7-grain box

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.canterburybaptist.org/

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

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/

this is beautiful, Douglas!!!

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

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!!!

Have’nt seen any spalting in a long time, at least since I’ve been sick. Beautiful job Doug, very very nice. jockmike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

Just a great job done on this piece Doug. Awesome.

-- Carpe Lignum - Seize The Wood,

Beautiful work Doug! Thanks for sharing your construction details.

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

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.

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

Once again the magic of serendipity in the shop. Gotta love wood and woodworking!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

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"

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. - Vincent Van Gogh -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

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

Great box!

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

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.

Spectacular box.

-- Jesus is Lord!

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)

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.

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

Douglas, thinks for your description regarding construction. I learned something there.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.canterburybaptist.org/

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.theeasellife.com

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.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

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.

That is a thing of beauty. very nice job.

-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever... - Keats

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...

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.