Brazilian Satinwood Tiny Sq Box

I recently started using some Brazilian Satinwood that has perfect satinwood markings on the surface of the wood, so I thought I had to make several tiny boxes with some of it. I like the brightness of the wood and when it is cut right you get a movement of the grain in the light that is fascinating.

I thought that it was a good time to show the simple way that I make my boxes. This is a small one but the basic steps are the same as on the bigger boxes. So if you are interested in seeing the steps, I will be putting that on my Blog as a step by step.

I call this my “Tiny Square Brazilian Satinwood and Purpleheart” Box. On the top of the box is an Aunt Sukeys Choice quilt pattern. The square box is about 3 1/2” x 3 1/2” and 2 1/2” tall. Inside it is 2 1/2” x 2 1/2” x 1 1/2”. I made it using 92 pieces of wood cut in either diamond or triangle shapes from different kinds of wood. I used the half size pieces for the “Aunt Sukeys choice” pattern on the top, so there are 40 pieces where I would normally have 20 pieces. The box is finished in its natural color with 5 coats of a clear wiping varnish, rubbed in by hand. The pieces are a bit over 3/16” thick, glued onto a Baltic Birch base, so they hold up much better than a thin veneer.

The type of wood is listed on the bottom of the box from the center out. On this box the wood is “Wenge” from West Africa, “Pink Ivory” from South Africa (a wood that is sacred to the Zulu tribe). “Black Palm” from Indonesia. (I cut this on an angle to give the black dots a different look) “Purpleheart” from Central or South America is a very bright purple wood. Then “Satinwood” from Brazil is used on the main part of the box. The Brazilian Satinwood has a more bright yellow color to it than the golden color that the satinwood from Sri Lanka has.

I made this box in 2009. On the bottom I signed it, listed the wood, and dated it. After the date, the words “Foot Cut” let you know I made it on a foot powered table saw.

This box is all made from very exotic wood.

I lined the box with black velveteen.

Here are 3 more pictures that are not shown at the top;

Thank you for looking,
Robin Tucker

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