Let's try to make such an item as a box of wood with your own hands. What is this accessory useful for? Carved wooden caskets are perfect for storing small souvenirs and small collectible items such as stamps or coins. They will decorate the interior and give it a touch of originality.
Master Class. DIY wooden caskets
We will craft the casket from a sheet of plywood of 8 mm thickness as the most affordable material. First you need to make sure that the plywood that we are going to use with a flat surface does not contain delaminations, traces of knots and other minor defects. The texture pattern should be uniform, then the sheet can easily be cut without fear that pieces of veneer will break off during operation.
Well, let's get started. First of all, a drawing of our future product should be applied to the prepared surface - a diagram of a wooden casket. To do this, take a pencil and simple drawing devices such as a ruler and compass. If there is a ready-made picture that needs to be scaled, take care of the accuracy of drawing each corner and line. A correct and carefully executed drawing of a wooden casket is a necessary condition for success.
Elements of a rectangular shape allow the use of plywood sheet most economically. With a successful layout, there will be almost no unnecessary scraps.
We cut it right
Then, with a jigsaw, we begin the procedure of carefully cutting out all the main parts - the lid, bottom and walls. The smoother our thread, the more accurate the contour of the part we get, resulting in a shorter file time.
Particularly careful should be cut along the border line of adjacent parts. If it goes sideways, then immediately both parts will be spoiled, or one will have to trim both subsequently.
After this, the most crucial stage begins, associated with the most delicate work. It is about cutting out joints in the form of carpentry spikes. Small square spikes of simple shape are suitable for our small casket. Their height should correspond to the thickness of the plywood sheet, that is, in our case, equal to 8 millimeters.
Which tool to choose
As a rule, they are cut out with a saw blade. But we can take a jigsaw or a hacksaw for metal. Its blade is great for working with wood, as it hardly bends.
If you choose a jigsaw, they should be cut almost along the intended line. The indentation towards the cut area in size should not exceed one or two millimeters. A small excess of wood is subsequently easier to remove with a file.
Thus, we produced direct cuts. To connect them, bring the jigsaw to the edge and carefully rotate it 90 degrees. At the same time, their movement up and down does not stop.
We cut and remove all unnecessary fragments in the same way. The quality of the implementation of this stage of work depends on how our future product will be strong and reliable. If at this stage we accidentally mess up the workpiece, all work will have to be started anew.
Now you have a cover
Now let's move on to cutting the lid on our casket. Undoubtedly, such a job is much easier to do than to cut thorns. But we will not relax. Do not forget to keep the cut even and maintain a right angle between the planes of our file and the surface of the plywood sheet. This is done so that subsequently there are no gaps between the cut parts of the lid and the walls.
On this, the most difficult stage of work is completed. The next task in order - a box of wood with your own hands should be assembled into a single whole from separate elements. If the spikes hardly enter the nest or do not enter at all - do not be discouraged. Worse when they fail there.
The subtleties of technology
Excess material is easily filed off. It is best to choose one that has a square section. Such grinding should be carried out in small portions with constant fitting of parts relative to each other.
To make the fit as accurate as possible, it should be done on a table or other flat surface. For greater reliability, the walls should be put on glue. Details must be pressed together at least for a short period of time.
This is most conveniently done with a vise or clamp. In this case, do not forget to insert a small wooden gasket between the product and the steel surface of the tool.
DIY wooden box: fix the lid
Having fastened the walls of the box, we will deal with the fitting and gluing of the bottom, as well as the lid. The lid of our casket will be attached to the case on small metal hinges, which are easy to buy at any hardware store. You can purchase small hinges in the amount of 2 or 3 pieces or one long hinge for furniture.
When working with loops, you need to make sure that they do not stick out above the surface of the body of the product. Therefore, in the place of attachment of each of them, the wood should be slightly selected. We take for this a jigsaw or a small saw along with a straight chisel.
To screw the loops, you should choose small screws, the size of which will correspond to the diameter of the hole in the loops. So that they are neatly screwed precisely in the intended place, and the plywood is not split, a hole should be drilled with a size slightly smaller than the diameter of the screw. This difference should be no more than one or two millimeters.
