| Project by Douglas Bordner | posted 858 days ago | 1846 views | 5 times favorited | 30 comments | ![]() |
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Box is made with a spalted maple slab top, hinged into side walls with brass dowels. Variably spaced box joints with tiger maple and walnut side walls. The bottom is a glue up of bird’s eye maple, walnut and ebony. Interior lined with Spanish cedar. The lift knob is end-grained turned black palm. Finish is Behlen’s Master Gel varnish.
New images added 10/03/09, with the aid of a new home-made light box.
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.


































30 comments so far
Don
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2590 posts in 1069 days
posted 858 days ago
Douglas, this is one beautiful box, and I just love small boxes!
You’ve done a superb job of designing and constructing an elegant piece. Very nice work.
-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/
Dorje
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1768 posts in 889 days
posted 858 days ago
So cool – I love that the front and top blend together so well, as if the clear (unspalted) tiger maple was a part of the same log the spalted maple board came from!
-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA
cajunpen
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5970 posts in 958 days
posted 858 days ago
I really like your box Douglas. I like the use of the different species of wood – like a surprise around every corner. The craftsmanship and finish is excellent, thanks for sharing.
-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/
MsDebbieP
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14161 posts in 1053 days
posted 858 days ago
this is beautiful, Douglas!!!
-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
furnitologist
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190 posts in 905 days
posted 858 days ago
Hey Doug….......that’s a pretty box. Love the spalted maple top picking up the walnut fingers.
Question:
What’s turning Black Palm like? Is it dry? or Tight?.....can you compare it to another wood?
Very COOL!!!
jockmike2
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7299 posts in 1139 days
posted 858 days ago
Have’nt seen any spalting in a long time, at least since I’ve been sick. Beautiful job Doug, very very nice. jockmike
-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com
PanamaJack
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4447 posts in 970 days
posted 858 days ago
Just a great job done on this piece Doug. Awesome.
-- Carpe Lignum - Seize The Wood,
TomFran
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2509 posts in 887 days
posted 858 days ago
Beautiful work Doug! Thanks for sharing your construction details.
-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28
Douglas Bordner
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3424 posts in 956 days
posted 858 days ago
Thanks all for your positive comments.
Neil – Black palm is not like any thing else I’ve turned. Very splintery and dry, no glorious curls coming off the skew.
I have turned a couple of pens on end-grain to get the “eyes” to show, but as I have only been able to get 2×2x15” blanks I had to laminate with ebony spacers between sections to get the length needed for pen blanks. It absolutely needed to be trimmed or rasped into round before turning to avoid huge chunks becoming airborne. Turned with the grain it’s not horrible, but the look I was after was to have the look down into the end of the fibro-vascular bundles. The pen looks like guinea-fowl feathers. I looked around for one I made, and have had no luck finding it.
Now I’ll have to give it a go again, and I’ll post a pen when I’m done. If it blows out badly I will take a shot on the lathe. Definitely face shield work.
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
Bob Babcock
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1808 posts in 979 days
posted 858 days ago
Wow….very cool Doug. I too think you pulled of some magic with the spalted top matching the tiger maple. Great design.
-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org
Douglas Bordner
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3424 posts in 956 days
posted 858 days ago
Once again the magic of serendipity in the shop. Gotta love wood and woodworking!
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
CharlieM1958
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7602 posts in 1111 days
posted 858 days ago
I love it, Doug. I’m a big fan of spalting (as anyone knows if they check out my projects).
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
scottb
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3403 posts in 1219 days
posted 857 days ago
Very cool – looks great. Seven grains – how wholesome! ;)
-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/
DocK16
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710 posts in 979 days
posted 853 days ago
Have gone back and admired all your box projects, yeah I have an affinity for small boxes too. I have built several before becoming an LJ, gave them away before the digital camera became a household thing. Looking at yours makes me want to go back and do a few. I always had trouble getting the lids to align well after puting the hinges on; yours seem to fit perfect; any tips. It looks like the double dove tails and double box joints are the work of an incra jig or similar tool. You haven’t mentioned the method in your write-up.
-- DocK, WV
dennis mitchell
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3791 posts in 1207 days
posted 853 days ago
Great box!
