This is a bit anticlimactic after the project has been posted but I wanted to keep the "plane box" thing a secret. There were however some cool hand tool jobs that still had to be done and more adventures to be had so let's get on with them.

The first order of business in getting the top going was to glue in the splines over the hinge pins, locking the pin in place in the top. The difference here was that the spline had to be veneered over to match the interior.

 

Then on to the rebate for the lid. Here I'm making a knife cut at the total depth of the rebate to sharply define the edge.

 

...and here I am cleaning the rebate out down to the cut line with my new router plane. I used a plywood piece the same height as the lid to ride the off side of the router plane on. It worked very well.

 

Sorry, this one is just arty. When I was doing this I was remembering someone on the forum last week remarking about how cool two tone shavings were. ..... I agree.

 

I have a little confession to make here. I had no idea what the box would be used for when I started the build and only accidentally noticed one day as I was clearing up my bench that the planes fit very nicely in it. That evening I sat down and quickly sketched this idea for the lid marquetry. Details evolved but the idea stuck.

 

I won't go into the cutting of the marquetry. I've posted lots of photos and videos on that process elsewhere here so let's just say I cut it. Then did a french polish on the inside before assembly. The masking tape holds the piece down for polish and also protects the glue area from the finish.

 

 

The top gets glued in.

 

A little Zircote veneer hammered on the bottom edges.

 

.... and that's about all the photos I have. I guess I got a little caught up in the run to the finish. .... sorry.

 

So that will about wrap it up. I had a ton of fun with this and will do it again. Not every time as I still like the efficiency of power tools and I have too many ideas in my head to work at this rate all the time but the experiment has opened my eyes to a very different kind of woodworking with its own rewards and challenges and I guess that means I've grown a bit ….. and that's always good.

Thanks for following along. I hope you were entertained (I know I was).