PERSONALIZED BANDSAW BOX

There are millions of bandsaw boxes out there. I came up with an original design, combining one with string art.

I’ll quickly run through the basic steps. After gluing up a 4” thick block of walnut and maple, I cut out the shape of a “B”. I always make my bandsaw boxes no more than 4” deep, so that I can use my 4” oscillating sander for sanding the inside curves. The next step would be to slice a ¼” off of the back of the “B”. The picture here shows the following step of me cutting the left side off of the “B”.

Now that the left side is off, I can access the inside of the box to cut out the drawers.

Next I cut a ¼” slice again, off of the back of the drawers. After that I can cut out the drawer cavity.

All the parts are ready for sanding now. The flat back slices should be sanded on the inside of the slice. And the insides of the drawer cavities are easier to sand at this point also.

Here’s where the oscillating sander comes in handy. Try not to remove any more material than necessary. The bandsaw boxes look nicer if the gap between the box and the drawer is minimal. For this reason you may not want to concern yourself with getting the inside of the box, as well as the outside of the drawer, perfectly smooth.

After you’re happy with the sanding so far, you can glue the ¼” backs back on. Be careful not to get any glue ooze out inside the box and drawers. It’s really hard to wipe out the glue, and you won’t be able to sand it off later on the insides.

The left side can be glued back on now.

I chose to have extending maple fronts on my drawers. Here I am gluing on the maple scraps, which I had already sanded smooth.

Then cut close to the shape of the drawer with the bandsaw. After that I used the oscillating sander to sand the front smooth with the drawer.

The rectangular side section is not solid wood. I just mitered all the edges to make a hollow box. I could have made it solid, but that would have just used more material. I traced the shape of the “B” on the box. Then cut the shape on the bandsaw.

With a little touch up sanding of the curve, I got a perfect match for gluing the two parts together. It was a close enough fit that I could have used wood glue, but with the end of the rectangle being all end grain, I thought it best to use epoxy glue for this. Wood glue isn’t the best adhesive for end grain joints.

I drew out a sketch of letters and marked where to drill holes for the string art. For the twine that I used, a 5/32” hole was a good size hole for doubling up the twine. I should mention, after drilling all the holes and the finish sanding, I applied my finish coat, before working with the string. A couple drops of clear glue holds it in place. I had to force the glue into the hole, with a toothpick.

You can’t go wrong with the combination of walnut and maple for a nice looking piece.