Prayer Box

Crafts
1

My daughter-in-law wanted a “Prayer Box” for a shelter she volunteers at.
Def: " A prayer box is simply a container where you can pray by writing a note to God. Think of it as a mailbox to God."

Seemed like a fun project and I wanted to build-in a locking mechanism… just for fun.

  • 1/2" Oak with Walnut splines.
  • Stained natural

The most challenging part was finding a way to fix the cross’s axle to the rotating lock.
It needed to be robust but adjustable and removable.
I ended up with a simple split-dowl which is tightened with a wood screw.

I never cease to be impressed with how accurate your cuts must be to get a box to be square in 3 dimensions with a gap-free lid.

This one I modelled on Fusion:

PrayerBoxDesign_2021-Mar-31_04-22-31PM-000_CustomizedView3546699389
PrayerBoxDesign_2021-Mar-31_04-22-31PM-000_CustomizedView35466993891350×660 22.6 KB

Here is how it turned out:

PXL_20210408_222537395 (1)
PXL_20210408_222537395 (1)4032×3024 2.6 MB

PXL_20210408_222555704
PXL_20210408_2225557044032×3024 2.84 MB

PXL_20210408_222611389 (1)
PXL_20210408_222611389 (1)4032×3024 2.9 MB

PXL_20210408_222645742
PXL_20210408_2226457424032×3024 2.67 MB

PXL_20210408_222639664
PXL_20210408_2226396644032×3024 3.01 MB

Here is the surprise lock:

4 Likes
2

Nicely done! Love the hidden lock, clever.

1 Like
3

Very cool. A nice trick to get a box lid to match up perfectly is to glue the entire box and lid together and then cut the top of the box off. Then you’ll know that both pieces mate up exactly.

2 Likes
4

Thanks for the suggestion.
I have used the “cut the top off” method before.
In this case there was so much going on with the lid [lock] I decided to make it separate.

3 Likes