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today's video is sponsored by: microjig, makerof the gripper. work safer, work smarter. as well as rockler woodworking and hardwareand the kencraft company. hi, i'm david picciuto and today i'm goingto show you how to make this keepsake box with a hidden compartment. this box that we're about to make has miteredcorners that can easily be done on the table saw and reinforced with these splines. theinside has this top sliding tray that when moved left and right reveals two trays belowit. when all the trays are lifted out, a hidden compartment is revealed underneath to hideyour valuables. all these trays are lined with a soft flocking that feels like velvetand i'm using these solid brass quadrant hinges

with lid support. for this box i wanted to use special exoticwoods so i went to kencraft, my local hardwood dealer and picked out some bocote for thesides, zebrawood for the top and bottom and ebony for the splines. since these exoticsare sold by the foot i had kencraft cut them down to the amount i needed. back in my shop i start off by resawing allthe wood down to rough thickness on the bandsaw. if you want to learn more about how i resaw,check out my video “resawing without gadgets”. there will be a link on the screen as wellas in the description. the bocote i got was nearly 2 inches thickand i can easily get two 5/8" thick boards

out of it. and the 3/4" zebrawood will beresawed into two 1/4" boards for the lid and bottom. i’ll then plane everything down to finalthickness on the thickness planer. next i’ll crosscut the four sides to lengthand then rip to width on the tablesaw. for the zebrawood used on lid and bottom, i’llroughcut to size and then cut to an exact fit in a later step. i’ll then set my tablesaw blade to 45 degreesand miter the ends. i’ll sneak up on the cut carefully until the mitered edge createsa point without shortening the length of the board.

the lid will be made up like a picture frameso i’ll start out by ripping to width. then using my picture framing sled, i’ll miterthe corners and cut to length. you can learn more about this miter sled and how to makeit in this video here. i’ll post a link in the description. now i’ll cut a groove in the 4 lid piecesto accept the 1/4" zebrawood panel. i’ll run a pass over the blade and then flip theboard around and run another pass. this will center the groove. i’ll then move my fenceout slightly and repeat until my panel fits. then i’ll cut a groove in the 4 side piecesto hold the bottom panel. i’ll make a pass on all 4 pieces and then bump my fence overand make another pass. again, i’ll do this

until i get a nice fit. next i’ll cut the top and bottom panelsto fit. there should be some wiggle room across the width so the panel can expand and contractthough the seasons. it’s always a good idea to sand the piecesbefore the glue up as it’s much easier now. gluing up the mitered box is pretty easy andyou don’t need clamps. painters tape will do the trick. i’ll also apply some painterstape along the inside so any glue squeeze out ends up on the tape and not on the wood. and the most important thing to remember isdon’t forget to place your panel in before letting the glue dry. i’ve made this mistakea couple times in the past. once you get it

together you may need to finesse some cornersinto place with more tape. i’ll then repeat the process for the lid,again using only painters tape. once the glue dries i’ll then cut a groovein the corners for the ebony splines. this will add plenty of strength to the miteredcorners as glue alone will not last since there is no long grain to long grain contact. the spline jig you see me using here was madeto ride over my tablesaw fence but i have since upgrade my fence and the jig no longerfits. but as you can see here it works just fine up against it. if you want to learn howto make this jig i’ll put a link in the description below.

i’ll do the same with the top and bottomcorners of the box. now i’ll bandsaw some ebony to the thicknessof my table saw blade and then cut them into triangles. then it’s just a matter of adding some glueand popping them place. once the glue dries you can sand them off or use a flush trimsaw to remove the excess. with some zebrawood i had left over i resawit into 3/16" pieces to make some trays. i’ll then rip and crosscut them to fit. the bottom tray is going to sit on these tworails that i’m installing to give us a hidden compartment underneath.

and the top tray is only half the width whichwill slide left and right revealing the bottom tray. for an added effect i’ll flock the insidesof the trays giving them a velvet-like feel. if you want to learn more about flocking checkout my video in the description below. here at the router table i’m adding a 45â°chamfer to give the box a nice shadow line along the bottom and a place to put your fingerswhen opening the lid. now it’s time to do some final sanding andadding a finish. i’m using a tri-blend mix of boiled linseed oil, polyurethane and mineralspirits. i go into deal on how this is done here. once again i’ll have a link in thedescription below.

a box like this deserves some nice hingesso i got these brusso solid brass quadrant hinges from rockler. if you’ve ever triedto install hinges like this then you know how stressful it can be to cut the mortisesto the exact size while having everything line up properly. so to make this task mucheasier i’ll be using the jit it hinge mortising system from rockler. you can get differentinserts that are made for the particular type of hinge you are using. with a plunge router,straight bit and guide bushing you’ll get perfect mortises every time with this system.if you want to learn step by step on how to use this system check out this video i madefor rocker here. let's talk about time and cost of materials.although i can't give you an exact amount

of hours it took to make this i can tell youthat if well planned this could easily be made in two days. on day 1 all the piecescan be cut and glued together. on day 2 the splines, chamfers and hinges can be added.if you choose to use a lacquer finish you could also get multiple coats done on thesecond day as it will dry fast. the tri-blend finish i recommend on exotic woods takes 4days but each day only requires a couple minutes of work with a full day to dry between coats.the price of wood can be very dynamic depending on the choice of woods and your location.i choose to get a little fancy and paid $73.58 for the wood used in this project withoutany leftovers. i also decided to use these well made brusso hinges that come in at $49.99.yes, the brusso hinges cost a pretty penny

but you can feel the difference in qualityas soon as you hold them in your hand. they have high standards and a very good reputationfor being the best in the business. so after taxes and shipping the total cost of materialswas $135.62 which doesn't include the flocking and finish which is a little hard to calculatewithout a team of scientists equipped with weights and scales. i’m really happy with the way this box cameout. the top tray slides effortlessly across the bottom tray and everything lifts out toreveal the hidden compartment. all of the joinery is mitered corners that are easilydone on the tablesaw reinforced with splines. and the solid brass hinges compliments theexotic woods and the the design.

you can learn more about the jigs i used aswell as the flocking and finishing techniques here. you can also get plans and view detailedphotos of this project on my website. if you're new to my channel i encourage you to subscribeas i put out videos every week and if you want to support free content like this youcan do so by contributing to my patreon account. i hope you enjoyed this video as i've gota lot more projects like this coming out as well as bigger builds and non-woodworkingprojects. as always, be safe, stay passionate and make something!