Do not forget about the castle
From the outside, it is desirable to provide the casket with some kind of locking mechanism in the form of, for example, a lock, hook or latch. This will help preserve the contents and prevent the box from opening at the most unexpected moment.
All such parts are fastened similarly to hinges with the help of small screws in holes pre-drilled for them. If the material of the casket is wood, not plywood, even inserting a small furniture lock is allowed.
Basically the product is ready. We hope that our project: “Caskets made of wood” came out successful, and the product turned out to be neat and outwardly attractive. If this is not so - do not worry. To a beginner, who first takes up the creation of such a masterpiece, rarely everything succeeds right away.
About possible disadvantages
A box of wood with your own hands is not required to be perfect the first time. Most often, the final version shows us unexpected omissions. Most notably, there are annoying gaps between insufficiently tightly fitted elements. Having discovered something like this, do not give in to the first impulse - to get rid of an unsuccessful craft. It would be wiser to carefully consider the product, analyze where the mistake was made, and take into account this useful experience.
As for the further fate of our product, much is fixable here. For example, cracks may well be sealed and masked. After all, there are many tricks.
The easiest option is to take a finished putty for wood and cover it with unwanted cracks. You can independently prepare the so-called "liquid tree", the basis of which will be the glue used in the work. This option is also suitable if we want to veneer our casket.
In addition, the product can be coated with varnish or painted. In the latter case, having puttyed the parts, before painting them additionally primer.
We decorate our craft
But to make a rectangular box and call it a casket is not all. The product should be decorated, and it is best to do this using thread.
A carved box is a real work of art. There are different types of caskets made of wood. In former times, many of them were carefully stored in every house. After all, woodcarving with the creation of a wide variety of geometric patterns, people have been fascinated for a long time.
In Russian villages, most of the wooden products, from furniture to utensils, were decorated with elaborate carvings. Such a decor was always based on a regular geometric pattern, and the aesthetic effect exceeded all expectations. Carved wooden caskets were created by real masters of their craft, were strong and durable.
Learning to work with wood
If you do not yet know the techniques of geometric carving - it's time to learn. This is not at all so difficult. And in order not to spoil our finished, so carefully crafted casket, we will first practice on a separate piece of wood - for example, on a cutting board.
The tools for this procedure will require the simplest. You and I will manage to get along with only two knives: the so-called pen-knife and triangular-shaped jamb knife, as well as a ruler, pencil and compass.
A pen-knife is taken when it is necessary to cut an element of an elongated shape, for example, a petal or a sufficiently long groove. It is also used for small slots.
The second tool cuts through various geometric shapes, mainly triangular in shape, as well as long straight lines. Each of the knives must be sharp and have a comfortable handle.
Geometric thread technology
Immediately before starting work, you should put a sketch of the future pattern on the board. You can draw it with a pencil using a ruler and compass. And you can use the finished stencil by transferring the drawing to the blackboard with a carbon paper.
Let's say our ornament contains floral motifs. It is with them that one should begin work. The technology is simple: the thumb is pressed against the board as tightly as possible, and the index finger slightly touches it in the region of the upper joint. This is how holding the knife, you have the ability to control and change the angle of inclination and the depth of immersion in the wood. With the thumb, the blade moves smoothly and accurately.
After cutting one side of the element, the board should be turned over and a similar operation should be done from the opposite side. Please note: if the chip from the knife is curled with a "rope" - it means that the tools are quite well sharpened.
How to cut geometric shapes
Elements in the form of triangles and other similar figures are cut out with a jamb knife. We cut its heel into the wood at an angle of about 45 degrees, while we do not bring it to the edge of the picture. Repeat the operation from different sides of the geometric element.
We join all the slots on the sides. As a result, a cut piece of wood falls out of the board. The remaining wood that could not be cut with a knife is cleaned smoothly and accurately.
By the same principle, we cut out all the other elements of the picture. At the end of the process, we take sandpaper and carefully polish everything. You can conduct additional processing with natural impregnation.
So we learned the simplest techniques of wood carving. In the future, with an increase in the number of crafts and, consequently, experience, our skill will increase. We can make wooden caskets, not only varnished or painted in various colors, but also decorated with an unusual fantasy ornament that will look simply luxurious.