A STURDY WOODBOX FOR SERIOUS WOODBURNERS

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The list of instructions and materials that follow will let you build a box of almost any size up to 3' wide and 2' in depth; height using common outdoor building-lumber. I used inch-thick, 5½"-wide white cedar left over from building a boat dock for the siding. For framing, I used inch-and-a-half square, native-white oak salvaged from shipping pallets. For edge trim and to plug screw holes, I cut 3/4"-thick, red cedar boards into 2½" strips. Tung oiled, the reddish trim contrasts nicely with the creamy-white siding and the wood gives off an exotic aroma that refreshes itself each time a log bounces off the wood.

To build a 2 x 2 x 3-foot or smaller box with minimal waste, buy four 10'-long boards of any tough wood that is a true 5½" wide and inch thick (according to confusing lumberyard tradition, sold with a nominal thickness of 5/4" and width of 6" and designated as a 5/4 x 6 x 10.) Or you can use three 5/4 x 8 x 10s. Do not buy common "one-inch" wood—soft pine shelving that is actually a too-thin 3/4" through dents easily. For the bottom, I cut a 2 x 3 panel from a sheet of ½" plywood I had on hand. Lacking plywood, it's cheaper and easier to buy another 10' length of 5/4" lumber. For framing, get 30 running feet (four 8'-lengths or three 10-footers) of 1½ square hard pine or an inexpensive hardwood such as birch. (As a last resort, you can ripsaw a 2 x 4 into square stock). For a more finished look, buy 24 running feet of nominal 1 x 3 wood (if you can't find a 1 x 3, split a 1 x 6 in half) to trim the edges, plus 12' of 1 x 4 wood to trim the top. The harder the trim wood, the better.

Measuring & Cutting Siding

Rough-cut both 1 x 6 x l0s and two of the square-framing boards into two 3' and two 2' lengths. Cut the remaining square-frame board into 2' lengths. It makes for quickest and most accurate finish cuts if you equip your work bench with a stop-block—a straight, 4 2 x 4 to be clamped or drywall-screwed to the work surface, so you can push the backsides of boards against it and cut them all to the same length. Also, get out your 4'-metal straightedge and a pair of clamps in order to hold it down to act as a circular, saw-cutting guide.

Place the stop block just a couple of inches short of 3' back from—and parallel to—the front edge of your work surface. Set one cut end of your 3'-siding boards against the stop block. With a right angle, assure that the boards are perpendicular to the stop block. Clamped at the front end of the boards, the steel straight-edge will serve both to hold the boards in place and act as a guide for your saw. Place the steel on top of the boards and—with the baseplate of your circular saw—nudge it just far enough back from the board ends so that the saw blade will take off a good bite of wood. Clamp the steel atop the boards parallel to the edge of your work table and at a precise 90° "L" angle to the boards' long edge.

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