BOXES!!!
I often have people interested in buying my boxes question my corners....
I have used box joints, and rabbited corners like Perry shows... I will not now, or EVER put down such corners.. I think,if you have the time, and equipment to MAKE those corners.. and that is the type of corner you LIKE, then you SHOULD make them JUST like that...
Now, having said that... I would pose a question;
How strong does a corner need to be? What is the purpose they are serving?
I stopped making box joints, and started making them much like Perry does.. I used drill bits/counter sinks, screws and glue to make them STRONG... until a local beek asked me why I did that....
He brought me a box he had made. it had butt jointed corners with brad nails... If your selling boxes, you need to make them so people want to BUY them.. if your making them for yourself, you need to make them so they last five or six years.. at which point the corners start to get soft, and rot out where you pry them apart. His approach was that woodenware was disposable.. you did what you could to make it last. repainting it etc.. but inevitably after a few years you replaced it.. The JOINT of the corner was NEVER the problem.. SO...
I built a couple of boxes with butt joints at the corners. I used titebond III on them. I nailed them with brad nails, squared them, and let them dry...
Those two boxes were strong enough I could STAND on the corners.. holding onto the side rail of my truck bed to balance.. I am quite sure if I bounced on them i could have busted those corners.. but then... I think i could bust ANY corner if I bounced my 180 lbs on it...
Convinced.. i have been building them that way ever since, and have not regretted it..
I still have a few of the Box joint boxes I built.. they are splitting and warping in multiple places from those boxed corners.. All those corners and edges are a PAIN top keep sealed... the boxes like Perry builds are easier to seal, but harder to make the frame rests, unless you dont mind leaving the little corner for beetles to hide in etc... I still have about six boxes built like that.. i used my router to make the frame rests to avoid the corner gaps...
Using the butt joints.. I dont have to worry about it.. the boxes are still quite strong for prying apart etc.. I havent had a problem with them yet. I like the EASE of sealing the end grain and corners.. and I like the ease of running the frame rests with the table saw...
In a few more years maybe I can point to problems doing it this way, but at this point.. i am having difficulty justifying the extra time to make fancy corners..
I DEFINITELY dont like the box corners.. the way perry shows is good, and strong and not hard to seal and keep sealed.. my only complaint is nailing and splitting if you dont drill, and running the frame rest all the way across...
SO I have resorted to doing it this way;
Plenty of glue, and about six 1.5 inch brad nails per corner.. no drilling to put in big nails and no worries about splits... Seal the end grain with paint when you paint the boxes and there are no issues. Once the glue dries they will hold up to anything you will do to them in the bee yard, and they take less TIME, even if they seem cheesier... Its entirely up to you!
Scott
