It seems like everyone has made a grease box here on Craftisian except me. I never heard of one until reading Alan's and HokieKen's posts and then Roy Underhill's Grease Box Video of "The Woodwright's Shop".
After making this, I'm hoping I'll now belong to the GBOC ( grease box owners club). LOL!
I didn't have any Walnut but did have lots of Spalted Maple, Eastern Hard Rock Maple, and Torrefied Maple. So I decided to make mine out of the latter two.
PREPARING STOCK and SCRIBING
I found a chunk of Torrefied Maple, which I used for the box. I roughed out the size to 4-1/8" L x 1-5/8" W x 1-5/8"H.
In Fig 1, you'll see the steps of marking up the parts with a couple of my gauges. I lightly scribed two lines 5/16" in and apart with one of my homemade gauges. When finished they'll be 1/4" thick. Then, I used my LV micro adjust wheel marking gauge to go over the scribed lines. I didn't want any ragged lines from the pin type cutter left by my home made gauge.
I'm not sure what to call this. It's butterfly shaped like a spline yet operates when closing the lid like a dovetail. Ergo, I call it a "Butterfly Dovetail". I made it using the Eastern Hard Rock Maple and with my LV extra fine dozuki saw.
The part, Fig 3, was a bit small for me to handle and finicky, but I managed okay. It's not perfect but will do. This part, as everyone probably knows, acts as a locking feature for the Cover Lid, which slides into it. Then the Locking Lid swings around and locks the Cover Lid and everything into place. To see how this operates look at the Grease Box Video from Roy Underhill's of the "The Woodwright's Shop".
Fig 3
SANDING and REFINING
Sanding the parts was slow. Torrefied Maple is hard as a rock. It's also difficult to chisel end grain because it's a bit brittle. Having said this, when done and being successful, it yields beautiful smooth results. I used 80, 150, and 220 grit.
FINISHING
Finally per Fig 4, I finished all the parts with two coats of a 50/50 cut of pure Tung Oil. I let this dry for a couple of nights. Then I applied wood butter and polished.
Fig 4
Here’s my Grease Box full of my home made “Wood Butter”
Fig 5
Here’s the Grease Box opening process from left to right, top to bottom. Fig 6
Conclusion
All in all it was a nice little project. There were a few hiccups but it was fun. It seems a little small but I wanted to try one to see how it went and maybe it will lead to making another larger one.
well i guess im the last one that hasn't made one yet ? and probably never will ! nice work on yours rick. now what is the double top for ? why not just one ?all the ones ive seen are done this way.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
Pottz.... the double top is how Roy Underhill makes his. The second one down slides to cover the grease or in my case the wood butter. The top one pivots to lock the second from prematurely moving exposing the content and prevents it from drying out. As far as I know this is the only way they are made. It's a neat mechanism the way it locks. I can see why others are making it for keepsakes.
Pottz well i guess im the last one that hasn't made one yet ? and probably never will !.. Dark_Lightning Yup, nice little box. I won't be making one either, Pottz.
C'mon guys .. you can do it! I know you can!! You can make this box for your wives! 🙂
Very nice work, especially the Butterfly Dovetail, which fits nicely in the box & lid without any gaps. PS: I tried the link to the Woodwrigh's Shop few times, kept getting a black screen with message: This video is property of PBS, and they have blocked it in your country. Don't know which country they think I'm in, but it's the good old Red White & Blue USA. Anyway, nice work on the box.
Rick, the second link worked fine, thanks. I checked both links again, they have totally different web addresses. Might be where you copied the link - your browser or YouTube. I'm guessing here on this, all this newfangled techie stuff is a foreign language to me. I like the technology of the 60s and 70s, turn a knob or push a button. 🤣
