The whole box is built from this rustic cherry plank. It’s a really curly grained piece of cherry that’s been hanging around for a while, should make for a good look. I plane it down to 3/4″ in the thickness planer.

I cut all the pieces to size by ripping them down to width and cutting them to rough length on the miter saw.

For the tall sides of the boxes the board wasn’t wide enough so I glued a couple of pieces together and clamped them and let them dry. Then I scrape off the excess glue and sand them smooth.

At this point I sort all the pieces out to determine what will be the outside show face and mark this to help for when I cut the joints.

I can then cut all of the sides to final size on the miter saw.

To attach the corners of the box, I’m using dovetails. Since I’m just a mere mortal I pull out my dovetail jig to do this.

Two of the perpendicular sides are mounted in the jig and the joints are cut. The same process is repeated for all 4 corners.

This piece here is going to be the handle spanning across the top of the tool box. I mark out the shape using a tape measure and trace a curve made from this thin PVC sheet.

The handle is cut down to size on the bandsaw and sanded to final shape on the disk sander and belt sander.

The handles are joined with a mortise and tenon joint into the sides so I trace out where these are going to be located so I can cut the mortise.

The bulk of the material is removed with a forstner bit in the drill press.

Then for final shaping a chisel is used.

I need to cut a slot before assembly for installation of the top while these surfaces are still accessible. I’m careful to cut this over a pin in the sides so the groove is hidden.

Now all the pieces are cut and ready for assembly! Notice I also cut some slots in the ends of the handle, these will be used later.

The corner joints are all glued together along with the handle where it passes through the sides. It’s a bit of a deceptively tricky glue-up because the handle and top panel all have to be installed before the box can go together.

The mallet starts pulling the joints together, but I finish that with some clamps.

Part for decoration and part to hold the joint together, I install some walnut accent wedges to expand the handle out tight to the joint.

Right now the bottom is open and I want to seal that off with some thin 1/4″ plywood. I adjust a rabeting bit in my router table to the right height for the plywood.

I cut this rabet around the perimeter of the bottom of the box and then just need to square off the corners with a chisel.

The plywood bottom is screwed in place so that it can be removed later for the ashes and then sealed back up.

Then it’s just a matter of doing the final sanding, rounding over some corners, and softening the rest.

I want the box to have a little bit more personalization so I mount a piece of 1/8″ acrylic in my CNC to engrave his name.

For some color contrast, I spray black spray paint on the plaque and then rub off the excess.

I then decide to make the acrylic slightly opaque by hitting it quickly with the sander.

To finish the box I use tung oil, it really brings out the grain and gives it this awesome depth plus it gives it a bit of a shine.

Last step is to attach the name plaque to the front of the box. I pre-drill and attach it with a screw on each corner.