Welcoming 2013 And Using What I Have - Small Oval Box

I have learned over the years to never throw away something that might be able to be used. I learned this from my dad, Cecil. We always joked with my dad and told him to "throw that away." His response was always the same, "I might need that someday or worse, you might." He took saving things to the extreme! Although I do not save everything, when I am working with wood and I see a scrap of wood from a scroll cut and I always think to myself, "do I save that or throw it in the kindling pile?"

I love the thought of using odd items or scraps and making them into something. With that thought in mind, my scrap wood pile was getting a bit larger that what I have room to store so I started searching for a project to use some it.

That is when I thought about my Christmas gift from my son. He and his wife, Kim gave me a scroll saw pattern book called "Custom Wooden Boxes For The Scroll Saw." This book has all kinds of wooden boxes for the beginner to the advanced scroller. In that book I found a few small boxes in different shapes that were perfect for the scraps that I wanted to use.

These boxes can be made from any wood and a person can make them in several different ways. I glued scrap boards together to form a block and then cut the rings to form the box sides and a scrap of 1/4 inch scrap cut into an oval formed the box bottom.



The top of the box is formed in the same manner except only one ring is attached to the box top and it is slightly larger than the box rings from the bottom of the box. The knob on the top of the box is a compound cut.







Here are several views of finished box. The first is an angle shot of the box so that you can see that the knob is compound cut.



A side view:



And lastly a front view:



This is a relatively a small piece measuring 3 1/2 inches from the table to the top of the knob and about 3 1/2 inches at the widest part of the oval.

I love the way that the grain in the wood really shows in the ring layers and that each ring (even though the entire box is made of pine and is stained all in the same stain) is a different shade. I was very happy with this project and being able to use some of my scrap wood and turn it into a useful made this project all the sweeter.

I love taking a page out of my dad's book and saving those pieces of wood that are somehow just to big to throw away and then finding a use for them. I also love the fact that this project did not cost me anything to make.

Happy Crafting ! ! !

Brenda