Maple Burl Watch Box

Sorry that the pictures on this project are a little fuzzy. The camera was being a little finnicky.

I had a really nice piece of Maple Burl. It had tons of swirls and curls that I wanted to show off. It was pretty small so I know I didn’t have a lot of options. I made this one before I made the Padauk version so it is a little blockier and not as rounded.

There was no need to do any laminating since so I was able to jump right into the cutting. After lopping off the back, I cut out the drawer and realized how small the piece was truly going to be! I would be the perfect size for a watch or maybe two.

After some time with the belt sander I had the drawer fitting well and the major bumps out of the surface. One thing I learned with this project is that burl wood is BRITTLE! There’s not a lot of flex, give and take. Since there is no defined grain you never know where it may decide to snap off. Luckily this piece didn’t break or evn crack but I felt like I was on the edge all the time.

A finish of gloss poly really added depth to the burl wood. If I had a little more experience with finishes at the time I did this, I think I could have brought out the depth even more and made this a truly spectacular visual piece.

I took a grayed piece of burl and worked it over with the belt sander to shape the pull. The drawer fits pretty tightly so I made the pull a little over-large so bigger hands have something to get a grip on.

The box is 8” wide, 1 1/2” tall and about 3” deep. The inside is flocked with light gray fibers. I would have liked it to be a little darker gray but I think almost any color would look light compared to the dark wood.

Thanks for taking a look.

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