Sliding wood patchbox placement

[rick landes]

I have been studying some various pictures of LR's with the wood sliding patchbox. To my eye these look best when the forward point of the lid is positioned to point to the center of the wrist and the rear is centered on the center of the butt plate.

I see many that are mounted so as to put the lid rear "square" to the butt plate and point near the base of the wrist.

Perhaps it is a variation among schools/builders/periods...I am not sure what do you think?

[t.caster]

Just like now, everyone has a differing feel for what is beautiful. The boxes that sq. with the butt plate and point to the bottom of the wrist just seem wrong to me. Most of the ones I have done were based on the originals and the centerline seems to point to the touch hole or top of barrel which coincidentally lines it up with the wrist pretty much. I hate to stir it up again...but I apply the Golden Mean to determine the length of the box within 1/2" or so either way, based on the length of the comb.

[Dphariss]

I like the box to run up the center pretty much.
But I have one I did not very long ago that didn't for reasons we will not elborate on

Dan

[Jerry V Lape]

Rick is right  that a lot of wooden patchboxes and also metal ones on originals in RCA and other places have the boxes lined up where they are not in symetry with the center line of the buttstock.  And there are too many of them to just be accidental.    Some builders apparently thought the box should be parallel to the top line of the stock.  Others apparently liked the butt end of the box square and perpendicular to the buttplate.  Looking through RCA it appears as many were made in these ways as any other and you would certainly be correct in emulating them as well as the center line alignments.   Part of the choices may be influenced by the builder not wanting the butt end of the box cut at an extreme angle.  Another part of the choices were probably indifference and mediocre workmanship which we also see reflected in a great many of the orginals especially in poor carving.

[rich pierce]

I agree that many placed them parallel to the comb more or less.  Peter Berry's patchboxes sometimes overlapped with the molding extending from the toe to the guard.  That just seems crazy to me and suggests some makers actively resisted tilting the box to point to the wrist.

[rick landes]

Thanks for the feedback...just one more of those things I wonder about...