Making a Hinged Obelisk #1: Making a natural wood hinged obelisk

The following pictures show how I made the hinged obelisk.

I started with a plan for a shelf size where the obelisk was to be cut in half so it would be big enough for the 1 1/4” hole for the candle and the two brass pins. It was supposed to be 2” square which meant about a 4×4x8 block. the wood was so chewed up by ants that the biggest block I could get was 3 5/8” square x 8”. I laid out the cut lines and that left a shelf size of 1 7/8” square which was going to have to do.

I made the first cut on the back:
I leveled the surface on the jointer and then set it up level in the mill and cut the hinge pocket:

then I cut it in half at the designated level:

I used the scrap from the first cut to cut out the hinge pieces:

I sawed it into a hinge on the scroll saw:

Then I split the hinge so I could put in blind holes into the sides. I drilled the center section through and then spotted the centers to the sides with a small spotting pin.

I put in a 1/8” steel pin and glued it together and then glued it into the milled opening after fitting it so the pivot was exactly on the center of the split:

then I laid out the center of the brass bushings and the 1 1/4 candle hole and spotted them to the top section. I drilled all the holes:

With the pins in place to hold the alignment, I finished the next three cuts to make the obelisk:

Here it is put together and opened:

-- Jim Jakosh.....Practical Wood Products...........Learn something new every day!!