Test Box

I have an old counter-top that I intend to turn into a document box for Annette. I didn't know exactly what timber it is, or how it would be to work, so I made this little box — it's only 140 mm square — as a test piece.

I had thought, when I first looked at it, that the piece of wood was a single slab, but as I got rid of the horrible dark varnish and smoothed it, it became apparent that it's been laminated out of a multitude of small pieces. That's OK, though a bit of a disappointment.

The project showed me a few things: first, that I'm way out of practice with my dovetails, and second, that I should have allowed more for the saw kerf where I split the lid from the body of the box. Also that my Ryobi table saw is pretty shit, but then I already knew that.

I'm not much closer to determining what the timber is. It's quite fibrous, and tends to saw rather ragged. I think the most likely candidate is sapele.