Fitting The Door

Ok, so at this point your box should be coming along nicely...hopefully! The next step is to fit your door. There are many variations to the doors on biltong boxes, but from experience a simple two hinged plank can always be repaired, painted, varnished or sanded with ease.

firstly, place your box on the side of the hinges, and lay them out so you have a general idea of where you would like to fix them. For my box, I made outlines of the hinges at least 2 inches from the top and again two inches from the bottom.



Depending on what type of hinges you use, you may need to cut recesses to accomodate them. I have tried normal butt hinges before but they turned out to be very difficult, so for this box I used a Flush hinge. Due to the thickness of the wood, I just screwed them in place with wood screws. It might take a few tries to get the door to fit perfectly.

Joining All Sides

The joining of all of the pieces to make the box is not as hard as it looks, what was torture for me, was waiting for the glue to dry before I could start on the next one (I didn't have any clamps).

I made sure that each side (except the front) was cut to 45 degrees. Hopefully, if this is cut right, a box shape should form. This type of joint is ideal for simply gluing together, but to ensure stability and durability, it's a good idea to use small wood nails as well.

PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU DO NOT CUT OR JOIN THE FRONT OF YOUR BOX OR YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ATTACH A DOOR!!!

As I said before, to make sure this is done correctly, you could ask your local timber merchant to cut it for you.

MDF Model

As you can see, the MDF cuttings are fairly straight forward. I have an electric saw at home, but it's just as easy to ask places like Focus or B&Q to do this for you. Actually looking back at it now, that's what I should have done as it will save you awkward corners and fittings. Use your hole cutter to ensure 3 holes at the top and bottom of every large bit. This is to promote the airflow through your biltong box.

Try and get as many holes in image 3 as possible without compromising the strength of it. This piece will fit in the middle of your box, just above the light bulb. It is there primarily as a drip tray, but if you wrap it in foil, it could also enhance any heat during the process.

More soon...