Making wood into better boards; new craft supply chest

Two of my principal wood sources are 12by SPF and 12by SYP. I struggled a bit to find a source on the mainland for Southern Yellow Pine, asking several other woodworkers who asked their suppliers who all said that this rare wood was not available anywhere on the mainland. I then asked my wife to search online where she found a warehouse in Taicang, a city that is fast becoming a suburb of Shanghai,  that exclusively imports SYP from Georgia.
The seller was surprisingly helpful, especially when I noticed several large piles of 2' 10by lengths. He explained that a customer only wanted 8' lengths of lumber and since he generally imports 10' lengths or longer, he complied by removing 2 feet from several bundles and selling the shorter boards. These 2' lengths are great for the majority of the student projects that I teach and I got a substantial price discount on top of an already low price for imported lumber.

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I hate having to use a VPN just to post on blogspot. It's a gamble to know whether the work has been truly saved or not. This is not the first time that I have returned to an incomplete essay only to discover much of it missing. I am not going to even try recovering what I had written. Here are some photos that were intended to accompany the lost essay.

Loose knots replaced using Veritas tapered tenon makers and taper reamer

SPF compressable plug

 

flush cut

defective board due to rotten interior branch

Standard pencil sharpener accepts 10mm dowels

Plugged board with discontinued Veritas plugging tool

Hide glue allows for reclamping in case of glue failure

Despite owning a plowplane, I more often use a tablesaw to cut grooves to accept bottoms. In this case a plowplane would have been ineffective.

Beginning to assemble a variation of the box on a box

I wanted to followup my boxonabox design to with a variant to accommodate some of my other crafts supplies. I didn't plan the result in advance. I had the upper box dimensioned before I decided to install a center divider that needed to be inlet into the pinboards with wedged tenons after I decided that I would add a handle to the middle and not a pair on the sides although I think I will do so in future variations. I like using otherwise disposable pieces of exotic hardwoods for the wedges.

Tailboard variations

wedged throughtenons

Sawn flush

I played with several rope handles in my mind before committing to the present configuration. I decided that I could make the loops with SYP as long as the stock was thick enough and use sliding dovetails to attach it to a mullion but that required a denser wood. I had some maple on hand that served this function.
I panicked when I realized that my angle blocks for paring the sliding male section were not built the same thickness as for this new application. It then dawned on me that I could use the same blocks along with playing card shims in any variation, and not just to raise the stock pieces.

Soon to be hidden wood screws

I cut the sliding dovetails in both male and female sides, leaving a noticeable amount of travel to allow for compressing pine fibers and then I laid out and cut the profiles of the loops.
It was a challenge to find surface hinges for this project. I bought two sets in brass off Taobao, but in the end I chose some that can be still found readily at a B&Q. I soaked them a few days in citric acid to tone down the polish to a matte finish, learning through the process that stainless steel is not used consistently in their manufacture.

Lid laminated with hide glue

Bottom compartment with two sliding tills

Upper box allowing access to one sliding tll

The handle is made from a grommet of Manila rope that passes through the two loops. I attached two additional lengths of the same Manila rope to bulk up the handle before then attaching paracord coxcombing, finishing the ends with Turk's heads woggles woven in place.

Easy access to sewing kit

The completed craft kit