Beetle Pine Pod Box

I wish I had bought a ton of this wood when I was in Kansas City! I was visiting a friend and stopped by Schutte Lumber and saw this great “D-grade pine.” The beetle stain was fantastic! I bought a long piece of 8/4 and brough it back to Colorado. This project is the last of that batch. Ironically, a large chunk of the pine in Colorado is dying because of this beetle and not many people think the wood is good for display projects. I say Nay Nay!

While this box is pretty light weight and will not stand up to the abuse a maple, walnut or purpleheart box would, how many jewelry boxes get tossed around? I enlarged an old plan and made this design 11” tall, 5” wide, 4” deep.

Instead of trying to minimize the kerf between the drawers, I sanded them out a little and they almost look like stems. The gap where the top box loops over the center one was a little difficult but with a little innovation I was able to get the surface sanded down. The pulls were shaped from cutoffs of the same pine.

The finish was a problem from the beginning. I should have put a coat of sanding sealer on first but it didn’t occur to me until too late. This piece sucked up the thinned poyurethane like dry sand. Now that it is fully dry I may go back and try to put one final coat on to make the end-grain shine a little better.

The colors of the pine amazed me as they always do and I really enjoyed making this piece.

-- Behind the Bark is a lot of Heartwood----Charles, Centennial, CO