Shaker Oval Box – #4 Soaking Box, Bending, Tacking & Fitting Bottom

After giving it some thought on what to do in order to get something, 4” X 30” X 2” deep for soaking I ended up building a waterproof insulated box.  It is made out of 3/16“ plywood underlayment reinforced with ½” cedar strips lined with ¾” Styrofoam, all scraps from other projects.  The Styrofoam is friction fit into the box and fastened to the plywood with caulk.  I had a partially used tube of roofing sealant that I liberally applied to all the joints and where the foam met the plywood edges.  I thought that would seal the joints but was still concerned about everything being waterproof.  A partially used gallon can of elastomeric roof coating seemed like the thing to use so I gave the inside 4 thick coats.  After drying for a few days I tested it by filling the pan/box with water and letting it set overnight, no leaks at all.  My only concern is how it will react to being filled with boiling water which I will find out when I use it.  However, because I live at 4,200' water boils at 204 degrees so it's not quite as hot as at lower elevations.

Completed Soaking Box

Cherry Soaked and Ready to bend

With everything in place to actually make the box I started in the kitchen by bringing 2 quarts of water to a boil then taking it out to the shop and pouring it into the soaking pan.  Next was to add the cherry pieces to be bent, a weight to hold them under water and last some Styrofoam pieces on top to help hold the heat in.  A careful check revealed no leaks or other problems.

After soaking for about 10 minutes I took the cover off and went to pull the first piece out burning my fingertips.  The Styrofoam insulation certainly kept the water hot. Using a small screwdriver to pop each piece out solved that problem.  The photos below show the process starting with taking the wood out of the soaking pan, bending it, making a reference mark for alignment when I tack it together and alignment to that mark with the form removed.  When the piece is bent I need to hold it together and not let the tails go because I was worried that if I did they would spring up and split the band where they come together.

Bending the Body of the Box

Now it’s on to installing the tacks using the clinch anvil.  Those little tacks were the dickens to get in place. 

Copper Tacks

First I have one hand holding the bent piece together and aligned on the clinch anvil while keeping the tails down.   The other hand puts the tacks in the predrilled holes then hammers them into place driving them through the overlapped layer onto the anvil where they bend over and clinch holding things tightly together.  I am left handed so of course I used my left hand to hold everything together and align the piece on the anvil.  That left my right hand to install the tacks and hammer them into place.  Maybe not the best situation particularly since the picture shows how close my fingers are to the tacks.  The tacks did get hammered in place but then the tips of my left hand got whacked a few times too.  Next time I will be doing the holding with my right hand and hammering with my left hand.

Hammering the Tacks in Place

With the tacks all in place the plugs are added to make sure the bent piece dries to match the shape of the form.

Bent, Tacked & Plugged Body ready for Drying

Once I had the body done I could bend and tack the band for the lid.  Rather than being bent around the form it is bent around the just completed body.  Other than that the process is the same.

Bending the Lid Band

Here with both the body and the lid are formed they just need to sit and dry out for a few days.

After drying out I removed the plugs and inspected both the body and the lid bands.  There were a couple of tacks that had not been driven completely flush so using a hammer and the anvil I hammered them flat, an easy fix.  Here is what the tacks look like from the inside.  You can see how they have been bent over clinching things together when they came through the wood and hit the anvil.

Clinched Tacks

However, when I looked closely at the end of the tails I noticed that while drying they had straightened out a little bit and were standing away from the body. 

Tail Standing out from Top Band

Not a big problem but it looked like a place where something could catch and break the tip of the tail off.  I decided to fix by using a small thin snap bladed utility knife to slide a single drop of glue under the tail then clamp it in place.

A few hours later I took the clamp off and now the end of the tail conforms to the rest of the curve.

Fixed Problem with Tail

Checking Moisture Content in Cedar Botttom

The next step is to cut and install the bottom.  For these two boxes I will use white cedar.  I had purchased some green ½” thick by 5½“ wide cedar dog-eared fencing planks for a future project some 6 months ago.  When selecting I spent time carefully sorting through the stack to get quarter sawn clear pieces, probably 1 in 20 met my requirements.  At that time their moisture content was near 30% so they were in no way dry or ready to be used, they even felt wet when touched.  I stickered the group, let them sit and now when I check the moisture content it’s around 5% which is just fine.

These boards are fairly rough so after cutting the length I needed the next step is to sand them smooth and flat.  There was just a little cup but the thickness sander took that out.  When flattened and smoothed they end up about 7/16” thick.  As per my usual practice I let the piece sit for a couple days to see if it was stable, it was.  For the #3 box the board is wide enough to get the bottom out of a single piece,  However, for the #4 box I have to glue two pieces together.

Gluing up Blank for Large Box Bottom

A little care in matching the grain gives me a blank where the joint in nearly invisible.

The only thing remaining in the preparation was to mill the boards down to the finished thickness of 5/16” which I did using the thickness sander.  Now I could place the body on the blank and carefully trace around inside it.

Body and Traced Outline for Bottom

With the shape outlined next is to cut the blank on the bandsaw.  This is just a rough cut staying about a sixteenth inch away from the line.

Rough Bandsawn Cedar Bottom

To precisely fit the bottom to the body I use the disk sander.  Because I want a slight taper to the edge I adjust the sander table a half a degree out of square.

Disk Sander Set for .5 Degree Angle

Taking my time on the disk sander I get a snug fit with only a couple points that have any gap and those are only a few hundredths of an inch wide.  Interestingly enough the few gaps that show up on the bottom do not go all they through to show up on the inside of the box.

Next Up – Installing Bottom & Top, Filling the Gaps