# Wrapped boxes - how to



## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

I like to tinker with small projects sometimes and I'm especially fond of using old wood working techniques. I thought I would share a few how-to's if anyone should be interested to try them.

What I will show here is a method to make round or oval boxes of thin boards that are wrapped around a mold. These boxes can be made in a lot of sizes and shapes and has been used for many purposes. The type of box I'll make here has traditionally been used to store butter.

First thing to do is to make a mold of desired size and shape. This box will be 12 cm (5") in dia and about the same height.









The boards are best made of green wood. I used birch for this one, but many woods will do as long as it's straightfibered. Cut off a piece from a log and split it in quarters (it's easier to follow the fibers if you split it instead of sawing).









Plane and square it on two sides and saw off a thin board.









Plane the sawed face to thickness. For a box of this size 3mm (1/8") is suitable.









Even if you use green wood the thin boards tend to dry quickly so before you try to bend it soak it in warm water for five minutes, then wrap it around the mold and clamp it.









Let it dry for a day or two.

*To be continued......*


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## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

The ends will now be sewed together using thin birch roots. To make it easier to work with the box you can first glue the ends together (was not done traditionally, though). Make two shallow grooves on the ends, both outside and inside of the box.









Drill holes in the grooves and wide them to slots.









Now it's time to dig up some roots. We mostly use birch roots but I'm sure others will do as well.









The roots are split in halves and trimmed to the same width as the grooves.









The roots are then used to sew the ends together









*To be continued....*


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## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

The finished stiching on the outside......









..... and on the inside.









A bottom is made of dry wood and pressed in place. When the box dries it will be held firmly in place.









Next thing to do is a lid. There are a few options for that, depending of the use of the box. I will come back to that tomorrow .......


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Cool how to. Thanks for posting.


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## Warnock (Apr 4, 2011)

Okay, that was cool, and different. Looking forward to what type of top you make for this one.

I would not have thought of using roots to tie it up. Interesting.

Will keep watching this thread.

Thanks for posting this one - a good learning tool.


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## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

*And now the lid...*

There are a few options for lids. One way to do it is to use the same method as for the bottom. The box is then used as mold, and the stitching is made the same way. A top is added the same way as the bottom.









Another way is to make a "snap-on lid". Two holders are glued to the sides of the box. The gap between box and top of holder should match thickness of the lid.









The lid.....









... and the complete box. There is enough flexibilty in the box walls to allow the lid to be pressed down and snapped into the slots.









For finish I used BLO. If you intend to use the box for food storage you could leave the inside unfinished or use mineral oil.


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## Brink (Nov 22, 2010)

that's got to be one of the best threads I've seen.

Thaks so much for sharing this with us.


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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

Birch roots.........dang,thats nice.

We do the Deer,sinew thing.....the stuff is beyond TUFF.Shoot me a PM with an addy and I'll send you some.BW


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## Jr.Woodchuck (Nov 9, 2010)

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Great project.


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## adzeman73 (Jun 15, 2010)

Thanks for sharing your skill. I retire in TWO years and plan to spend my time learning from guys like you. Thanks !!


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## tcleve4911 (Dec 16, 2006)

Beautiful work, Longknife
You obviously have been doing great woodworking for many years.
Did you guys notice the beautiful tools???? workbench, plane etc.
Very nice ....and thank you......sincerely


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## Dan K (Jan 3, 2011)

Very cool project.
I can't follow your stiching pattern from the pictures, can you explain a bit ?


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Thanks for sharing this process with us. Cool stuff and nice execution :thumbsup:


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## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

Dan K said:


> Very cool project.
> I can't follow your stiching pattern from the pictures, can you explain a bit ?


Quite easy really, but difficult to explain. In sewing it would be known as chain-stitching.

What you do is to thread the root through every second slot on the inside and through every slot on the outside and when doing that threadig them through the previous loop. See - completly impossible to understand :laughing:. I'll try with pics instead...... 


The dotted line is the loop on the inside








And this is the next step








This is how it looks from the inside. You can see where the root has been threaded through the previous loops.









Hope this made some kind of sense......


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## desertforest (Aug 6, 2011)

very nice. thanks for posting that. :thumbsup:


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

That's a great technique, and it's slicker than the butter that goes into it. I just love traditional stuff...thanks.










 







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## Dan K (Jan 3, 2011)

Longknife;
Hope this made some kind of sense......[/QUOTE said:


> Perfectly clear now thanks. I could see in the original picture you were going through the root on the inside just couldn'tagine the sequence.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

This is great info. I've been wanting to make a tine and actually tried. Round one was an utter failure, but I think this will motivate me to try round two. Nice work!


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