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This was a custom box to hold 35 bottles of essential oil for one of my Etsy customers. It is the yin-yang opposite of the first box I built for her (last picture). That first box, which I don't have a finished picture of, was a cherry box with a black walnut lid and handles. She liked it so well that she wanted another one. Luckily I had cut the pieces for a twin box while I had the saw set up so it was quick to finish. This second box is a black walnut body with a cherry lid and handles.

The beach stone handles are tricky but very cool looking with a coat of satin poly. I first hold them flat on the side of a grinder wheel to make a flat spot, then with a diamond bit in the Dremel I bore a hole to epoxy a stainless machine screw as a stud. Nip the head of the screw at the right length to fit through the lid. The stone is then epoxied to the lid and a nut is put on the inside to hold it in place. I'm careful not to use too much epoxy that it squishes out too much. I also counterbore the lid so the lid can be set down without scratching something with the exposed stud. The handles have a large screw from the inside and are also glued in place.

The lid has a bookmatched look, but was actually just one long piece of cherry with some angled grain pattern. I cut it in half and flipped one side to create the effect. I actually like the way one side of the cherry had already achieved some patina*. It should be arriving in Texas any minute now.

  • I just learned a new word over the weekend that applies to the top of this box: "chatoyance" which is the optical effect of surfaces looking darker or lighter depending on where you are in relation to the light falling on a surface with fibers going one direction or another. When I built this box and had it in my shop with lots of light, the two halves of the lid looked the same color. In photographs and in certain light (with one point light source) the two sides look alternately light and dark depending on your angle. Coined from the french term meaning "cat's eye".

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Comments

· Registered
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192 Posts
Beautifully done, the rock knob added a nice touch.
 

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425 Posts
Nice box.
 

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7,502 Posts
Nicely done
 
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