Ok, tonight it all turned around. I pulled a piece of rough lumber out thinking it was cherry and when I jointed a face it was mahogany. Jointed it, planed it, sawed the edge parallel, re-sawed it on the bandsaw into 1/4 " and 1/2 ", cut the parts and ran them through the box joint jig and every operation went smooth as could be. Some nights you're the windshield and some nights you're the bug! It's all in clamps now and the box top is also being glued up.