Bees for thousands of years had been making hexagonal beehives exclusively to store honey. Snowflakes are also exclusively hexagonal. There is something about the hexagon that makes it nature's most efficient shape because more of it can be packed flat in any given area. Or, grouped tightly together, vertical hexagonal boxes will contain more volume with the least amount of material needed to construct them. The reason bees make it is because beeswax is a valued resource as a construction material. It is therefore a woodworking option as will be shown here.
Hexagonal boxes though has one inherent weakness - edge-to-edge end grain to end grain joinery makes a weak glue joint. But there are ways to strengthen the joints.
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| Good news is that cutting the hexagon sides is pretty straightforward on the table saw. Tilt the blade to 60 deg and with a stop block shown in the next photo you can cut as many sides as you want. |
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| A simple but critical tip: Clamping the work whenever possible goes a long way to a safe woodworking operation. |
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| A thin 1/4 inch plywood cut into a circle will act as an internal spline to strengthen the hexagon box. There is limited glue contact between the circle and in between the groove but it adds strength nevertheless and also acts as a bottom for the box. |
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| With a band clamp the circle bottom can be incorporated in the glue up. |
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| A 1/4 inch spline on each corner adds even more strength to the joint. Multiple splines may be made to increase the holding power. Here one is deemed sufficient. |
The following photos show added "accessories" to the box so it can be attached to a column planter. More of it on the following blog.
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