• Step by Step constructioninstruction.

• A complete bill of materials.

• Exploded view and elevationdrawings.

• How-to photos with instructivecaptions.

• Tips to help you complete theproject and become a betterwoodworker.

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WJ051

“America’s leading woodworking authority”™

Bombé Box

Published in Woodworker’s Journal “Woodworking Classics: Skill-Building Projects for the Home Woodworker”

WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL ©2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

60 HOME PROJECTS WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL ©2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

BOMBE BOX 61

The idea for this little chest grewout of our author’s personal fondnessfor the bombé shape and a pedagogi-cal crisis. About a dozen years ago, hewas teaching an advanced cabinet-making class at a community college.Traditionally, his third-year studentswere required to produce a final projectduring the last month of class. On thefirst day of their last month, the shoplost all of its three-phase power, saveto three table saws. The maintenancecrew at the college was less thanhopeful for a speedy repair.

In a moment born of desperationand inspiration, and tempered with alarge dose of blindingly good luck, hewas able to lay out the requirements for a new final project that the classdubbed “table saw composition.” This small jewelry box was the result.

Reviewing the Key Points Before Some “Gee-whiz” Machining

While cutting the curve of the boxat the table saw is the “gee-whiz” partof this project, the corner joinery mustcome first. The choice of finger jointsfor this box was part aesthetic andpart engineering. Aesthetically, the visi-bility of the joints helps to emphasizethe “S” curve of the chest. From an

Bombé BoxCarving shapes with your table saw, building a low-tech slot mortiser andcutting finger joints…from a techniques standpoint, this project will giveyou a woodworking workout. When you’re finished, you’ll end up with a shapely

accent piece with three inner trays for storing jewelry or other collectibles. It’s a

great project for building skills without breaking the project budget.

engineering standpoint, the box isstronger than it really needs to be.Because the sides of the box riseabove the front and back, the top of the sides need to end in a finger. Ourauthor used 5/4 stock with a dadoblade stacked to cut 1/2" joints.Starting with a space at the bottom ofthe sides on the 5"-wide stock pro-duces a joint layout that ends with a fin-

Not so much a specific style of furniture,bombé is more a description of a shape.French for “swollen,” bombé-shaped furniture appears to swell and subsidealmost organically.

ger on top. See the Elevation Drawingson the next page for more details.

Begin by selecting your stock forthe front, back and sides (pieces 1 and2) and cutting them to the dimensionsfound in the Material List on page 62.Then grab your dado set and makethose finger joints. If you are new tomaking them, the sidebar on page 64will get you going in the right direction.

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Bombé Box Exploded View

62 HOME PROJECTS

1

1

2

2

3

14

14

MATERIAL LIST – Bombé BoxT x W x L

1 Front and Back (2) 11⁄4" x 5" x 127⁄8"

2 Sides (2) 11⁄4" x 5" x 101⁄8"

3 Bottom (1) 1/4" x 81⁄8" x 1013⁄16"

4 Lid Rails (2) 3/4" x 15⁄8" x 1125⁄32"

5 Lid Stiles (2) 3/4" x 111⁄16" x 97⁄8"

6 Lid Muntins (5) 3/4" x 111⁄16" x 65⁄8"

7 Tray Fronts and Backs (4) 3/8" x 11⁄4" x 101⁄2"

8 Tray Sides (4) 3/8" x 11⁄4" x 71⁄2"

9 Tray Handle (2) 3/8" x 1" x 105⁄8"

10 Tray Bottoms (2) 1/8" x 7" x 10"

11 Small Tray Front and Back (2) 3/8" x 11⁄4" x 71⁄2"

12 Small Tray Sides (2) 3/8" x 11⁄4" x 51⁄2"

13 Small Tray Bottom (1) 1/8" x 5" x 7"

14 Brusso Hinges (2) Brass, 90˚

1/2"

1/4"

1/4"

41/2"

11/4"

1/8"

1/2"1 2

Front, Back and Sides Finger Joint Detail(Inside View)

SidesFrontandBack

Molded Side: Full-sized

WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL ©2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

BOMBE BOX 63

5 5 6 6

3/4"

1/4"

1/4"

1/4"3/8"3/16" 3/16"

111/16"13/16"

CL

3/4" 3/4"

115/16"

21/2"

1/2"

CL

(Edge View)

Lid Stile and Muntin Tenon Detail(Top and Edge View)

Bombé Jewelry Box Machining Details(Front View)

4

1/4"

3/8"

5/16"

3/16"

1/2"

111/16"13/16"

Lid Rail

Stop roundover here.

