Making a Hexagonal Box

        As a way to practice miter joints and solid wood edge banding, I made this small hexagonal box from some Yellow Poplar and Cherry off-cuts I found around my school's shop. The inspiration and much of the guidance for this box came from Clark Kellogg's article in Fine Woodworking #285, 'Hexagonal Boxes Are Little Gems.' In the end, it was a great exercise in precision woodworking using both hand and power tools alike.

Making the Outer Box - Mitered Sides and Rebates

        After milling the poplar to ⅜" thickness and ripping to 2 ⅝" width for the box height, I set up the table saw to cut the sides.

Using a stop block on a sled, I cut six successive pieces from the single board to their final length, allow for a continuous grain wrap on five sides of the box. While it's possible to match all six sides by re-sawing, the off-cut I found was too thin, so this method worked best. 

        Next, using a Digital Level Box I set my blade to 60° to cut the miters on all my side pieces. To cut the rebate for the lid and bottom in each side, I use a sacrificial fence clamped to my table saw fence and raise the blade to ³⁄₁₆" height. While normally I would use a dado to match the depth of the cut, since I only have a rip and cross cut blade at home, I made successive cuts to achieve the depth of the rebate. The rebate is sized so part of the lid protrudes above the box, creating space for the solid wood edge banding. After sanding the insides of the side pieces, I glued up the sides using packing tape wrapped around the box to maintain clamping pressure on the joints.

Lids & Edge Banding

Shooting Board Setup with 60° Stop For
Mitering Edge Banding & Fine Tuning Length

 

        To make the lid, I measured the inner length of the box sides and used a 30-60-90 triangle to draw a hexagon on a plywood off-cut. I then aligned my miter gauge with the drawn lines and cut the hexagon, adjusting the fit as needed. While this method worked to produce a decent fit, I would most likely make a hexagon cutting sled jig if I were to do this project again for more accurate results. For the glue-up, I use packing tape tightly wrapped around the sides of the box to keep pressure.

       I decided to use Walnut for the edge banding on the lid, as well as Maple edge banding on the bottom to add some contrast. I dimensioned the edge banding slightly larger than the gap between the lid and sides, first cutting six pieces slightly oversized with a hand saw, then used a shooting board with a 60° stop to trim the miters and fit the strips to the appropriate length. After gluing the edge banding and letting it dry, I planed it slightly proud of the box sides and lid, then sanded it flush.

Testing Edge Banding for Fit (Left) & Dry Assembly Before Gluing (Right)

 

Cutting The Lid Off & Making the Inner Box

Box After Cutting Lid Off  & Light Sanding

        To cut the lid off, I first marked a pencil line ¾ of the way up from the bottom of the box and raised the table saw blade just shy of the side's thickness. After passing each side through, I finished the cut with a hand saw, which, in my experience, is more accurate than cutting through fully with shims. I then flattened the cut edges by rubbing the two halves on sandpaper taped to my bench, ensuring the lid and body closed without gaps.

        To make the Cherry inner box, I repeated the process used for the outer box, making sure to cut the sides slightly oversized to fit the opening, then sanding them to a snug fit after gluing together. Then, using the lid as a reference, I planed and sanded the inner box's height to allow the lid to close fully. This method is safer and just as quick as ripping the pieces to height before gluing, which would have been a tight cut. Once everything fit nicely, I glued the two boxes together.

Gluing the Inner & Outer Boxes Together

Inner Box Glue Up

 

 

 

Chamfer Profile & Finishing Touches

Finished Box With Chamfer Profile

        In order to add a bit of visual interest to the box, I chamfered the edges where the lid of the box meets the body using my block plane at a 45° angle, making just a few passes. After sanding the whole box to 220 grit, I applied three coats of Bulls Eye Shellac, scuff sanding with 400 grit after drying to smooth the finish. Overall, I was really happy with how the box turned out and got to practice a bunch of fundamental techniques.