Everyone needs an old fashioned salt box. I made this from 1/8" PG Cherry plywood. The tabs are extremely tight - I had to use a vice to press them together. After breaking the hinge tabs on two attempts at lids, I ended up drilling a 5/64" hole where the pin goes and gluing in a piece of a toothpick to serve as the pin.
Edit regarding hinge pins breaking: I purposely made the lid with the grain of the wood running down the slope of the top of the box. I thought this looked better, but with PG plywood, it is impractical. The hinge pins break off, because the force is with the grain, and the internal part of the plywood is MDF, which has no sheer strength. If you rotate the lid 90 degrees so the grain is running across the lid, the pins will be significantly stronger, and will not be subject to breakage. I have made many jewelry boxes with the same hinge design without problems, but I always had the grain running across the top rather than back to front. I was not thinking about structure when I designed this.
Edit 2: This is 1/8" PG cherry. I will post a file for 1/4" in a few days.
I meant to add that I know from my experience in making cutting boards that Titebond III is food safe. I am not sure about other glues. I normally use Gorilla wood glue for my GF projects, but I had some Titebond III on hand, so I used it for this project just in case.
My wife would never let me get away with one on our table with the high blood pressure thing. , however I concur that such a lovely box could find other uses in my pantry.
Just tell her it’s your “Angel Wings”. Saw it in an old movie, maybe with Jack Lemmon. He and his wife were alcoholics. He kept a bottle in his cabinet and called it his Angel Wings, to help him when he is fighting temptation. But you still can’t use it!
I don’t use a lot of salt when cooking, but I’ve used various containers over the years as a salt box. Last year I put a bamboo one on my Amazon Wishlist. I love it with the magnetic catch lid that twists away.
I have updated the original file to more accurately reflect the kerf on PG Cherry. This one can be assembled with only a slight tap from the mallet instead of needing a vice. I would still glue it, but it is easier to assemble than my original file was. I put the two sides in a position that takes less space, but one side will have to be flipped. If your wood is only good on one side, I recommend flipping one ofr the sides before you print it, which will require repositioning the pieces. I also rotated the lid so the pins do not break off.
Here is the file for 1/4" PG Cherry plywood. I actually like this one much better than the 1/8" version, but I did not want to post the file until I had made it myself to be sure everything worked. It takes a light tap of the mallet to get the pieces together, but I would still use glue. As in the file I posted for the 1/8" version, if your wood is not good on both sides, you will need to flip one of the side pieces before printing.
can you tell me what you used to design this? I’ve been trying to find a box maker that allows two heights so that I can have an angled box like you have here. Thanks
, however I concur that such a lovely box could find other uses in my pantry.
But you still can’t use it!
