A Boxmaking Jig or Stealing Toys from Children

I’ve been searching for the perfect tool to assist me in constructing book boxes. I have very specific criteria: it must be about 3 inches high, with 3″ legs, perfectly flush, plumb, 90 degrees. It needs to be smooth and durable with a little heft. I tried pricing what it would cost me to have a machinist make this, and it was sadly astronomical. I looked high and low at Home Depot for something that would help me form the walls for my boxes–provide a surface that I could really push against to get the joints perfectly flush, but no dice. Then I walked into my daughter’s room and stepped on a Lego. So I’m cursing incoherently, “Friger, recka, blech, mnnnhh, ohh!” And it hits me. Perfectly flush, plumb, 90 degree angles. I gathered up a bunch of Legos and surreptitiously made off with them into my studio. I didn’t want my daughter to see because they were too perfect to risk her 5-year-old possessiveness. I constructed the perfect L-shaped jig that fit all my demanding criteria to the letter, and then SHE walked in. My heart sank, but do want to know what my sweet little girl did? She went and got more Legos and started making me more L shapes than I could ever possibly use. I love that little girl.