My Bright Ring Box

Great looking peice, and the level of precesion is amazing.

Thank you for posting.

-- Hope Never fails

Very nice!

-- Wade, Nashville, www.casetn.com

Really nice work. I admire your accuracy.

Your work is amazing.

Awosome job. I love the woods you used. Great job!

-- christopheralan http://www.projectwoodworks.com http://www.ProjectWoodworks.etsy.com My Stuff for Sale! http://www.zazzle.com/christopheralan PWW Shirts and Gear!

Beautiful box, very good workmanship, nice color.

-- Tom D

Robin,
I’m a fan of your box work. You seem to have perfected a technique for making precision cuts of small pieces and I love the quilting connection. I used to quilt with the older women of my family when I was very young and the weather was bad outside. I remember being so amazed at how they would give me pieces to sew that looked like they didn’t belong anywhere and how the finished quilt looked like it was a perfect match in every detail. I still don’t have that kind of thinking skill.

One small question or two if you don’t mind. You use the plywood as a substrate for the woods you use and the edges are usually visible when you’re finished. Have you considered a way to cover the plywood edges so they don’t detract from the piece? Also, have you experimented with edge gluing the pieces so they need no substrate?

Thanks for any response in advance,

-- Jim

OutPutter;
When I make a box like the Glasses box like I put on today, I make it as one solid but hollow block. Only after it is completely sanded do I cut it open. I then sand the edges smooth and round the corners, yes the plywood base can detract for some but my main objective is to have the continuity of the grain on the lid continue down to the bottom on the pieces I cut in half. You will see this more in the boxes I put on 2 and 3 days from now (if you can stand to look at them). I maybe could have glued a thin piece of wood around the edge but it would have broke up the grain going from the lid to the bottom and also added to the time it took to make them, I have never got much for the time it took to make them, in the first place.

The plywood I used on the Glasses box is 3/16” Baltic Birch, 5 ply, which to my way of thinking is pretty good plywood. I never wanted some cheap soft 3 ply plywood showing. I wanted a thin walled box but still enough to hold a screw for the hinge.

In 4 and 5 days I will be putting on some cabinets with this design that have drawers, the plywood will show on the drawer front behind the overlay. I have no idea how I could have made them and not show it there.

As far as edge gluing goes, there would not be the strength I would want for the box, and no place for the screw for the hinge.

I’ve done what I do with very limited expense and tools. Could it be better? No doubt it could be.

I hope this answers your questions on why I make them as I do.

Thank you ALL for your comments.

-- It’s not so much what we know that causes the trouble, it’s what we know that’s not so.

Great craftsmanship!

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

Robin,
Thanks for the detailed response. Just so nobody who reads this thinks I don’t appreciate what you do – I love your work.

My thoughts on the plywood thing was to increase the wood thickness to 3/16 + 3/16 = 3/8 which is the same as the wood plus the plywood now. That would give you the same room for the hinges. I would glue the box over a plywood jig in the same shape you use now that would fall away after making the cut to “open” the box. As for the strength of edge gluing as oposed to your existing method, your right, you would be giving up something… that is until you come up with another unique way to do edge glueing! ;2)

Anyway, I’ve stuck my nose in your business enough now so I’ll just repeat – I love your work. I know I don’t have the talent or the tools to even come close to what you do so I’ll just keep making my plain old boxes.

Thanks,

-- Jim

Beautiful work! Lovely photos. Thanks for sharing.

Hey, that is really well done.Beautiful is all I can say!!! I custom make high end Jewelry boxes and I appreciate seeing excellent work like yours. Thanks for the great photos.
John

-- John in Elmira