-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com
Douglas Bordner
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3424 posts in 956 days
posted 853 days ago
DocK,
On the one double-dove, I did mention Incra, but rest assured indeed all the box and dove joints are made with it. I admire Woodspar’s skill building efforts with the chisel and handsaw. I just prefer to cheat the fix with power tools in an effort to get to the finish-line. As for hinges, I made a jig out of MDF and cut the pockets with a router. I always reference lid and top from their center-lines rather than from case sides. I use a vix-bit to center any screw secured hinges. Mis-alignments are erased with a belt sander, something that would be difficult in full-sized cabinet work or with sheet goods. I like hingeing through the carcase sides with brass pins, seems to be easier than most methods, and way cheaper than using Brusso cabinet jewelry for small work. I am also a fan of the 5mm barrel hinges on the pen boxes and smaller jewelry boxes. That just requires careful measurement and drill-press work. I occasionally clamp a fence to the table and use stop blocks. Bottom line, I have mastered the art of hiding the mistakes. Part of the secret of my tagline “Bordnerizing perfectly good lumber” is that sometimes the project was meant at first to be way bigger than it ended up, and I generally do not work from a plan except of the most vague type.
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
oscorner
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4572 posts in 1203 days
posted 853 days ago
Spectacular box.
-- Jesus is Lord!
mot
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4902 posts in 929 days
posted 853 days ago
Douglas! Amazing box. Really one of the nicest I’ve ever seen. The wood is beautiful. How did you do the hinge?
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
Douglas Bordner
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3424 posts in 956 days
posted 853 days ago
Long panels are shorter in height than the sides by the thickness of the lid. I clamped/taped the lid in place and through drilled into the lid sides, put the hinges in place. You have to plane or rout a radius on the back inside edge of the lid to allow pivoting, and I usually do not epoxy in the pins until tweaking the fit and doing whatever finishing that needs to take place with the lid in the flat. I usually epoxy one pin into the lid; lay a very small amount of epoxy into the other pin socket, fit the lid and push in the other pin. Even with thin carcase sides, this doesn’t seem to tax the box, as the pins just rotate in their through holes. I use an Incra rule to do the layout work, centerpunch the position and always use brad point bits to do the holes.
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
HandsOgold
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85 posts in 896 days
posted 851 days ago
great box and anent to my last comment on wood grain, your box has it all. I do appreciate your replying to queries and the generous detail you share with us about construction. I have made chessboards for ages and just last time tried a NEW method posted by a jockmate and found it was very nice. Too bad you cannot KEEP anything IN the box cause then no one could see the magnificent BOTTOM!
But this caveat, when working with spalted woods, be sure you have a high quality mask and dust collection. spalted woods are toxic and can cause sickness if inhaled.
-- Dan
Don
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2590 posts in 1069 days
posted 851 days ago
Douglas, thinks for your description regarding construction. I learned something there.
-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/
Blake
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2759 posts in 767 days
posted 764 days ago
This is one of my favorite boxes on the site. If you don’t mind, I am going to add you to my bud list. Thanks for all the previous comments.
-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com
Karson
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25795 posts in 1293 days
posted 764 days ago
Douglas a great box. You didn’t do your photoshop magic to make the tiger stripe maple in the lid and on the front did you.
A great selection of wood.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
Douglas Bordner
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3424 posts in 956 days
posted 764 days ago
Blake, I couldn’t be more pleased if there were two of me to be on your bud list. You have some serious box mojo.
Karson, I might imperil everyone’s favorite Canadian under a truck with Photoshop, but I would never mess with boxes to cheat an effect. Boxes are way too serious a matter for photo effects!
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
jm82435
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508 posts in 635 days
posted 610 days ago
That is a thing of beauty. very nice job.
-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever...
TroutGuy
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98 posts in 604 days
posted 597 days ago
WOW! Very nice indeed!
I really like small boxes. I HAVE to try a version of this!
-- There is nothing in the world more dangerous, than a woodworker who knows how to read a micrometer...
Douglas Bordner
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3424 posts in 956 days
posted 597 days ago
Go for it! I’m ready to make a batch again this spring/summer.
More news of a box nature will be appearing shortly here on LumberJocks. And that’s all I can say about that…for the time being.
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
griff
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922 posts in 654 days
posted 98 days ago
Beautiful box Douglas, Very smooth. Iv been looking through the boxes Im wanting to learn to build boxes.
-- Mike, Bruce Mississippi = Jack of many trades master of none
a1Jim
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16598 posts in 470 days
posted 92 days ago
Hey Doug
Your making some great boxes with great wood. very well done
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon
Douglas Bordner
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3424 posts in 956 days
posted 49 days ago
Little gif animation slideshow too…
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.