Japanese Toolbox – The Wood

Finally I had a perfect use for some of the magnificent select 4/4 Southern Yellow Pine I obtained a couple years ago, and this tool box was it.  I grabbed  couple of the 10-inch wide boards and headed up the hill to get started.

My first step was to mill it down to 5/8″, there was no need reason to use it any thicker.  One of theo notable characteristics of a Japanese tool set  is how much lighter it is in the aggregate versus a European one of the same variety.  I mean, many, many pounds lighter.  So, even a fairly large box would be sufficiently robust at 5/8″ wall thickness, anything heavier would simply add unnecessary poundage.  I ran the boards through the planer, and in retrospect I would have instead re-sawn them rather than turn 3/8″ of prime SYP into shavings.  Next time…

I cut the boards to the rough lengths I wanted and ripped one of them to re-glue into the top and bottom panels after hand playing the edges.

Cleaned up with a Japanese plane they were ready for me to move forward.