Tine' Boxes

[Harmony]

Hi,

I am a new member and am a tine' box maker.

I make my bentwood boxes from hardwood and birch bark.

Hope to pickup some new ideas here.

Harmony

 

[John Fenna]

Hello and welcome.
Your boxes sound interesting, it would be good to see some photos of them.
Enjoy the site!
John

 

[woof]

Hi there and welcome, not sure what a tine box is, as John says how about some photos?.

 

[Tadpole]

Hi there and welcome, not sure what a tine box is, as John says how about some photos?.

google is your friend
tine' box

 

[aarya]

Boxes like these are simply called 'Tine' in Norwegian. (Tine - singular, Tiner - Plural.)
So to say that they are tine boxes, is slightly over the top, but i don`t mind THAT much. ^_^

 

[Harmony]

As far back as the days of the Vikings, Norwegian and other Scandinavian craftsmen made sturdy wooden boxes by bending thin bands of wood around a form. These bands were laced together to form the body of a box that was both strong and light weight. Tops and bottoms were added in many different styles to suit the needs of the family. These boxes, called “Tine'” in Norwegian, came to America with the early immigrants.

I have pictures, just have to figure out how to post them.

aarya

Trying to explain a tine', to anyone but a Norwegian, is to difficult. Calling them tine' boxes and explaining it is pronounced "tee-na" makes it much easier

Harmony

 

[Harmony]

were do I find information on posting pictures on this forum?

Harmony

Thank you for your help Singeblister!!

Harmony

 

[Singeblister]

welcome to the forum , love to see some pics of your work

 

[Harmony]

Here is a traditional style tine'.

The side and handle are Idaho white pine, blued and worm bored.

Lid is California black oak.

End posts are sumac.

Box is laced with cane.

Second picture shows how handle is held on.

Harmony

 

[Indoorsout]

I'd love to see a how-to on those, they look fantastic! I've never seen them around here

 

[Matt Weir]

Lovely stuff Harmony. I also am new to this style of hardware and it's great to see new things

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Matt Weir]

Lovely stuff Harmony. I also am new to this style of hardware and it's great to see new things

Thanks for sharing.

 

[soggy boots]

Hi Harmony
Nice to see tradition lives on.
Scandinavian countries seem to keep their craft traditions, and keep them wherever they travel in the world.
The design is pleasing and it's nice to see them in the flesh.
Thanks for sharing this Harmony!!

 

[Harmony]

This tine' is all hardwood.

The sides, lid and bottom are birch.

The handle and end posts are cherry.

Box is laced with cane.

If you would like, I could post the step by step instructions on how I make a tine'. I would like to keep it in this thread.

Harmony

 

[StJon]

Please post a how-to, I've had a go at other styles of box but not Tine'
jon

 

[SOAR]

I've got to admit I love this style of box, your work is stunning by the way, keep up the good work and showing us more pics, I for one would love to see some tutorials on here and most of all welcome to the forum good to have you onboard.

 

[jon r]

beautifull boxes! i havnt seen this design of box before... very clever. and you must be a very clever and skilled man to make them! excellent! cheers.

 

[Harmony]

A few craftsman have used birch bark to make tiner. Usually they would turn the brown side out. I have made them this way, but my customers seem to prefer the more rustic look of the white side out.

Harmony

This tine' is laced with spruce root, a more traditional material to use, but hard to come by.

This tine' is laced with spruce root and has a sumac handle and end posts.

 

[Harmony]

The original tiner was made with hand tools and using no glue or nails. There is a lot of pride in still making them this way.

I have to admit, I cheat a little and use power tools and a little glue.

The heart of the tine is the thin wooden side, usually about 3mm thick. It is boiled then shaped around a form and left to dry for 2 days.

The hardest thing to come by, when making a tine', is a pan to boil the side pieces.

Some craftsmen soak the sides in trays made of PVC pipe. You add boiling water and let it set.

I boil the sides for 20 to 30 minutes in a long pan heated by a hot plate.

This is my first pan. It is 18cm wide, 13cm deep and 76cm long. Legs to fit height of hot plate. lid to fit, long wooden handle.

The gloves are used when I work root. You can handle a hot side once it is lifted out of the pan with the tongs

As I started building larger tiner I needed a larger pan, my present pan is 1.22m long.

Other side material you may consider, bendable plywood, thick leather and birch bark.

Only boil plywood for 2 minutes or it will come apart. Voice of experience.

Leather and birch bark can be soaked in hot water in a large round pan. Birch bark will curl up.

You will find you get many comments on the lacing on your tine'.

End posts, bottom and lid are cut out of wood 1cm thick.

I will add instructions to this thread as I get them written. I will start with form building.

Harmony

 

[Harmony]

Traditionally forms are made out of solid wood, with holes in the center to fit over pegs. The pegs hold the form wile you are bending the sides.

I build my forms using PVC pipe couplings and filler pieces.

Once you have decided on the couplings you want, decide on box length. Set your couplings on a piece of paper and draw the shape of the filler you want.

You will notice the form on the right has strait sides. The others are curved.


The couplings fit, snugly, over wooden posts on a jig clamped to the work bench.

The last jig will fit two different sized forms.

Place your form and filler piece on the jig.

This form has strait sides. The two pieces of plywood you see are strong backs, they will apply pressure evenly on the side piece.

You have to cut a curve in the strong back if the sides of your form are curved.

Here you see what the form will look like with a side bent and clamped in.

My next post I will discuss selecting and layout of the side piece.

Please cut me some slack on the metric measurements, it is not my normal way of measuring.

Harmony