| Project by wlhutch | posted 277 days ago | 4038 views | 3 times favorited | 11 comments |  |
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A friend asked me to build a display case for his daughter’s fourteen TaeKwonDo belts she earned in the juniors program. There were a few “firsts” on this project; turquoise inlay and carved diamond molding in two sizes. The display is a simple box with shelves, however I did want to make it special and reflect an Asian influence in the design. Maple was used for the project and my friend wanted a natural look to the finish.
I started with a couple of sketches that were slowly refined. I built a prototype of a base that I really liked
but, once it was built- it didn’t have the same appeal. I went through this same process with several ideas before arriving at these plans. 
From there it was just a matter of milling lumber- 
I built a jig to route the stopped dados for the shelves and on the router table the groove for the backing was made. The shelves and backing are captive, there is enough room for wood movement. 
Carving the diamond molding was easier that i thought. It’s a detail that is better to leave your tool work plainly visible. I made the upper piece first and during the final dry fit, I decided to add the lower molding.
The side inlay is turquoise. It a matter of filling a cavity with glue and ground turquoise, then sanding the result flush. While the procedure is simple, the sanding is a long process, beginning with 80 grit. One side is TaeKwonDo and the other side is Jessica written in Hangul (Korean). 
Here is the final result finished with seal a cell and satin arm-r-seal. 
This has been a fun project and thanks for looking.
11 comments so far
Zac
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48 posts in 287 days
posted 277 days ago
FAN-TASTIC! I love the turqoise that you did – it came out REALLY well, pretty neat how you did it too. I liked the use of the Dremel. The other thing that I loved was the diamond moldings that you did. I’ve seen an acticle on it – but never attempted it. You’rs came out GREAT, nice hand work!
Zac
-- "Start with ten.....end with ten"
SnowyRiver
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3519 posts in 380 days
posted 277 days ago
Great idea. Excellent work. You did a great job designing and building it. I bet she is really happy with it.
-- Wayne - Plymouth MN
TraumaJacques
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383 posts in 400 days
posted 277 days ago
A lot of sweat went into earning those belts, glad to see you built something worthy of them. The dad must have the peace of mind knowing his daughter can defend herself.
Nice job.
-- All bleeding will eventually stop.
WoodSpanker
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298 posts in 291 days
posted 276 days ago
As a third degree black belt and Tae Kwon Do instructor myself, I could use one of these! Thanks for the inspiration! :)
-- Adventure? Heh! Excitement? Heh! A Woodworker craves not these things!
colbynorwood
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45 posts in 267 days
posted 267 days ago
thats a great project, i have been wanting to surprise my dad with one of these, hes a 5th degree who teaches so i figured it would look great at his school
-- Colby Norwood- learn how to measure, measure once, cut once
HallTree
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2041 posts in 667 days
posted 266 days ago
Nice Work!
From looking at your sketches, you have got to try SketchUp.
-- Ron in Osseo, Minnesota
statoncj
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1 post in 211 days
posted 208 days ago
What type of glue did you use to mix with the inlay stone? I am building a frame for a Korean print one of our instructors gave our head instructor and plan to inlay his name in korean in the frame.
Thanks,
CJ
a1Jim
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17141 posts in 476 days
posted 196 days ago
This a very cool project thanks for all the photos and step by step.
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com
lesj
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3 posts in 197 days
posted 196 days ago
nice job.
Ed Elizondo
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80 posts in 422 days
posted 39 days ago
This is great. The turqoise came out really good. What type of glue did you use.
-- Ed E. " Taking one board at a time "
kales
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1 post in 12 days
posted 12 days ago
Great job, ive been searching the web to buy one for my gf. Would you be interested in making us one!? Needs space for 16 belts if possible :) looking forward to hearing off you. Kayleigh Bryan UK x