Fully Mitered Shou Sugi Ban Box

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INTRODUCTION

It's been a long time since I made a fully, all sides, mitered box.

As miters go, It is the ugliest box I've ever made. I mean "butt ugly"! Okay...okay...maybe not that bad but challenging!

I think many of us may take mitering for granted and sort of dismiss making a whole box this way. To tell you the truth, I don't know why I did and then to add insult to injury I decided to finish the surface with the Yakisugi technique  or "Shou Sugi Ban" as we call it in North America).


MAKING THE MITERED BOX

I started by cutting all sides on my tablesaw. Yes!... my table saw! As hand tool crazy as I am, I couldn't imagine doing all these miters and bevels by hand (hereafter just called "miters"). My blood pressure is high enough. And then I still could not get the miters as perfect as I wanted all around. Even using my tablesaw! LOL.

Then it dawned on me... I'm going to torch the thing so perfect miters may not matter! It is highly likely there will be some separation from burning and minor gaps on the corners. But it will add to the rustic look I was after with this technique. We'll see.

Next... I glued it all up. I'm usually very strategic and meticulous gluing up. However by the time I completed mitering, I didn’t mind being messy and just slathered it on.

Here it is ..... "Plain Jane" in Fig 1.




BURNING THE BOX

So why am I doing this? I dunno. I like challenges or maybe I'm just "bonkers"!

Next, I started the "Shou Sugi Ban" process and torched all six sides, edges, and corners.
I wasn't after a deep "alligator skin" burn but rather an even medium surface burn. Some alligator skin char was acceptable. The look I was after was the "Kimo - Tora" as some call it. This is a good site to see the different ones. See Fig. 2 and 3.




WASHING THE BOX

With the grain,  I then brushed away as much of the dry blackened ash surface as I could on all six sides.

Next I washed all sides with the hose and brush cleaning away the dirty surface. See Fig 4 and 5.



 
APPLYING THE STAIN

After it completely dried out, I decided I wanted to give it a yellow dye stain followed by shellac.
I went everywhere looking for a small size can like 236ml. Do you think I could find it?

And on top of this the ones I did find were like $15 -18. But no yellow or orange. Man 'o man!... things have really gotten expensive and limited.

The heck with it!! Anyways I made my own using Tumeric. One coat on all sides was all I needed. However Tumeric is a fugitive stain. Though you wouldn't agree if you got some on your clothes or the rug not to mention your hands. LOL.

See Fig 6 and 7




FINISHING WITH SHELLAC

To prevent future fading it was sealed with four coats of blonde shellac. First coat was a one pound cut. Second, third, and fourth coats were a two pound cut. Then brass hinges and clasp was added.
 
 Here's the results:
 
 See Fig 7, 8, and 9





Hope you all enjoyed this!!
Feel free to comment, ask questions and thumbs up if you like it!

CHEERS!
MrRick

74 Comments

like it rick. ive got a project coming up that i did shou sugi ban on. you inspired me  !

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

I need to try the Shou Sugi Ban style. I always enjoy how that finishing process comes out. Nicely done. 

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

it's a cool technique. you can go lightly as rick did or i went very heavy and dark which added contrast to what im making.

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Hmmm, reminds me why I always seem to choose a recessed panel for the lids and bottoms 😀

Did you stage your miter cuts so all the parts that must be the same length are cut at the same time?
PITA for frames, PITA^3 for a cube! Next challenge, spline all those miters! 🤠

Otherwise, good results IMO. The finish seals the deal.
Pottz
like it rick. ive got a project coming up that i did shou sugi ban on. you inspired me  !

Thanks Pottz! Glad I'm to inspire you. Go for it! There's so much you can do with this technique. 
RyanGi
I need to try the Shou Sugi Ban style. I always enjoy how that finishing process comes out. Nicely done.

Thanks RyanGi ! Try it out. If I can help in any way just ask. 
SplinterGroup
.... Did you stage your miter cuts so all the parts that must be the same length are cut at the same time?
..... spline all those miters! 🤠

Yes... all miters stages and cut at same time. 
I could have done hidden splines but didn’t. Didn't really want to do outside splines because burning would likely expose them. I could come back and do vertical dowels but at this point ...nah!

i wouldn't add them either, looks good the way it is.

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Thanks Pottz. BTW... I'm going to do another with a different dye color. Stayed tuned! 🙂
Nice looking box with the grain running around the sides, and it's very pronounced with the finishing technique. Looks pretty good, nowhere near butt ugly. 
Oldtool
Nice looking box with the grain running around the sides, and it's very pronounced with the finishing technique. Looks pretty good, nowhere near butt ugly. 

Thanks Oldtool! It was a very hot day when I made it and doing miters all around was a bit of a challenge. Thus the comment of wee frustration .... but nonetheless it was fun and I'm happy with it. 
Nice box and a well written description. Thanks for sharing!
Steve Rasmussen
Nice box and a well written description. Thanks for sharing!

You're very welcome Steve. And thanks for your kindness. 
I do my mitered boxes on the tablesaw as well.   I made a sled with stops so I can get four corner matches.

I may try this Shou Sugi Ban technique.

I have some old pine.  Don't get much Ash around here.  Would 40-50 year old pine work?  Any wood species that are better for this technique?

Thanks for sharing.  Nice work.
Different, and some interesting techniques! I thought it was secret mitred dovetails at first!!!!!!
RWE... I have some old pine.  Don't get much Ash around here.  Would 40-50 year old pine work?  Any wood species that are better for this technique?

Thanks for sharing.  Nice work.

RWE ..... Old Pine is best! Wish I had 40 - 50 year old Pine. Grain direction is important. Quarter sawn would be best but any will do. Look for dramatic grain... it will be great. Spruce, Cypress, Fir, Cedar are all good. Softwoods are much better to use.  Experiment. Some hardwoods are good. I've had luck with White Oak and Spalted Maple.  Sample and experiment first though. 
Madburg
Different, and some interesting techniques! I thought it was secret mitred dovetails at first!!!!!!

Do you like it Madburg? I've done lots of mitered dovetails but not on this one. 
The description is as good as the box.   Never tried that type of finish, the burning.  Probably set my shop ablaze.   Thanks for posting it.   I do like the box.  

Ron

i used red oak and it gave a nice grain pattern. after the heavy burn with my plumbers torch i used steel wool and it really enhanced the grain. id love to try a light burn with some stains. im not big into this kind of stuff but i can see using it for some projects.

working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Thanks 987Ron! Give it a try. I do mine out on the driveway on a workmate with a few big bricks on top.