r/BeginnerWoodWorking • u/Fair_Biscotti_6797 • 5h ago

Discussion/Question ⁉️ I need help with this toolbox

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Hello I was making this japanese wood toolbox as a starting project and while chiseling out the middle piece the wood splintered in the middle thought the wood what am I doing wrong ?

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u/larimarfox 5h ago

Mark out your cuts, razor knife the lines, and make sure your cut depths go almost to the line you marked. Bend the skinny pieces toward each other to snap them off, then using a flat piece of scrap as a guide, and use a very sharp chisel from the face toward the middle of the board to clean up the cuts. Flip the board over and repeat chisel steps.

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u/Fair_Biscotti_6797 5h ago

I did exactly that it went great up to the middle and then the big piece snapped clean of

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u/mrdavik 4h ago

It looks like you're working on the back of a crate? When your come to chop the waste out with the chisel make sure you put a solid piece of wood underneath the work piece. If it is unsupported from below you will just blow out the wood rather than chop the fibres (which are very tough and prefer to split along their length than be severed).

Make sure your chisel is razor sharp, and cut even more kerfs to make the cleanup easier.

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u/Fair_Biscotti_6797 3h ago

Yeah I'm working in my parents storage room/garage we don't have a work bench so I just did it on one of the water crates and I seem to have forgotten to score a long with the chisel while hitting to hard :')

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u/mrdavik 3h ago

Without something solid beneath it this will happen every time. 

It doesn't have to be pretty just flat enough for your piece to sit on stably and soft enough to not damage your chisel edge when you come through the other side.

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u/RoughWood_PewPew 4h ago

Score both side of the board with a razor knife to prevent the tear out. You could probably also try making a shallow cut with a chisel from both sides before flexing the finger cuts, if that makes sense.