2. Workshop

Bandsaw Box

A new tool calls for some play!
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I started this project the day I obtained a used bandsaw. First off I gained some inspiration by finding someone to build a bandsaw box for and then asking them what sort of shapes they'd like, since you can pretty much make anything with a bandsaw. Then I took a block of redwood I had picked up down on the California Coast and sketched out a shape on it roughly and took it to the bandsaw.
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I started this project the day I obtained a used bandsaw. First off I gained some inspiration by finding someone to build a bandsaw box for and then asking them what sort of shapes they'd like, since you can pretty much make anything with a bandsaw. Then I took a block of redwood I had picked up down on the California Coast and sketched out a shape on it roughly and took it to the bandsaw.

  • I started this project the day I obtained a used bandsaw. First off I gained some inspiration by finding someone to build a bandsaw box for and then asking them what sort of shapes they'd like, since you can pretty much make anything with a bandsaw. Then I took a block of redwood I had picked up down on the California Coast and sketched out a shape on it roughly and took it to the bandsaw.
  • With the shape cut and honed on a belt sander I added a rounded edge on the router, which eventually turned out to be superfluous after further shaping.
  • To cut out the drawers I first cut off the back of the box so it will be clean and the grain will help hide the glue lines when putting it back together.
  • I penciled in the shapes of the drawers by hand, and then starting with a tip of one teardrop I cut in from the side and cut both of the drawers out.
  • With the drawers removed I glued the body back together on the saw kerfs, and set it aside to dry while I made the drawers.
  • The drawers were made roughly the same as the body, except I cut off both the front and back, and then cut out the hollow from what was left, and then glued everything back together.
  • I wound up rounding all the corners of the whole project by hand using sandpaper and going through a few grits. Looking back I should have touched up the insides prior to gluing the back back on, but such is life.
  • The finishing took the bulk of the time on this project. I had the shape glued up and finished in about a day, but then I spent a couple months learning and perfecting the finish look I wanted. I wound up using a water based polycrylic, building up a few layers to a good thickness, and then sanding it to a little flatter sheen.
  • The sanding process took the longest, carefully working up until I had a uniform sheen with no shiny spots in the texture divots.
  • To space the drawers properly against gravity I added very small runners on the bottom of them made from fossilized mastadon ivory.
  • I shaped the ivory runners very carefully on the belt sander, and only had one mishap where the runner got sucked in and eaten!
  • Finished sets of drawer runners made of fossilized mastadon ivory.
  • To install the ivory runners I hand cut notches for them. I did a great job cutting perfectly straight lines, but I learned the proper method for doing small inlays like this much after the fact when it was far too late to do it right!
  • I laid the runners in place and epoxied them solid, and then filled the cracks around them with wood filler.
  • The finished bandsaw box!
  • The finished bandsaw box!
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