The front and back must becut down so they match theinside edge of the cove onboth sides.

(Top View)

Whether novice or pro, testing your setup withscrap wood is more than just being prudent.Once the sides, front and back are correctlymachined and fitting well, you can move on tothe fun stuff. That said, cut the corner joints.

Shaping the SidesShaping wood on the table saw requires a bit

of patience and a little imagination. Patience, tomake the repeated cuts required to safely moldwood in this fashion…and imagination to forecastthe shape of the arc that the blade will cut. Withthis modified ripping process, instead of feedingthe wood directly into the blade, the wood is fedin at an angle controlled by auxiliary fences.

To start, sketch the desired profile onto anend of one of the boards. Use this profile tohelp align the auxiliary fences to the blade. Fromthe outfeed side of the saw and with the bladeraised, sight along the table at the arc of theblade and think of it as a cutting profile (see thetint box on page 67 for photos that will help).What you are after is the angle that best match-es the profile sketched on the end of the board.

Once the angle is “sighted-in,” securelyclamp the two auxiliary fences to the saw table.The resulting “chute” should fit snugly againstthe box sides, but it should not restrict theirmovement across the saw table.

Because the ends of the box sides need tobe shaped to the same profile, shape the boxas a unit. If the box’s joinery is tight, you canshape the box without clamping up the parts. If the fingers and slots are a bit loose, however,a clamp or two will secure the joints.

Now set the height of the blade at a littleover 1/32" above the table. If you feel uncertainabout your angle and how it will look as youmold the sides, use a test piece. When you’resatisfied with the test piece, shape the box.Make each pass or cut about 1/16" deep anduse a slow feed rate. Don’t be too concernedabout burning the wood with this slow rate offeed. Continue making passes on all four sidesof the box until you have formed the desiredprofile. To remove the material at the bottom ofthe profile, use the table saw with the blade

WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL ©2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

64 HOME PROJECTS

Finger joints (also called box joints) are simple to make, nice to look at andvery durable. Use a jig (shop-made or manufactured) to form the fingers andslots. The author chose to make a one-time jig using a backer board mounted tohis miter gauge. To make your own, cut an opening (using the dado setup pre-pared for the finger joints) to accept a registration pin in the backer board. In thiscase, the pin should be 1/2" X 1/2" X 13⁄4". Glue the pin into the opening andreposition the backer board so the pin is moved to the right of the dado head,twice the width of your dado cut (in this case 1"). Now secure the jig to yourmiter gauge. This may take some tweaking to get exactly right. You are nowready to make your finger joints. Using scrap lumber to make test cuts is thenext step in successfully completing the task. A handy trick for making the sidesof this box is to clamp one of the completed front or back pieces onto the regis-tration pin and then use it to help register the first cut on the end pieces.

Using a registrationpin mounted in a backer board, the author made a “one-time” finger joint jig forhis table saw.

TABLE-SAWN FINGER JOINTS: A QUICK REFRESHER COURSE

tilted. Finish shaping and smoothing thesides with a hand plane and scraper forthe convex portions and coarse sand-paper with a shaped sanding block forthe convex areas. Final sandingincludes more of the same…a lot more!

Next, let in the bottom (piece 3) ofthe box. Our author used a 3/16"straight bit in a router table and madetwo cuts per groove just to be sure thegroove could properly accommodateundersized plywood. On the box backand front, this is a blind operation (youcan’t observe the bit cutting the wooddirectly). Start and stop the cut in exactlythe same place by marking the routertable or fence with start and stop marksto correspond with marks on the frontand back. On the sides, it is a simplethrough-groove.

