

This same unit has since been used to make two additional jigs. These feature the 1x4’s being fastened to the 3/4” plywood base via screws that pass through the plywood and into the bottom edges of the 1x4’s. The plywood extends beyond the outboard faces of the 1x4’s by about two inches. This allows me to use these jigs anywhere, as the plywood acts as an assured flat base to keep both planes of anything clamped to them in firm alignment.

Both of these jigs can best be used to help create accurate corners for larger items. For my smaller projects, I’ve collected several smaller heavy-duty metal boxes that are used in exactly the same way. Be observant and you will find some too.

Sure, you can always assemble a corner without a jig and then test it with a square and go on to check across diagonal corners of the box after all four corners are joined. But if it is not right, then you will have to force it into alignment and then do something to keep it there. I think if you will give this technique a try, you will consider it to be as helpful as having that third hand you often wished you had during some of those trying times in your workshop.

© August 2001 by Jerry Buerge