How to Make a Tea Box with Dovetails - FineWoodworking https://www.finewoodworking.

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PROJECTS AND PLANS

Dovetailed Tea Box

This project offers a variety of techniques in
a small package.
By Michael Pekovich | #269–July/August 2018 Issue

Synopsis: A study in texture and contrast, this tea box is essentially a box
within a box. The outer box is wire-brushed wenge with proud dovetails. The
liner is a mitered box made of a smooth, contrasting wood that offers a nice
surprise when the box is opened. The base, ebony clasp, and hemp cord add
detail
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instructions on make it easy to cut the joinery and fit the boxes to one another.
You’ll also get a tip on how to use magnets to join the halves of the clasp.

For some reason, tea tastes better coming out of a dovetailed box
rather than the cardboard box from the grocery store. For me, tea is
about taking a break. The time it takes to steep is just as important as
the drinking of it. So anything that adds to that experience, whether
it’s a teapot or cup or box, can make a difference. For this particular
box, I had imagined something like an oyster: a wenge exterior acting
as a rough, rocklike shell and a bird’s-eye maple liner providing an
iridescent interior.

Video: How to create a textured finish with a wire brush

The box turned out to be a study in texture. The proud dovetails, the
wire-brushed wenge, the hemp cord, and the bandsawn surface of the
clasp
You all combine
have to create
1 free article Start
a box that
remaining. is your FREE trial to touch as it is
as interesting
to look at. For an object that sees as much handling as a box, that’s an

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to look at. For an object that sees as much handling as a box, that’s an
important thing.

Work from the outside in

The box is fairly straightforward to build. I glue up the dovetailed
sides, capturing the tongue-and-groove top and bottom, and then
make a sawcut right through the box, separating the lid from the base.
I then build a liner and add it to the inside.

Dovetailing the box is the place to start. To create the proud dovetails,
set a marking gauge a little wider than the stock thickness. When
laying out the tails, make the tail that will be sawn through to remove
the lid a little wider than the others to account for the sawkerf.

Once the tails are cut, I use a couple of tricks to make cutting the pins
a little easier. First, I apply painter’s tape to the end grain. This will
help to highlight the otherwise invisible knife lines on the hard, dark
endhave
You grain. Before
1 free layout
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remaining. to the
Start your exact
FREE trial size of the end of
the board instead of folding it over the corners, which could throw off

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the board instead of folding it over the corners, which could throw off
alignment when scribing the pins. Second, I use a jig to help position
the parts accurately for scribing. The jig is a rectangle of 1/4-in. MdF
with a pine fence glued along one edge. A groove in the pine helps to
secure it to the MdF and allows for slight adjustments when gluing.
use a combination square to check the fence for square while the glue
is still wet and adjust as necessary.

From Fine Woodworking #269

To view the entire article,

please click the View
PDF button below.

More on FineWoodworking.com:

!"How To Cut Dovetails on the Tablesaw – Make better, faster

through-dovetails, with a trick for perfect half-blinds, too
!"Secrets to a Perfect Mitered Box – How to create a seamless grain
match and gap-free joints
!"Tool Test: Marking Gauges – What really matters in a marking
gauge, and which ones make the cut

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