Making the LidTo complement the bombé sides of

the box, the lid is a lightly arched frame-and-panel construction. The shapehelps to embellish the curve of thesides. Make the lid rails, stiles andmuntins (pieces 4, 5 and 6), ripping

them from 6/4 plain-sawn stock. If yourstock shows quartersawn grain, orientthe wood so the lid parts show this fig-ure on the top and bottom surfaces.

The lid’s open mortise and tenonjoints are easily made at the table sawwith a shop-made tenoning jig. Theapproach is decidedly “low-tech.” Firstattach a tall, hardwood board to thetable saw’s rip fence (see left photo,next page). It should be carefullydressed, flat and true, because thisauxiliary rip fence facing will define thepath of your stock through the blade.Take another scrap of wood and rest iton top of the auxiliary fence; this pieceforms a sliding runner. Set the height ofthe blade to the width of the framemember, allowing 1/32" extra.

Next, lay out the mortises andtenons as shown in the ElevationDrawings on page 63. After adjustingthe fence to cut the first pass on thestiles’ open mortises, take a piece ofscrap wood of the same dimension andrest it on its end against the auxiliaryfence and clamp it to the runner. Bypushing down on the runner with your

QuickTip

Foam Board Sanding BlockYou’ll definitely appreciate having a curve-bottomed sanding block to refine theouter faces of this project. Aquick and cheap solution is touse a scrap of rigid foam insu-lation, and mold it to the cor-rect profile with a rasp. First cutthe project parts to shape onthe table saw, then make thesanding block based on yourfinal part shapes. It takes just afew minutes of filing to create amirror opposite of the project’scurve, and the foam board willstand up well to hand-sanding.Just wrap it with a piece of sandpaper and you’re ready togo to work.

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BOMBE BOX 65

Here’s a low-tech jig for making the open mortises on your box lid. Itemploys a runner board that slides on top of the rip fence facing.

Using a stand-off block to register the cut and a miter gauge forsafety, machine tenons onto the ends of the muntins.

Lid Exploded View

4

4

5

5

6 66

66

Lid BevelDetail

The open mortise-framed lid is completed with five muntins. The author created quartersawngrain on these pieces by slicingthem from 6/4 plain-sawn lumber.

right hand and pushing the test pieceagainst the fence with your left, you areready to guide the test piece throughthe saw blade. Practice the movementa few times to become comfortablewith it. Once the movement is smoothand steady, go ahead and make the

other cuts. When you work with theactual pieces, remember to flip theends for the cut on the opposite end sothe same face is riding against the aux-iliary fence. After all four cuts have beenmade, adjust the fence to make theremaining cuts.

With the open mortises cut to size,you’re ready to cut the rails’ tenons.Again, a test cut or two saves time andwood. Line up the blade with the edgeof one of the mortise pieces—asthough you wanted to enlarge the mortise by the width of the saw blade.

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Tray Exploded View

66 HOME PROJECTS

10

7

7

8

8

9

HandleNotchDetail

8

9

7

3/4" 3/4"

115/16"

CL

1/4"1/4"

3/8"

3/8"

3/4"

5/8" Dia.1/16"

1/4"1/4"

1/8" 1/8"

1/8"1/8" 1/8"

8

9

7

3/4" 3/4"

115/16"

CL

1/4"1/4"

3/8"

3/8"

3/4"

5/8" Dia.1/16"

1/4"1/4"

1/8" 1/8"

1/8"1/8" 1/8"

8

9

7

3/4" 3/4"

115/16"

CL

1/4"1/4"

3/8"

3/8"

3/4"

5/8" Dia.1/16"

1/4"1/4"

1/8" 1/8"

1/8"1/8" 1/8"

Small Tray Side (Front and End Views)

Tray Side (Front View)

Tray Handle (Front and End Views)

Tray Front & Back (Front View)

Small Tray Front & Back (Front View)

The tray bottoms can be flocked or covered withthe same finish as the restof the project.

