I had some 5mm birch plywood that proved to be not much good for portrait work (cheap stuff from Lowe's that would not support a thin strip in the portrait). Rather than pitch it, I thought it would be OK to make a gift box. I'd posted the rosewood candle stick (1.5"x1.5"x5") and planned to give it away. So a wooden box would be a nice touch. I wanted the inside to be 2x2x6 to allow for wrapping the candle stick.
I started the cut by trying to weave the blade in and out of the joint tabs using a 2/0 blade, but the cuttings are mostly long straight lines and the 2/0 is a bear to keep on a line. I tried a 423 blade - it's fast and great on the straight lines but can't make the tight 90 degree turns. I decided instead to cut the box sides as rectangles to the outer dimensions of the tabs, then go back an remove the material between the tabs.
The 1st picture below shows the sides for the box bottom. The 2nd shows the cut pattern, with hash marks where the waste is removed. The plywood is 5mm, but the tabs are 1/4". This left a little room to make a fit, and was later sanded flat on a belt sander. The corners are also rounded on the belt sander.
The 3rd and 4th pictures are the finished box bottom and top. The top is cut just like the bottom but 10mm longer and wider to fit over the bottom, and with thumb cut-outs to get it open. It is finished with feed-n-wax (Amazon Prime, $8.88). Looks good a smells good too. I wish I thought to cut a rose into the top before I glued it up. Maybe next time...
