Making a wooden project case

[Martin Bush]

Hi all

This is a bit of an unusual one as I am looking for some wood rather than components.

I have one of the legendary Bardwell amplifiers and I'd like to make a wooden case for it. While I am no carpenter we do have the tools here to make what I think is quite a simple box (we've got an electric mitre saw, table saw, drills, clamps etc).

Where I am struggling is finding a small amount of decent wood. B+Q etc sell bog standard stuff but it's mostly what I'd call timber (large lengths, thick, often rough and sometimes bashed stuff).

I am either looking for a member local to me who may have a small quality of decent stuff or perhaps links to a supplier that does small quantities at reasonable prices (bearing in mind what the amp itself cost me).

I don't know a great deal about wood, but what I have in mind is something that can be sanded and either waxed, oiled or varnished and is knot free.

Martin

[stevehertz]

You could make your box out of plain timber and then veneer it. Otherwise it's damned hard to make cosmetically perfect joints. Veneer can hide all kinds of imperfections, it's not hard to do and you can get all kinds of beautifully figured woods that you'd have to pay a king's ransom for as thick pieces.

[Nickthedentist]

Hi Martin,

Look out for old, currently unfashionable "brown" furniture that charity shops are throwing out. I got a load of nice solid oak like that last year, from a rather ugly bureau that had failed to sell for months on end. They were only too glad to give it to me, and it only took half an hour with a crowbar and claw hammer to dismantle it and pull out the nails etc.

Nick.

[FIXITNOW]

I second old furniture I picked up an old oak chest of drawers dumped where my daughter lives I guess its glue joints had failed (someone tried to nail it back together splitting all round the nail holes) then dumped in the bin area disassembled, it was soon in the back off my car!!

[paulsherwin]

Even very nondescript wood can look very good if carefully planed and sanded. Don't try to be too clever with joints if your skills aren't up to it. (Guess how I know that )

[Keith956]

You'll find it far easier to make a box out of MDF and veneer it than you will if you try and make it out of a hardwood like oak. Making joints for the latter as Steve says is hard, it takes a lot of practice!

[Martin Bush]

Thanks chaps. In my naivety I thought that veneering would be hard whereas working with wood would be comparatively easy.

Joint-wise I'd be going for simple 45 degree cuts. I'm not saying I would make a great job of it, but hopefully the DeWalt mitre saw in the shed would do much of the hard work (not my saw I should add!).

But if veneered MDF would do the trick I'd be open to that.

[nutteronthebus]

have a look at 45 Degree Lock Miter Router Bit for the joint once setup easy to use . I am going to make a copy of the Quad 33/FM3 case this way my brother works at Duffield timber and he recommends American Cherry
The heartwood of Cherry varies from light pinkish tones to rich reddish brown which will darken on exposure to light. In contrast the sapwood is creamy white. The wood has a fine uniform straight grain, smooth texture, and may naturally contain brown pith flecks and small gum pockets.

Model shops have very good wood, a bit expensive compared to B&Q orange box stuff. You can (only) get small ish (1' x 3') bits, it is very good. My local one is Mantua Models in Windsor (where the Queen lives, the town not the shop).

[Keith956]

Mitre joints aren't very strong unless you use something to reinforce them, like biscuit joints. For MDF its probably easier to use butt joints with dowels or even just screws. At least if it goes wrong and you need to start again it's cheap!

[The Philpott]

Old furniture is definitely a source but keep an eye out for long term warpage when cutting out the selected pieces. (Sometimes you get compound warps!)

Dave

[mhennessy]

Yes, despite the apparent simplicity, the mitre joint is one of the harder ones, even with a decent mitre saw (I've got a Bosch one). It's a joint I only choose when there's no other option. One of the difficulties is clamping - you can get special clamps to help, or build a jig. Or the joints can be taped before folding up.

Once the glue has set, I generally reinforce them with biscuits acting as a spline (there are many ways to do it, but a cheap biscuit jointer makes this very easy). Once dry, trim them down:

https://www.wooden-box-maker.com/ima...and-spline.jpg

Image not my work, but shows how nice it can look if using contrasting woods.

The pro cabinet manufacturers use a CNC machine to machine a V-groove in the blank stock that goes almost all the way through - leaving just a fraction of a millimetre. Then they apply glue and fold them up. It's very quick and simple - it's how most conventional speaker cabinets, for example, are made. But the precision required means that rarely works for the hobbyist. If you have a router, finger joints are very easy with a simple DIY jig, and stronger and more attractive IMHO.

[G6ONEDave]

You could try looking for a local wood supplies merchant or wood yard. The ones in my locality will cut down to your required size, albeit for a fee. My local ones also have an offcuts box, where stuff is very reasonably priced, sometimes even free. It all depends on what you are wanting to obtain wood wise.
Dave

[Michael.N.]

You could do a finger joint, just the one finger. Years ago I made a valve hi-fi amp, box was in MDF with a finger joint at each corner. It was 18 mm MDF iirc. It was all then veneered in Indian Rosewood, all 3 show surfaces i.e. face. top and bottom edges. Real sawn Rosewood veneer too, none of that thin 0.6 mm stuff! I did a 45 degree mitre on the veneer at each corner so it looked as though it was a mitre joint all the way through. It had no problem supporting all that heavy transformer weight. I don't think I had one single power tool.

[paulsherwin]

Don't forget our old friend the skip. There's a glass merchant near me with a skip outside, and all sorts of nice wood finishes up in that, both old window timber and panelling and offcuts from installation work.

Anywhere having a loft conversion done will have a skip outside full of interesting old wood and modern offcuts.

[Petedox]

Not being that good at woodwork, I've used several of these ready made wooden boxes:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Selection...kAAOSwGzxZigO9

They're pretty cheap and accurately laser cut, with dovetail joints. Plenty of different sizes. They can be painted or varnished.

If required the lid can be removed and replaced with an aluminium sheet to give a proper faceplate.

[John10b]

I have made a number of speaker boxes over the years for myself. I never seem to get that professional finish on the corners etc, so I tend to cover them in Rexine or something similar. I have noticed TheWoodenbox company has a variety o boxes, worth taking a look.
John

[paulsherwin]

Charity shops are a good source of well made small wooden boxes for a pound or two.

[Michael.N.]

Originally Posted by Petedox

Not being that good at woodwork, I've used several of these ready made wooden boxes:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Selection...kAAOSwGzxZigO9

They're pretty cheap and accurately laser cut, with dovetail joints. Plenty of different sizes. They can be painted or varnished.

If required the lid can be removed and replaced with an aluminium sheet to give a proper faceplate.

Not quite dovetail joints but who cares. At those prices. . . . hmmm . . . one of those boxes will suit that baking tin valve tester. Not that I need such a tester, not by any stretch of the imagination but it's been a few decades since I made anything that involved soldering elektwikerty thingies.

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by Martin Bush

Thanks chaps. In my naivety I thought that veneering would be hard whereas working with wood would be comparatively easy.

Joint-wise I'd be going for simple 45 degree cuts. I'm not saying I would make a great job of it, but hopefully the DeWalt mitre saw in the shed would do much of the hard work (not my saw I should add!).

But if veneered MDF would do the trick I'd be open to that.

"Simple 45 degree cuts" are the devil to get cosmetically perfect, about as difficult as it gets. Using plain pieces of wood or MDF you can butt joint it using wood glue and screws then veneer it, much easier than mitre joints.

Here's how I veneered a receiver a couple of years ago. There's a lot of general stuff initially but it does get going into quite a bit detail.

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=130650