12

11

3/4"

1/4"1/4"

3/8"

3/4"

115/16"

1/8" 1/8"

CL

12

11

3/4"

1/4"1/4"

3/8"

3/4"

115/16"

1/8" 1/8"

CL

Using the clamp and runner, make atest cut on scrap lumber. If the cut issatisfactory, make the four cuts neces-sary to establish the first side of all fourtenons. Repeat the procedure for thesecond cut on the opposite side of thetenon. To establish the clean straightline at the tenon shoulder, use yourmiter gauge and a standoff blockclamped to the rip fence to register theshoulder location. Remember that the

depth of cut necessary to remove a tabfrom one side is less than the other.

Cutting the tenons on the individualmuntins requires the same process. The mortises for the muntins are cut atthe drill press with a Forstner bit andcleaned up with a mortising chisel. Dry-fit the pieces, and use your tablesaw to establish the slope on the frontand back of the lid. This means runningthe lid on edge through the blade.

Routing for the LidSince the lid of the box is over-

sized, both the lid and the box willrequire routing. For the lid, which shouldbe routed as a unit, use a roundoverbit. The top of the box sides require acove, which is done with the box disas-sembled. Next, cut down the front and back so they meet the cove cut per-fectly (see the Elevation Drawings). Thiscreates a recessed area that the lid will

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BOMBE BOX 67

SHAPING THE BOX SIDES

Creating the classic bombécurve on this box begins on the tablesaw. The author used auxiliaryfences placed at an angle to the sawblade to guide this process. The boxis machined while dry-fitted togetherso the corners of the box are shapedalong with the faces of the sides,front and back. The key to thisprocess is to remove only a smallamount of material with each passover the blade.

Two views of the samecut, from overhead and “looking down the

chute” (inset). Determine the fence angleusing the “line of sight” method.

Once you’ve established your blade anglerelative to the clamped fences, raise theblade 1/16" with each pass. Continue untilyou have the desired curve on all faces.

Finish the box’s elegantshape by planing,scraping and sanding.

The author used a wide collection of handtools and sanding blocks to bring thebombé box to its final shape.

The lower bout of theS curve is started byslicing an angled cutat the bottom edge ofthe box, as shown in the inset.

fit into, adding subtly to the box’s over-all curvy shape.

Letting in the small access cove,shaping the front edge of the box andeasing the edges comes next. Theaccess cove is done with a cove bitand the lid with a roundover. Note thatthe bottom edge radius stops at theedge of the access cove, starts again at the other edge and continues. It’s asmall feature, but it lends a sense oforganization.

Now you can assemble the boxwith glue and clamps, taking plenty ofcare to be sure it’s square.

Building Three TraysIf your project will be used as a

jewelry box, there are three trays toconstruct to organize various jewels,

gems and trinkets. Since you’re now apro at making box joints, use them toconnect the tray frames. The trays aremostly made out of 1/4"-thick hard-wood and can be produced in shortorder. Cut the parts (pieces 7 through13) to size. Set up another finger jointjig and test-fit the corners on somescrap. Use this setup to form the han-dle notches, too. See the drawings onthe preceding page for all your machin-ing details. Rout in the groove for thebottoms and you are almost done. Drilla hole in the handles of the large traysto make them easier to grip.

Mounting the lid requires somesturdy hardware. Brusso makes a sturdy but discreet 90° stop hinge(pieces 14) that is easy to install andperfect for this project.

Finishing UpWith all the construction behind

you, it’s time for finishing. Sand every-thing to 220 or finer grit. Use a qualityoil- or sprayed lacquer finish, carefullyrubbing it down with steel woolbetween coats. We were more interest-ed in producing a grain-enhancingsheen than a shine. Then top off the finish with a coat of paste wax and agood buffing.

There are a couple options for finishing the trays. You can apply thesame finish here as you’re using for therest of the project. Or, skip the finish onthe tray compartments and spray themwith colored flocking instead for a clas-sic jewelry box detail.

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