June 2011

Fine box making in the Shropshire hills
newsletter
June 2011

Fine Decorative Boxes

Hello all – this is a relatively brief newsletter for two important announcements: news on the Veritas corner jig and to post my autumn weekend dates.

Apoplgies to anyone not directly interested in inlaying perfect lines or doing a weekend course! … there will be more of general interest in the August newsletter.

Veritas “Precision Inlay Corner Jig” now available:

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Some of you, particularly Australian subscribers who saw the jig in operation when I was over there last year, have been waiting for this for some time! So, I’m very pleased at last to be able to announce that Veritas have produced a version which is now available direct from me on the fine-boxes website.

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The new jig explained:

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A box with decorative lines inlaid around the lid attracts close scrutiny, especially the way those lines meet at the corners!

Anyone who has ever inlaid lines around a lid, first removing the bulk of the waste using a table-mounted or hand-held router, will know that this process leaves the last few mm of the outsides of the corners to be squared off by hand. Traditionally this is achieved using a wide chisel carefully lined up along the last bit of the routed groove, or it can also be done using a straight edge and a scalpel. Veritas produce a nicely made, compact corner chisel, but the magnetic guide that comes with it doesn’t have enough registration length to do this job accurately and lining it up by eye is difficult. None of these methods is foolproof.

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The jig I’ve designed, shown in action above, is fitted with rare earth magnets to hold the chisel perfectly vertical and in exactly the correct postion relative to the routed grooves. One tap with a hammer – and job done!

A perfect result every time!

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This jig really is the most reliable and consistent way to get perfect results every time.

Ordering info

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Click here to buy this innovative new jig direct from fine-boxes.com.

The cost is £49.50, set by Veritas, plus £4.50 p&p to anywhere in the world. With each jig sold I am offering a £10 voucher off a day of one-to-one box maing tuition, or off a weekend course.

Please note that I will only be getting a LIMITED number of these initially – so don’t delay, order today! Delivery is likely to be 10 days for UK orders and up to three weeks for everywhere else.

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Autumn 2011 box making weekend dates:

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1      Sept 24th/25th
2      Oct 15th/16th
3      Nov 5th/6th

4      Nov19th/20th

Please email me to book your place.

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A couple of other quick things:

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I did an article recently for British Woodworking on the subject of abrasives. If you haven’t seen it already, you can read it here.

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Some of you will have noticed that the ‘Boxes in France 2011’ area has disappeared from the website. Despite a huge amount of interest initially not enough people made firm bookings and sadly we had to cancel. We hope that this is not dead and buried yet and it might yet reappear …

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Other news in very brief, to be expanded in the next newsletter:

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I’ve been very busy with a lot of teaching, music and making flute cases recently which is why this newsletter is so late. So, all the rest of the news and box talk I wanted to include will have to wait until the next full one, likely to be sometime in August. Included will be news on the following, and more!

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more box making done
new FaceBook page for fine-boxes
that mystery pic … still no correct solutions – all will be revealed
Knighthood for Crawford! – one smartHinge user gets a bit carried away

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Flat Stanley says: lots of flute cases in progress
more news on the box making supplies, including some EXCELLENT little fine application glue dispensers I’ve found – makes all those really fussy little gluing jobs controllable, accurate and easy.

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workshop upgrade – new disc sander, three phase, more space, upstairs office
one-to-one Students’ Gallery
slow-release fuel for weary woodworkers – flapjack is definitely the answer

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smartHinge – the movie – I plan a short series of videos for YouTube …

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Thank you!

Thank you for your attention – more in August. Have a great summer [northern hemisphere] and have a great WINTER [southern hemisphere].

Andrew Crawford.

Hr