Planing The Rims Of The Box

The next step is to plane the top and bottom rims of the box. The top one must create a good contact with the lid when closed, whereas the bottom will be edge glued to the base, which requires a perfect meeting edge with no rocking at all.

Use a plane with a newly sharpened cutting iron and set to a fine cut. Make sure you hold the plane at a skew so that the back of the sole registers against an adjacent edge. This will stop you from planing the edges out of square. Make sure to work with the grain; the transitions on the corners are particularly prone to tearout, so pay close attention and turn around if you aren’t getting a clean surface.

When both top and bottom edges are flush and flat, take the sharp corners off from the top edges only. As well as strengthening the edge and giving the box a more refined look, this will make the edges much more pleasant to the touch. On the long sides, be sure to angle your plane so as to slice the ends of the pins cleanly at an angle, rather than catching and lifting the end grain fibres.