New Box for an Old Plane

Custom Box for Stanley 45 Combination Plane:

I bought an old Stanley 45 combination plane on eBay, and wanted to be able to store it assembled, instead of having to put it together every time I wanted to use it. The plane has a main body into which two rails/rods are inserted. The rods then support the secondary body and a third piece, the fence. Both the secondary "skate" and the fence parts slide along the rods. There are two pairs of rods included with this plane, a short (4") and a long (8") pair. The plane came with a full set of cutters and a splitter. From what I have watched and read, most people just use the 1/4-inch grooving blade in it for making dados and grooves.

I made the box from a piece of pine board I got a big box store. I made a box-joint jig a year or so ago, and I am always amazed how nicely the joints fit together. The boards had a slight cup in them, so I clamped them together in pairs to flatten them out before I ran them through the stacked dado blades on my table saw with my jig/sled. That seemed to work well. I used a small piece of 1/4" plywood for the bottom. I planed the lid piece down like a raised panel so it would fit snugly into the grooved along the top. I used the Stanley 45 to make the grooved for the top and bottom. Anyway here is the box: