Small Box from a Dowel Scrap

 I had a cut off end of a 1.5" diameter red oak dowel that was too nice to throw away.  It haunted me for several month to become something useful.  

My recent exploration into making boxes from scraps of wood suggested that just about any scrap of wood could become a box.   That led to me making this box from that red oak dowel section:

A simple round box

All that was needed was one vector outline of the inside area to pocket it out. The lid was made from the end grain of another red oak scrap. 

End grain lid.

A flat spot on the side of the dowel helped in clamping it down to cut, and orienting it so the lid grain direction aligns with the grain orientation of the box.  What I originally perceived as a flaw turned out to make this easy to clamp down to cut and serves to assure the lid aligns.

More boxes.

So don't throw out the small cutoff scraps of nice hardwoods.  Even scraps too small can be glued to other scraps until the result is big enough to cut a box or small tray from.

Comments welcomed!

4D